Ex-Trib owners ask court to revive price suit

DENVER — A lawyer for the former owners of The Salt Lake Tribune asked a federal appeals court Thursday to revive their lawsuit challenging the $355.5 million price set for them to buy the paper back.

The McCarthey family contends the price is inflated, but a federal judge in Salt Lake City ruled the courts did not have the authority to require a new appraisal.

The family appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, the latest battlefield in the complex, five-year war over Utah's largest newspaper, which has been owned by Denver-based MediaNews Group since 2001.

Seth Waxman, an attorney for the McCartheys, told a three-judge panel of the appeals court that the family is entitled to a new appraisal because the company that set the price, Management Planning Inc., did not comply with its contract.

Waxman said MPI was required to base its appraisal on a fair-market auction price but instead considered what the Tribune is worth to MediaNews.

Attorney Kevin Baine, representing MediaNews and MPI, said the appraisal is binding because there was no fraud, corruption or wrongdoing involved. The lower court had said those were the only reasons the appraisal could be overturned under the rules governing MPI's contract.

Baine denied the appraisal was done with MediaNews' needs in mind. He said the McCartheys and MediaNews had agreed to hire MPI and to adhere to its appraisal to avoid a legal battle.

During the hearing, Waxman and Baine expressed frustration that the case was still unsettled after what was expected to be a brief appraisal period.

"This was supposed to be done in 120 days and here we are four years later arguing about whether to go to trial," Baine said.

Waxman said despite the legal battles, which have included two other trips to the 10th Circuit, the McCarthey family has never had the opportunity to present evidence to support its case for a new appraisal and a chance to buy the newspaper back.

"Even if we were wrong on appraisal law, we are still entitled to put on proof," he said. "We have alleged there was a contravention of a specific contractual limitation and a failure to consider relevant (information)."

The McCartheys merged the Tribune with Telecommunications Inc. in a 1997 stock swap. The family has maintained that it had a handshake deal with TCI owner John Malone giving them an option to repurchase the paper.

AT&T Inc. acquired TCI in 1999 and sold the Tribune for $200 million to MediaNews two years later.