Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather, who is suing his former employer for $70 million, asked to expand his complaint to include allegations he lost millions of dollars because the network sidelined him after a controversial report.

Rather, 76, yesterday asked New York Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman in Manhattan for permission to amend his breach- of-contract lawsuit to include claims that he could have earned millions of dollars in anchor jobs with other networks, including CNN.

Rather, the former managing editor of the ``CBS Evening News,'' claims the network defrauded him by damaging his reputation because of an election-year report on President George W. Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service. Rather claims he was removed as anchor and his on-air appearances were drastically reduced after the report.

``The fraud claim is that they wanted to keep him quiet to curry favor with the White House,'' Rather's lawyer, Martin Gold, said in an interview after yesterday's hearing. ``They were concerned not only about CBS News, but the network was interested about how many stations they'd be allowed to own.''

Rather said in his lawsuit filed last September that he was made a ``scapegoat'' to placate the Bush administration after the report was criticized as inaccurate.

``He's going to have to show that he has out-of-pocket damages,'' Jim Quinn, a lawyer for CBS said after the hearing. ``He's not going to be able to prove that. He got paid all of his money.''

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Rather, who earned about $6 million a year at CBS, now earns about $1.5 million at HDNet, a high-definition television channel co-founded by Mark Cuban.

``We allege that he could have been able to earn about $4 million,'' Gold said. ``Instead, he's making $1.5 million, so the difference is that he's lost about $2.5 million.''

Gammerman didn't rule yesterday on Rather's request. He gave both CBS Corp. and Rather more time to submit papers. The judge last month allowed the case to proceed and pared down the case by ruling Rather can't sue on claims that CBS defrauded him or that the broadcaster and one-time parent Viacom Inc. interfered with his contract.

CBS was separated from Viacom Inc. at the beginning of 2006.

The case is Rather v. CBS Corp., 603121/2007, New York Supreme Court (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 8, 2008 00:01 EDT