The lawsuit that will decide ownership of the Salt Lake Tribune will remain in federal court, U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart has ruled.
Stewart in April expressed concerns that the case had outgrown his jurisdiction and asked attorneys on all sides to submit briefs on the issue.
Federal judges hear civil cases when they involve a matter of federal law or when the opposing parties are from different states. This case, filed in December 2000 by Salt Lake Tribune Publishing (SLTPC), had previously been deemed to fall under the interstate provision.
In August 2001, Stewart granted a SLTPC request to add the Deseret News to the lawsuit. But in court documents filed in April 2002, Tribune managers argued Stewart had lost jurisdiction because of the addition of Utah-based Deseret News and the proposed addition of the McCarthey family. The McCarthey family relinquished ownership of the Tribune in a $731 million tax-free stock swap with Telecommunications Inc. in 1997. TCI was subsequently absorbed by AT&T.
MediaNews Group Inc. purchased the Tribune from AT&T in December 2000. SLTPC immediately filed the federal lawsuit to block the sale. SLTPC, which also manages the Tribune, seeks a court order affirming its purported right to purchase the newspaper in August.
But in his Wednesday ruling, Stewart agrees with MediaNews and Deseret News' contentions that he can retain "supplemental jurisdiction" over the case, even with two Utah parties involved.
Claims involving the Deseret News arise out of the "same case or controversy" as the original claims, thus extending federal jurisdiction, he ruled.
"There is no impediment to this court's exercising supplemental jurisdiction over claims between (SLTPC) and Deseret News Publishing," Stewart wrote in Wednesday's seven-page order.
However, Stewart declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over possible claims involving the McCarthey family. Two of the five family members live in Utah.
The McCartheys, now the primary owners of SLTPC, filed a similar lawsuit in Colorado state court in November 2001. That case is on hold pending the outcome of the Utah suit.
Stewart ruled those issues "involve novel and complex issues of state law" that do not belong in federal court. The McCartheys seek to unwind the entire 1997 merger with TCI, which would bring in more people and contracts and "greatly expand this case," he said.
Trial in the case is scheduled to begin June 24.
Sale of the Salt Lake Tribune - Read Deseret News' archive stories and see related links about the sale of the Tribune.
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com