By: Lucia Moses Fighting to regain ownership of
The Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City, a McCarthey family group has sued in New Jersey Superior Court the firm whose appraisal is to be used in determining the final price for the newspaper as the family tries to exercise an option to buy it back.
The family contends in its suit that Management Planning Inc. (MPI) in Princeton, N.J., departed from "applicable professional standards" in preparing its appraisal.
MPI's appraisal of $325 million was supposed to be averaged with a $380-million appraisal provided to the
Tribune's current owner, MediaNews Group Inc. of Denver, for a final price of $352.5 million. Several family members described this as too high a price to pay.
On Tuesday, the McCarthey family also asked for the recusal of a federal judge who ruled the
Tribune's joint-operating-agreement partner,
The Deseret News, could veto a purchase by the family group. An appeal of that ruling is pending.
The 2-year-old battle over the
Tribune started when the AT&T Corp. sold Utah's biggest daily to MediaNews, scuttling the McCartheys' plans to buy it.
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