Rather v. CBS Corp.
New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
886 N.Y.S.2d 121 (2009)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Dan Rather (plaintiff) worked as a news anchor for CBS Corporation (defendant) on the show CBS Evening News. Rather’s employment agreement stated that if CBS removed him as anchor from CBS Evening News, CBS would either make him a correspondent on a 60 Minutes program or immediately pay him all compensation due under the agreement and release him from the contract. In March 2005, CBS removed Rather as anchor and assigned him to 60 Minutes II. According to Rather, however, CBS did not use any of Rather’s content for the show. CBS continued to compensate Rather during this time at his contract rate. Ultimately, CBS terminated Rather’s contract in June 2006 and, at that point, paid him the remainder of the compensation due under his contract. Rather sued CBS for breach of contract, arguing that CBS should have paid him the remainder of his compensation in March 2005 because he was only nominally assigned to 60 Minutes II. The trial court denied CBS’s motion to dismiss. CBS appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Catterson, J.)
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