A judge dismissed a $1 million claim by Princess Diana's former lover James Hewitt against Fox News for breach of contract and let stand the network's counterclaim that he violated their secrecy agreement.

State Judge Louis B. York on Thursday said Hewitt's punitive damages claim against Fox for firing him was unwarranted because he could not show the firing was "malicious or vindictive."

The judge let stand Hewitt's claim for $80,000 in compensatory damages.

Fox hired Hewitt, a former British army major, in January to an $80,000 one-year contract to cover the anticipated Iraq war. Less than a week later, Fox fired Hewitt, alleging he had violated a secrecy agreement by leaking information about his hiring.

Hewitt sued in February. He denied he broke the agreement and said Fox officials dumped him because they "were embarrassed by the negative press the leak generated on account of (his) previous relationship with the late Diana, Princess of Wales."

A Fox spokesman, Robert Zimmerman, called the lawsuit "completely frivolous."

In 1999, Hewitt, 44, published a book about his romantic liaison with Diana and about his experiences fighting in the Gulf War.

Last December, Hewitt was again the subject of publicity when he said he would sell love letters the princess wrote to him.

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