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SALT LAKE CITY — Kearns-Tribune and Deseret News Publishing Co. asked a federal judge Monday to throw out a lawsuit challenging the joint operating agreement between Salt Lake City's two daily newspapers.
Lawyers for the two companies argue that the Utah Newspaper Project, also known as Citizens for Two Voices, doesn't have legal standing to sue because it can't show any harm to its members.
"Although plaintiff repeatedly represented to this court and to defendants that it had standing to pursue these claims on behalf of its 'members,' the undisputed truth is that plaintiff does not — and legally cannot — have any members," according to a motion for summary judgment in U.S. District Court.
Citizens for Two Voices, which includes former Salt Lake Tribune staffers, incorporated under Utah law as a nonmembership organization, according to the lawsuit. The nonprofit group claims its members include consumers of daily news in the Salt Lake Valley, including subscribers to and readers of the Salt Lake Tribune and advertisers in the Tribune and Deseret News.
"A nonmembership organization like plaintiff should not be allowed to manufacture associational standing simply by claiming to represent a handful of self-appointed directors who may well have a different agenda from the broader group of 'concerned citizen members' it previously claimed to represent," according to the newspapers' attorneys.
The group sued the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune in June 2014, arguing that the revised agreement between the two papers violated antitrust laws and leaves the Tribune in danger of closing.
Lawyers for Kearns-Tribune contend that the plaintiffs are asking the court to second guess the newspaper's business strategy. The Tribune gave up a percentage of declining print revenues for complete control of its digital products.
The Deseret News became the majority partner in exchange for other concessions, including the sale of real estate and printing presses to the Deseret News, and guarantees about the independence of both papers.
Attorneys want the lawsuit dismissed with prejudice, meaning Citizens for Two Voices could not file it again.
