The charity set up by the late Christopher Reeve has been hit with a lawsuit by the organisation's former vice president, accusing bosses of unfair dismissal.

Bruce Morgan has filed papers in New Jersey alleging he was fired from his position at the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (CDRF) in April (09), after he stopped work when the group refused to hand over his wages.

Morgan claims the charity's president Peter Wilderotter, who is targeted in the lawsuit, told him "severe cutbacks were imminent" because the company had lost more than $2.3 million (£1.4 million).

Morgan alleges bosses then withheld his wages for three months before dismissing him abruptly in April (09), violating his employment contract that required six months' notice.

Morgan is seeking lost wages and unspecified punitive damages from the charity, which raises money for spinal cord injury research.

Superman star Reeve lent his name and support to the organisation, originally called the American Paralysis Foundation, after he was paralysed in a 1995 riding accident. Reeve's wife Dana became Chair of the Foundation after the actor's death in 2004, and executives renamed the charity in her honour after she passed away in 2006.

