By: (AP) The Seattle Times Co. and The Hearst Corp., which owns the rival
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, have agreed to make compromises that could speed the
Times' appeal in a legal dispute over their joint operating agreement (JOA).
Hearst agreed Tuesday that it would not oppose the
Times' request for an expedited appeal of a judge's ruling last month that said the
Times could not claim it lost money in 2000 as a basis for taking steps to end the publishing agreement.
In exchange, the
Times said that if it loses the appeal, it will not try to claim in court that it lost money in 2001.
Under the 20-year-old JOA, the
Times handles non-news functions for both papers and receives 60% of their joint profits in return. But the
Times claims the agreement is no longer financially viable, and has sought to invoke a provision under which either paper can end the agreement if it loses money for three straight years.
Hearst objected to the
Times' move, citing another provision of the contract which states that neither party shall be responsible for losses caused by extraordinary events. Hearst says the
Times' losses in 2000 were caused by a 49-day strike at both papers, which falls under that category.
King County Superior Court Judge Greg Canova agreed last month, barring the
Times from taking steps to end the agreement. Because the
Times' losses in 2001 were caused in part by the strike, the
Times likely would not be able to claim 2001 as a loss year if Canova's ruling stands.
"We looked at our JOA losses in 2001 and determined they were related to the strike,"
Times spokeswoman Kerry Coughlin said Wednesday, "so it only made sense to reach some kind of agreement on this."
The
Times' appeal request is scheduled to be heard before one of the state Court of Appeals commissioners Oct. 24. If the commissioner agrees, the case would then be put on the docket for an oral hearing before a three-judge panel.
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