Judge Allows Antitrust Suit Over Newspaper Deal

On Tuesday April 10, 2007, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that real estate investor Clint Reilly has legal standing to sue as an individual reader threatened by the potential decrease in newspaper quality as a result of MediaNews Group Inc.'s acquisition of the San Jose Mercury and the Contra Costa Times. Illston said that the Newspaper Preservation Act suggested that a reduction of content diversity is a "threatened loss or damage" that antitrust laws were designed to prevent. Reilly argued that the acquisitions would create a monopoly in Northern California that would hike up prices and harm readers. Illston cited that Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker had allowed Reilly to sue the Hearst Corp. in 2000 over its acquisition of the San Francisco Chronicle. A trial in the case is scheduled for April 30.