Tribune battle over — for now

The lawsuit over ownership of the Salt Lake Tribune — described by one attorney as "the case that doesn't go away" — came to a relatively quiet close Tuesday in Salt Lake City's federal courthouse.

At what was supposed to be a pretrial conference finalizing details for a scheduled November trial, attorneys for all sides in the 3-year-old case agreed to dismiss all outstanding claims to allow a speedier appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"We'll all be well-served if we can craft a way to get the issues of importance to you to the 10th Circuit in an efficient and expeditious manner," U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart said after canceling the estimated three-week trial, which would have begun Nov. 3.

"Needless to say, we are really happy that the trial phase in the federal district court is over. We have a well-established working relationship with our new partners in the joint operating agreement, MediaNews Group and Dean Singleton," Deseret Morning News Publisher Jim Wall said.

"We were able to make our move to morning publication with their cooperation. We believed that they would continue to be our partners, and we believe the judge made the right decisions."

Stewart's ruling joins a series of decisions against former Tribune managers.

Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co. (SLPTC) attorney Milo Steven Marsden acknowledged Tuesday that the former managers' case "has been taken away from us a piece at a time" but said he is still confident the company will prevail on appeal.

"We think we had a good case, (and) we still think we have a good case," Marsden said.

Singleton disagreed. "I think this pretty much ends it," the MediaNews CEO said. "Full speed ahead. Any expert who looks at the issues still to go to the 10th Circuit, they're just non-issues."

Central to former managers' appeal will be whether the appraisal process that valued the Tribune at $355.5 million was valid. SLTPC refused to pay that exercise price last week at a scheduled closing, claiming the price was at least $100 million too high.

SLTPC has sought to exercise the 1997 option agreement since filing its initial lawsuit in December 2000. The suit was filed in anticipation of MediaNews Group Inc.'s January 2001 purchase of the Tribune from AT&T.

The option agreement was born out of SLTPC's $731 million tax-free stock swap with Telecommunications Inc. and would have allowed SLTPC to repurchase the Tribune after five years. TCI merged with AT&T in 1999.