Times-Standard files lawsuit against The Eureka Reporter alleging unfair business practices
The parent company that owns Eureka’s Times-Standard newspaper and Tri-City Weekly advertiser shopper filed a civil lawsuit in court Wednesday alleging that The Eureka Reporter newspaper has violated California’s Unfair Business Practices laws.
The lawsuit filed by California Newspaper Partnership in Humboldt County Superior Court states that, since its inception, The Eureka Reporter has “embarked on a campaign to take advertising revenue away from the (Times-Standard) by a variety of illegal methods in order to obtain revenue.”
California Newspapers Partnership is owned by Colorado-based MediaNews Group, which is headed by media mogul Dean Singleton.
MediaNews Group’s Web site touts itself as one of the largest newspaper companies in the U.S., owning and operating 54 daily newspapers in 11 states with a combined daily circulation of approximately 2.4 million.
The civil suit seeks a jury trial and the recovery of $3 million in lost advertising revenue and $40 million in economic damages from depressed value to the Times-Standard and Tri-City Weekly, as well as a court order to prohibit its competitor from engaging in any alleged unlawful, unfair and deceptive business practices.
Judi Pollace, publisher of the family-owned upstart newspaper, said Friday that The Eureka Reporter was surprised by the lawsuit and she first learned of the matter on Thursday through queries to staff by a Times-Standard reporter.
“We are not in a position to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit, which we feel lacks any merit,” Pollace said.
Ralph Alldredge, an attorney and publisher of the Calaveras Enterprise, who has represented newspapers in similar cases, was retained by The Eureka Reporter in the matter.
Alldredge said Friday that The Eureka Reporter must be careful not to accept the invitation to try this case in the newspapers instead of in court.
“Lawsuits involving newspapers carry a special risk that extensive pretrial publicity might disqualify local judges or jurors,” Alldredge said. “That risk increases when a large newspaper chain has sued a much smaller, locally owned newspaper, because Mr. Singleton may well believe he has a better chance of winning if he can get this case moved outside Humboldt County.”
The Eureka Reporter was launched in 2003 as an online publication and currently publishes a print edition five days a week.
(Nathan Rushton can be reached at nrushton@eurekareporter.com, or at 707-269-7442.)
2 comments:
It's time to back our local newspaper against Dean Singleton's monopoly ploy to defeat his local competition. Dean Singleton is the Walmart of newspapers.
As much as I dislike the Reporter,Singleton's company stinks,and it has actually improved a little bit since competition arrived.Although Dean doesn't deserve any credit for that.It's dedicated reporters that have improved the paper.
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