Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Mar. 9--A federal judge on Wednesday heard arguments by lawyers for the former owners of The Salt Lake Tribune that a family agreement in 1997 trumps later agreements that allowed MediaNews Group to buy the newspaper four years later.
Lawyers for the McCarthey family that once owned The Tribune said the family agreement should govern how they will repurchase the newspaper they sold to Telecommunications Inc., which later was acquired by AT&T Corp.
Denver-based MediaNews Group bought the paper from AT&T for $200 million in January 2001.
In arguments before U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell, the McCarthey lawyers maintained that the family agreement supersedes a purchase option agreement that was included in the 1997 deal.
That agreement was between the family and John Malone, head of TCI; Robert Magness, TCI's founder, and Jack Gallivan, a former Tribune publisher and TCI board member. It included several covenants that would govern how the McCarthey family could regain ownership of the newspaper at a price equal to the fair market value of the paper's assets.
Lawyers for MediaNews, however, disputed the existence of a family agreement. They said there is no evidence that one ever existed, and if it did, the formal purchase option that the McCartheys signed replaces it.
"Once the written agreement is reached, it supersedes everything else," Kevin Baine said.
The purchase option called for the McCartheys and MediaNews to settle on a price through appraisals commissioned by each side. The appraisals were so far apart, however, that they triggered a provision for an independent third-party appraisal that put the paper's value at $335.5 million.
The family and their company, Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., filed a lawsuit challenging the third appraisal. That suit was settled in October, when Campbell refused to set it aside. The McCartheys have appealed that ruling to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
Campbell took Wednesday's arguments under advisement.
Philip McCarthey, who represents the family in its legal battle with MediaNews, said he was pleased by the arguments presented to Campbell on Wednesday.
"I think things went very well. I think it shows that there was an agreement made with the family and we are continuing to try to get that enforced," McCarthey said.
William Dean Singleton, publisher of The Tribune, declined to comment until he is briefed by his lawyers.
-----
To see more of The Salt Lake Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sltrib.com.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
