Dan Rather’s $70 million lawsuit against CBS for wrongful termination lives another day.
Yesterday, New York Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman made a preliminary ruling denying CBS’s motion to dismiss. The most consequential result of this decision is that the discovery process has been given a green light. In CBS’s motion, the network argued that Rather’s lawsuit was a vehicle to “misuse the discovery process and the power of subpoena in an effort to vindicate his own faulty reporting.”
Rather was guardedly pleased with the result. “It’s just the beginning,” he told New York Magazine.
CBS released a statement in response to the development:
“We are very pleased that the judge is seriously considering our motion to dismiss the case, and we eagerly await his decision on that motion. In that regard, the court indicated that portions of the lawsuit may not survive our motion to dismiss. In the meantime, the court has said that discovery can begin subject to agreement on its scope by the parties, which is standard procedure in this Court. We look forward to discussing with Mr. Rather’s representatives what that scope might be.”
