'San Diego Reader' Defies New 'San Diego U-T' Owner on Legal Threat

By: Mark Fitzgerald When the San Diego Reader began looking into two dismissed lawsuits brought against the new owner of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the daily brought in a big legal gun.

Martin D. Singer, a co-founder of the Los Angeles law firm Lavely & Singer -- attorneys who have represented celebrities such as Britney Spears and Bruce Willis -- fired off a six-page letter warning the alternative weekly Reader about the story in no uncertain terms.

"In the event that you proceed to recklessly and maliciously publish a Story which falsely states, either directly or by implication, that my client engaged in wrongdoing as alleged in those lawsuits or otherwise, you will be exposed to substantial liability for claims including defamation and interference with prospective economic advantage," Singer wrote.

The attorney accused the Reader of "having a pre-conceived agenda to attack, disparage and defame my client." The client in this case is Platinum Equity LLC, the venture capital group that bought the Union-Tribune from the Copley family earlier this year.

The Reader story by Don Bauder, which went to print on Thursday, concerned two lawsuits from three former Platinum employees dating back to 2007. One suit from a former security guard claimed he had been fired unfairly, and was dismissed by a judge. Two female employees also sued Platinum, making claims of sexual harassment. The suits were consolidated, and eventually withdrawn.

But in its Thursday issue, and on its Web site the day before, the Reader gave equal prominence to the letter from Singer, which it characterized as a legal threat from the Union-Tribune to the Reader.

At the beginning of the letter, in capital letters, the missive from Singer states, "CONFIDENTIAL LEGAL NOTICE NOT FOR PUBLICATION OR OTHER USE."

At the end, it warns: "Any publication, dissemination or broadcast of any portion of this letter will constitute a breach of such confidence and a violation of the Copyright Act, and you are not authorized to publish this letter in whole or part absent our express written authorization."

Reader owner and Publisher Jim Holman said that when he first read the letter, "I was sort of scared." But he quickly determined that he was being bullied.

So, after talking "extensively" with its attorney, the Reader published the letter in print and on the Web.

Singer did not return an E&P message for comment left Wednesday afternoon.

Holman portrays the dust-up as the Union-Tribune taking on the alternative. Nobody from the journalism or operational side of the daily, which is being managed by the Canadian company Black Press, is involved in the dispute. But Holman notes that Singer's letter repeatedly suggests the alternative paper is hostile towards the daily.

"They look at it as the Reader coming after the U-T, so I guess we do look at it as them coming after us," Holman said. He said the Reader is "always careful" in its reporting about the daily, and never engages in personal attacks.