NEW YORK – A Manhattan judge has allowed Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit against CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. to go forward but has dismissed portions that named three of the companies' executives.
Judicial Hearing Officer Ira Gammerman on Thursday struck down the parts of the suit that name Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone, CBS President Leslie Moonves and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward.
Rather's last months at CBS were clouded by a disputed story on President Bush's Vietnam-era military service. He says his employers made him a "scapegoat" to placate the White House after questions arose about the story.
A lawyer for all of the defendants, James Quinn, says: "We are very pleased with this. The rest is what we consider a garden variety contract dispute."
Viacom Inc. is CBS's former parent company.
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