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By Paul Carter
SLC Newspaper Battles Escalate to Utah Supreme Court
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- One of the latest salvoes of paperwork in the
court battles involving the Salt Lake daily newspapers was fired from
the legal guns of managers of The Salt Lake Tribune. In a petition
to the Utah Supreme Court, Tribune Publishing Company asked that a
lower judge's decision be overruled so that a lawsuit against the
managers can be heard in Salt Lake County.
The original lawsuit against Tribune Publishing Company, the
managers, was filed by The Deseret News Publishing Company in Davis
County, north of Salt Lake City and County. In the suit, the Deseret
News argues that the Joint Operating Agreement between the two
companies has been breached by the Tribune. In addition, The Deseret
News in the suit requests that a jury declare that the News has a
legal right to veto any sale of The Salt Lake Tribune since the
Tribune and the News share equal ownership of Newspaper Agency Corp,
which is the company that jointly operates both papers.
Lawyers for the Deseret News filed the suit in Davis County where,
according to the News, each paper has about the same number of
subscribers. According to lawyers for the Tribune, the choice of
Davis County as the venue for the suit was to find a jury pool with a
high percentage of the population being members of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Church owns The Deseret News
Company.
Tribune lawyers state in their petition to the state supreme court
that the suit belongs in Salt Lake County because that is where the
Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) was signed. The petition notes that
the JOA is actually not between the News and the Tribune managers,
but rather between the News and Kearns-Tribune LLC which is a holding
company for the current owner of the paper, MediaNews Group based in
Denver. Kearns-Tribune LLC is also named as a defendant in this
legal action.
In addition to the suit by The Deseret News Publishing Company, The
Tribune Publishing Company is involved in another suit which it filed
last December against AT&T Corporation and MediaNews. Tribune
Publishing Corporation had an option to purchase The Salt Lake
Tribune after July of 2002. That option was negated with the sale of
The Tribune to MediaNews by AT&T Corp this past January. In its suit,
Tribune Publishing Corporation is seeking to overturn the sale so
that the management group can exercise its option and become the
owner/manager of the paper.
In this second suit, The Deseret News Publishing Company has asked
the US District Court judge to allow the News to become a party to
the suit, given the News' ownership in Newspaper Agency Corp. If
allowed to join that suit, lawyers for the News have stated that they
will ask for dismissal of the suit.
Sources:
Judge Denies Tribune Venue Request, Ruling allows D-News to sue in Davis County
Salt Lake Tribune 1Aug01 B4
By Kristen Moulton: The Salt Lake Tribune
Motion Filed to Remove Trib Lawyers
Salt Lake Tribune 2Aug01 B4
By Kristen Moulton: The Salt Lake Tribune
MediaNew Man in Utah: He's in, He's out
Editor &Publisher 6Aug01 B4
By Lucia Moses
JOA Troubles Continue In Salt Lake City
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