When Don Imus was fired from his CBS (CBS-A) Radio job, most people probably felt that it was over. Evidently it's not.
A clause in his contract may come back to bite CBS for $40 million, or maybe even more.
One person that read the contract says that his contract "encouraged the radio host to be irreverent and engage in character attacks."
It seems that the success of the lawsuit will depend upon how the contract will be interpreted. One thing in the contract is sure, and that is that Imus had to be given a warning before being fired if something like happened came about. It looks like he wasn't given that warning.
Based upon Imus' hiring of Martin Garbus, who is considered one of the best First Amendent lawyers in the country, he is going to make it a free speech issue.
Some are saying that if that's the route he takes it'll be tough to win, as FCC regulations may dampen the strategy. On the other hand, his comments will have to be contrued as "profanity" to fall under the FCC guidelines; part of what the battle will be over.
That and whether he was given a warning for past transgressions will be the center of the case he'll try to build.
It looks like we're going to more of this situation than we wanted to.
» Know More Media Review: Obama Blunders, a Universal Search, and Imus Protecting His First Amendment Rights from Know More Media
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Tracked on: May 4, 2007 8:41 PM | Permalink to Trackback