CBS, Ex-Correspondent Settle Age-Discrimination Lawsuit : Television: ‘I came here to say certain things in court, and I said them,’ John Sheahan says. Terms of the agreement are not disclosed. The network continues to deny his allegations.

CBS and former correspondent John Sheahan on Thursday settled an age-discrimination suit in the midst of a jury trial in federal court here.

CBS agreed to give a financial settlement to Sheahan, 56, an award-winning reporter who was laid off in 1991 after 23 years with the network. But as part of the agreement, terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Sheahan had been seeking an estimated $1 million in damages and back pay in one of the first such suits to come to trial against a network news organization.

Sheahan, who had said in an interview before the trial that CBS News had “engaged in a war against older people” in recent layoffs, expressed happiness with the outcome.

“I came here to say certain things in court, and I said them,” he said. “I hope that my effort contributes to the cause of honest journalism--and especially to the working men and women in our profession.”

In a prepared statement, CBS said that the lawsuit had been “amicably resolved” but continued to deny the charge of age discrimination. Attorney Douglas Jacobs said, “It is clear from the evidence admitted in federal court that CBS did not discriminate against anyone on the basis of age or anything else.”

CBS said that Sheahan was dismissed when the network closed its Beijing bureau, where Sheahan was the correspondent. But Sheahan--who lost his job at age 53, 17 months short of receiving lifetime health care and other benefits--said that he was treated differently than other, younger correspondents who were offered alternative employment when they were laid off.

The network presented statistics that it said showed there was no pattern of age discrimination among CBS correspondents. At the end of 1991, the network said, CBS News had 93 correspondents, 68 of whom were over 40 and 25 of whom were under 40.

The trial, which was being carried by cable’s Court TV channel, had begun Monday. Sheahan told the jury about his long career with CBS and what he described as the terrible emotional impact of unfairly losing his job “with the institution that I had devoted my life to.”