This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A bitter seven-year legal fight over ownership of The Salt Lake Tribune ended Wednesday with a settlement that averts a September trial.
The McCarthey family, which owned the paper for almost a century, agreed to end all lawsuits against Tribune owner MediaNews Group and other defendants in return for an undisclosed amount, according to a statement released by MediaNews. The payment will be made from a settlement fund that some but not all of the defendants will contribute to.
The McCartheys will relinquish an option the family received in 1997 to buy back the paper after they sold its parent company, Kearns-Tribune, to Telecommunications Inc. (TCI). The $731 million deal was arranged to obtain the profits from a hefty appreciation of TCI stock owned by Kearns-Tribune.
TCI was later bought by AT&T, which briefly flirted with the idea of selling the paper to the Deseret Morning News. When that sale went nowhere, AT&T sold The Tribune to MediaNews in 2001 for $200 million. The family and their company, Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., filed a lawsuit to block the sale - touching off a long series of legal maneuvers that would ultimately lead nowhere for the McCartheys.
"We are appreciative that the McCarthey family, the Deseret Morning News, Management Planning and others were willing to come together to resolve this seven-year dispute over ownership of The Salt Lake Tribune," MediaNews CEO and Tribune publisher Dean Singleton said Wednesday.
"The McCarthey family has a passionate love of The Tribune and what it means to Utah. We pledge to do our best to make all who love The Tribune proud as we strive to edit an outstanding newspaper for all who live in Utah."
Phil McCarthey, spokesman for the heirs of Sen. Thomas Kearns, who bought the paper in 1901, said the family settled the dispute because they did not wish to face more years of legal skirmishes.
"After nearly seven years of litigation and a number of changes at the The Tribune, we have accepted a substantial settlement and are ready to move on," McCarthey said.
"The nearly seven-year fight demonstrated our love and commitment to The Salt Lake Tribune."
Tribune Editor Nancy Conway said the settlement begins a new chapter for Utah's largest newspaper.
"I think it's good for the community, it's good for the paper and it's good for the employees," Conway said. "It's just good to have this settled so we can leave all that behind and move forward and serve readers the way we need to."
Jim Wall, president and publisher of the News was not immediately available for contact Wednesday. The McCartheys had accused the News in their lawsuit of conspiring to thwart their efforts to buy back the newspaper.
The agreement came less than a month before a trial was set to begin in a U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, where lawyers planned to ask a jury to overturn an appraisal that was used to set $355.5 million as the price the McCartheys would have to pay to buy back the paper, even though they said earlier this year they no longer wanted it.
The McCartheys refused to pay that amount, saying the paper's value was closer to their own appraiser's estimate of $218 million.
In a hearing held July 19, Judge Paul Cassell urged the parties to attempt a settlement before the trial began. Discussions began a week later.
"The settlement happily ends a very long stretch of litigation. It's disappointing that the objective of the family of regaining ownership of the newspaper was not achieved, but there has been a substantial payment to the McCartheys and their company that does vindicate their contractual rights," said Patrick Carome, a lawyer representing the family.
Joel Campbell, a journalism professor at Brigham Young University, said he was disappointed that the payment to the McCartheys was kept secret.
"It seems ironic that a corporation that prides itself in open government, and certainly The Tribune has been active in preserving open government laws in Utah, would agree to keep this settlement under wraps and not allow the public to see what's happened," Campbell said.
Management Planning Inc., which performed the contested appraisal, will receive a payment from Kearns-Tribune. The amount wasn't revealed.
A second trial had been tentatively set for February. In that trial, the family hoped to get a verdict that MediaNews and the News interfered with their right to buy back the paper.