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LDS Church Leaders Too Busy to Testify in Tribune Lawsuit
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Attorneys for LDS Church President Gordon B.
Hinckley, Presidents Thomas S. Monson and James E. Faust and First
Presidency Secretary F. Michael Watson have filed objections to
subpoenas from the Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co. requesting
documents and their testimony in the lawsuit over the sale of the
Tribune to Denver-based MediaNews Group, Inc. The attorneys say that
since the LDS Church's First Presidency isn't a party to the lawsuit,
church leaders are too busy to provide testimony and the requests for
documents place an "undue economic burden" on the church.
The lawsuit seeks to maintain the option of the Salt Lake Tribune
Publishing Co., the current managers of the newspaper who sold it to
Telecommunications, Inc. (TCI) in 1997, to repurchase the newspaper
from MediaNews Group later this year. TCI merged with AT&T in 1999,
and AT&T sold the Salt Lake Tribune to MediaNews Group in January
2001. The Tribune and the Deseret News operate under a Joint
Operating Agreement (JOA) under which they share production and
business costs. The Deseret News, which is owned by the LDS Church,
claims that the JOA gives them the right to veto any sale of the
Tribune.
Source:
LDS Attorneys Resist Subpoenas
Salt Lake Tribune 14Feb02 US UT SLC B4
By Elizabeth Neff: Salt Lake Tribune
Church leaders termed too busy to testify in Tribune-News lawsuit
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