With Beaupre Settlement, Gannett Has 1 Case to Go

By: Mark Fitzgerald With its $550,000 settlement last week of the lawsuit filed by Larry Beaupre, former editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer, Gannett Co. Inc. is left with one last legal entanglement from the newspaper's disastrous 1998 investigation into Chiquita Brands International Inc.

Just as Gannett was settling Beaupre's claims that the chain unfairly set him up as a scapegoat for the Chiquita fiasco, the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati cleared space on its spring calendar for the lawsuit against the Enquirer by George Ventura, a former Chiquita lawyer who was fingered by the expose's lead reporter as the one who showed him how to illegally access the company's voice-mail system.

Ventura accuses the newspaper of breaking promises to keep his identity secret. A federal magistrate last fall recommended a trial proceed on three of Ventura's six legal claims. The trial judge is mulling requests from Ventura to reinstate two claims and from the Enquirer to dismiss the case entirely.

Shortly after the explosive package of two dozens articles appeared on May 3, 1998 -- alleging, among other things, that the company endangered workers and tolerated drug smuggling on its ships -- Chiquita discovered the illegal access and the Enquirer acted quickly to avoid legal trouble. Gallagher was fired and the paper on three consecutive days ran above-the-fold apologies that "renounced" the series. The Enquirer also agreed to pay Chiquita $14 million.

Beaupre was reassigned to Gannett headquarters, and later fired after filing his lawsuit.

Tara Connell, Gannett director of public affairs, said the settlement with Beaupre was structured as $200,000 in severance and $350,000 in legal fees.

Beaupre, who is now managing editor of The Tribune and The Scranton Times in Pennsylvania, has not commented on the settlement and did not return a phone message. But, in an e-mail message to his staff, he wrote, "I am happy to report that the lawsuit has been settled to my satisfaction, and I can close this ugly chapter of my life."