Things Go Rather's Way In Court; Moonves Is Back In
 Wednesday, July 16th, 2008  by Connie T.

Wow...this is why lawyers make the big bucks. Dan Rather's legal team, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, scored victory after victory in court today against CBS Corp. In April, Judge Gammerman ruled that portions of Rather's lawsuit naming Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone, CBS President Les Moonves, and former CBS News Pres. Andrew Heyward would be removed--a major setback for Rather's case. But today, the tables turned quite heavily in Rather's favor.

The Court ordered CBS to produce several witnesses for depositions, including Andrew Heyward and Les Moonves. After Heyward's and Moonves' depositions are taken, Judge Gammerman will rule on CBS' objection to having Sumner Redstone testify.

Heyward, Moonves, and Redstone? Do you realize how colossal this is in history? These are Viacom and CBS' top peeps.

The Court also ruled that depositions would continue without limitations, including on the fraud claim; previously, the scope of discovery had been limited.

The Court blocked CBS' effort to force Dan's lead counsel, Marty Gold, to give a deposition.

The case will now move forward to trial as soon as November 2008.

The only shot Rather's team missed was--unfortunately for us--regarding the aforementioned secret documents. CBS argued that these remain sealed from the public eye, and the Court agreed, including documents that reportedly support Rather's claims.

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