LV legal papers entangled in lawsuit

Grace Leong

Wednesday, June 27, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

A lawsuit among competitors is livening up the otherwise dull and obscure industry of publishing legal notices in Nevada.

The Nevada Daily Legal News, which publishes legal notices as well as public records information for its Las Vegas readers, is trying to block a newcomer in the industry from publishing legal notices.

The newcomer, Nevada Journal, is fighting back and won an initial court victory last week when a Clark County District judge rejected a motion by the Legal News that the Journal be barred from accepting legal notices.

Clark County District Judge Mark Denton denied Legal News' motion, saying "from the standpoint of an unfair competition case, irreparable harm was not shown."

This ruling is crucial to the Nevada Journal, a weekly that began printing in Las Vegas in 1998 and started publishing legal notices on April 4, because its future would have been uncertain if it was barred from competing with Legal News.

Janiece Marshall, a Nevada Journal attorney, said the weekly receives less than $500 a month in revenues from legal notices. She said the Legal News could charge higher rates for publishing legal notices if it had the monopoly on such advertising.

For example, Nevada Journal said it charges $150 for its trustee sale notices, while Legal News said it charges $175 for such notices.

The Legal News denied the Journal's accusations that it tried to shut down the Journal.

The Legal News said it sued to stop Los Angeles-based Daily Journal Corp. and Nevada Journal -- one of Daily Journal's 19 legal news publications around the West -- from violating Nevada laws when it publishes legal notices in a newspaper "that isn't of general circulation" because of its alleged unavailability to the public and low circulation.

Nevada Journal said it has 125 subscribers nationwide, of which 37 are locally billed customers in Clark County. Mark Solomon, Nevada Legal News's attorney, didn't specify the daily's subscriber numbers.

The Legal News argued it was critical that legal notices are published only in newspapers of general circulation because numerous Nevada laws and legal proceedings are tied to such notices. The notices are aimed at ensuring adequate notice is given to people whose rights would most likely be affected by laws and legal proceedings.

"The paper has to have a minimum presence in Nevada, that is, reach the people it's intended to reach, before it can start publishing legal notices," Solomon said. "The Nevada Journal has no newsstands, isn't available in any library or government building. If I wanted to know if there is a courthouse sale or a probate sale, how do I find it?"

"To say that a subscription of 37 imparts notice to a population of 1.5 million is contrary to (Nevada) statutes ... because the vast majority of the population intended to be reached by such notice will be left uninformed and unnoticed," the suit said.

But Nevada Journal disputed these claims, saying such low numbers are typical of a newcomer that's still building a subscriber base.

"The goal of the paper is not just to target attorneys but also to attract the general public. It's not about the number of subscribers, but about reaching out to a diverse group of people," Marshall said.

Asked about the financial viability of a newspaper with such low circulation numbers, she said: "The paper doesn't survive by virtue of subscription, but by the advertisements. That's why subscribers at this point are a non-issue."

The legal battle won't be over unless the Legal News voluntarily dismisses the lawsuit, Marshall said.

"If Legal News has additional grounds, they can renew their motion for a preliminary injunction. Otherwise, they have 30 days from now to arrange a time for discovery."

"Discovery" is a legal term for the fact-finding procedures that occur before a trial or other legal proceeding.

Until then, Nevada Journal -- which publishes articles on legal issues, editorials, appeals court rulings, verdicts and settlements -- is authorized by the court to continue to publish legal notices in Nevada.

In the meantime, Michael Kirby, another Nevada Journal attorney, questioned the Legal News' definition of a "newspaper of general circulation," and criticized it for "lacking content of general interest."

"Merely targeting the population interested in public notices is insufficient to qualify a publication as one of 'general circulation;' the paper must also attract the attention of a broader audience," the Journal said in court papers.

"Whereas the Nevada Daily Legal News contains only one page of news, with the rest being advertisements or legal notices, the Nevada Journal has 8-10 pages of extensive coverage of local, state and national news; editorials; original columns; information on verdicts and settlements and the Nevada Appellate Report in a typical issue," it said.

"In stark contrast, the Nevada Daily Legal News generally has three or four desultory wire service articles on its front page, none of which concern Nevada, with no editorials, columns, features or other content besides legal notices or advertisements. Its masthead lists no reporters or editorial staff at all," the Journal said.

Kirby also dismissed Legal News' lawsuit as a "transparent effort by the dominant publisher of legal notice advertising in Clark County to destroy an upstart competitor and maintain its monopoly, with artificially high profits."

"This is not a case about someone complaining that he hasn't received adequate notice of a legal proceeding. The court should question the (plaintiff's) motivation in filing the lawsuit," Kirby said at last week's court hearing.

"If the court found (Nevada Journal's) conduct in promoting competition to improve the availability of legal notices and general news to the citizens of Nevada to be wrongful, it would be implicitly finding that our free market economy is illegitimate," the Journal said in court papers.

Nevada Journal also disputed Nevada Legal News' charges that it stole a Legal News customer, Nationwide Posting and Publishing, saying this client is a longstanding customer of the Daily Journal Corp., which has been printing its legal notices for at least seven years throughout California.

"Nationwide Posting's request that the Nevada Journal begin publishing legal notices for it in Nevada is a natural outgrowth of this longstanding business relationship," the Journal said.