By: (AP) A federal judge has dismissed AT&T Corp. as a defendant in a lawsuit over ownership of
The Salt Lake Tribune.
AT&T sold the
Tribune to MediaNews Group Inc. of Denver in January 2001 for $200 million.
Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., which manages the day-to-day operations of the newspaper, sued to reverse the sale. It accused AT&T of conspiring with the
Deseret News and MediaNews to deprive Tribune Publishing of its option to buy the
Tribune next August.
The suit also asked the court to validate the managers' option to buy the
Tribune in August. MediaNews and the
Deseret News oppose the Tribune Publishing buyout.
The
Tribune managers had argued that they were about to complete a deal to buy the newspaper from AT&T in 2000, but AT&T deceived them by conducting secret negotiations with MediaNews.
In a ruling released late Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Ted Stewart agreed with AT&T that it should not be a defendant in the suit. He said AT&T did not sign the management and option agreements, and that the managers must pursue their claims against Kearns-Tribune, the company that holds the
Tribune and other assets and is now owned by MediaNews.
He also said there was no evidence AT&T had a commitment to sell the
Tribune to the managers or negotiated with them in bad faith.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here