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Fired News Anchor Takes Case to Court

CLAYTON, Mo. (CN) - A local news anchor who was fired after claiming the IRS "hammer(ed) him" for his interview with President Obama has sued the CBS station that fired him, KMOV-TV.

Larry Conners sued KMOV, the St. Louis area CBS affiliate, and the station's president and general manager Mark Pimentel, in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

Conners, 66, claims KMOV breached his employment agreement by firing him after his widely reported Facebook posting.

After the post made national news, Conners acknowledged that he had had tax problems before he interviewed the president.

Conners was suspended and then fired in May after posting on Facebook that the IRS began "hammering him" after he asked Obama some tough questions in an interview. Conners, who is white, then filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging racial and gender discrimination.

In his latest legal salvo, Conners claims KMOV breached its employment agreement with him, and asks a judge to restrain KMOV from enforcing a one-year no compete clause in the contract.

"Plaintiff fully performed all of his duties and met all of his responsibilities under said contract," the complaint states.

"On May 23, 2013, defendants terminated plaintiff's employment actually without cause, and plainly in violation of the terms of the contract which requires that such termination could incur only after February 14, 2014."

Conners had been a news anchor on KMOV's 5, 6 and 10 p.m. news broadcasts since 1986.

He claims he will be irreparably harmed by being forced from the St. Louis area for a year, which would damage his reputation and decrease his value as a broadcaster.

He is represented by Merle L. Silverstein.

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