Trib., DesNews ask court to throw out suit challenging JOA

The Salt Lake City daily newspapers are trying again to end a nearly 2-year-old lawsuit challenging the joint operating agreement between the two. Kearns-Tribune and Deseret News Publishing Co. asked a federal judge last week to throw out the lawsuit, which was originally filed in June 2014.

The Salt Lake City daily newspapers are trying again to end a nearly 2-year-old lawsuit challenging the joint operating agreement between the two. Kearns-Tribune and Deseret News Publishing Co. asked a federal judge last week to throw out the lawsuit, which was originally filed in June 2014.

Last week’s filing argues that the Utah Newspaper Project, also known as Citizens for Two Voices, doesn’t have legal standing to sue because it can’t show any harm to its members.

“Although plaintiff repeatedly represented to this court and to defendants that it had standing to pursue these claims on behalf of its ‘members,’ the undisputed truth is that plaintiff does not — and legally cannot — have any members,” according to a motion for summary judgment in U.S. District Court.

The group sued the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune saying that the revised agreement between the two papers violated antitrust laws and leaves the Tribune in danger of closing.

Citizens for Two Voices, which includes former Salt Lake Tribune staffers, was originally incorporated under Utah law as a nonmembership organization, according to the lawsuit. The nonprofit group claims its membership includes those who consume daily news in the Salt Lake Valley, including subscribers to and readers of the Salt Lake Tribune and advertisers in the Tribune and Deseret News.

“A nonmembership organization like plaintiff should not be allowed to manufacture associational standing simply by claiming to represent a handful of self-appointed directors who may well have a different agenda from the broader group of ‘concerned citizen members’ it previously claimed to represent,”the filing states.

The dailies want the lawsuit dismissed with prejudice, meaning Citizens for Two Voices could not file it again.

Lawyers for Kearns-Tribune contend that the plaintiffs are asking the court to second-guess the newspapers' business strategy. The Tribune gave up a percentage of declining print revenues for complete control of its digital products. The Deseret News became the majority partner in exchange for other concessions, including the sale of real estate and printing presses to the Deseret News, and guarantees about the independence of both papers.