Mr. Rather's Complaint is a lengthy fact pleading searching for a cognizable cause of action, and I would go so far as to say that it's a "defamation lawsuit in disguise," only the gist of it seems to borrow from the concept of "self-compelled defamation" in employment law, i.e., "You made me apologize for that 60 MINUTES II story even though I didn't want to, and you made me look bad as a result." Rather's chief difficulty is that New York's one-year statute of limitations on defamation actions has extinguished that route, and his pleading is otherwise very thin. I suspect that CBS will have good legal, equitable and first amendment defenses, should they choose to fight.
Mr. Rather's Complaint is a lengthy fact pleading searching for a cognizable cause of action, and I would go so far as to say that it's a "defamation lawsuit in disguise," only the gist of it seems to borrow from the concept of "self-compelled defamation" in employment law, i.e., "You made me apologize for that 60 MINUTES II story even though I didn't want to, and you made me look bad as a result." Rather's chief difficulty is that New York's one-year statute of limitations on defamation actions has extinguished that route, and his pleading is otherwise very thin. I suspect that CBS will have good legal, equitable and first amendment defenses, should they choose to fight.