Seattle JOA Fights Goes to State's Supreme Court

By: (AP) The state Supreme Court said Tuesday it will hear an appeal filed by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's owner after a lower court ruled The Seattle Times Co. could end the newspapers' joint operating agreement because of strike-related losses.

"We are pleased the Supreme Court is going to review the Court of Appeals decision," spokesman Paul Luthringer said in a statement released Tuesday by the Hearst Corp, which owns the P-I. "Our goal is to continue JOA-publication of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and to prevent the Seattle Times Company from turning Seattle into a one-newspaper town."

Frank Blethen, The Times' publisher, countered: "We believe the panel of judges at the appellate court level correctly interpreted the contract and we are confident the Supreme Court will also support this interpretation."

The case hinges on a provision in the JOA that allows either company to opt out of the pact after three straight years of losses, except for losses from extraordinary events.

Hearst has asked the state's highest court to overturn the unanimous March decision of a three-judge state Court of Appeals panel, which ruled that The Times had a right to seek an end to the JOA.

That ruling reversed a King County Superior Court judge's decision that losses from a 49-day strike against both dailies in late 2000 fell into an "extraordinary" category and could not be counted toward three consecutive years of losses.

The Times and P-I have been locked in a legal dispute since April 2003, when The Times said it wanted to begin negotiations to end the agreement in place since 1983.

Hearst sued The Times -- owned by the Blethen family of Seattle, with a 49.5 percent share held by Knight Ridder -- arguing that strike-related red ink should not count toward the three consecutive years of losses.

Under the JOA, The Times handles printing, distribution, and advertising at both papers in exchange for 60 percent of their joint revenues.

The Times has said it can't make a profit under the JOA. Hearst has said the P-I can't survive without it.