CBS named in Dan Rather's $70M lawsuit

NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Veteran U.S. TV news anchor Dan Rather is suing his former employer, CBS Corp., for $70 million for his abrupt departure from the network.

In the lawsuit he filed in New York State Supreme Court Wednesday, the former "CBS Evening News" anchor names CBS, several top network executives and the network's former parent company, Viacom Inc., the Dow Jones Newswires said. Rather alleges the defendants mishandled the fallout from a "60 Minutes II" story he narrated.

The story, which was broadcast in September 2004, focused on U.S. President George Bush's time in Texas' Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. Rather's suit alleges CBS used him as a scapegoat once the White House expressed displeasure with the controversial broadcast.

"Central to the defendants' plan to pacify the White House was to offer Mr. Rather as the public face of the story, and as a scapegoat for CBS management's bungling of the entire episode -- which, as a direct result, became known publicly as 'Rathergate'," the suit alleges.