High court to decide papers' trial venue

The fate of a lawsuit between Utah's two largest daily newspapers now rests in the hands of the Utah Supreme Court.

The high court Tuesday heard arguments about which county — Davis or Salt Lake — is the proper setting for the Deseret News' case against its competitor's publishing company.

Salt Lake Tribune managers appealed to the high court after 2nd District Judge Jon M. Memmott denied their request to shift the suit, filed in Farmington in April, to Salt Lake County.

In its suit against Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Corp., the Deseret News maintains Tribune managers continue to hinder the News' move to morning publication and routinely fail to live up to the terms of the papers' joint operating agreement.

Tribune attorney James Lowrie argued Tuesday that none of the contracts in question — from the JOA to the operating and management agreements between the publishing company and its holding company, Kearns Tribune LLC — specify Davis County as an area in which contractual duties are to be performed.

"We do want to come directly to the point. If it appears beyond doubt that the defendant must perform its duties in Davis County . . . it will be then on the face of the contract. You can find it; you can look at it."

But finding Davis County expressly mentioned in any of the contracts, is "not plain and simple," Lowrie said.

"You cannot find the words 'Davis County' mentioned in any of those contracts," he said. "You can't find it without reaching way beyond the contract."

Davis County is easily identified in all contracts, News' attorney David Jordan countered, as one of five counties in the two papers' "primary market area." The industry term appears in the contracts "multiple times," he said.

The primary market area of both newspapers is Salt Lake, Summit, Tooele, Wasatch and Davis counties, Jordan said, and the lawsuit could have easily been filed in any of the five areas.

News' attorneys filed in Davis County because it is the "most neutral" place for the case, as there is a roughly 50-50 split of readership there.

The complaint takes issues with responsibilities handled by Newspaper Agency Corp., the advertising, circulation and printing arm of the two papers. NAC, headed by Tribune Publisher Dominic Welch, is giving deference to the Salt Lake Tribune in distribution, marketing and advertising in Davis County, News' attorneys maintain.