The N&O's breach of contract
We've had our share of what I consider frivolous lawsuits over the years, but I don't think any have been quite like this one against our friends at The News & Observer.
From a Courthouse News Service report: A subscriber filed a class action against the News & Observer newspaper, claiming its plan to lay off 70 workers will deliver an inferior product to customers who subscribed before the layoffs began on June 17 -- part of 1,400 layoffs in the McClatchy newspaper chain.
While I haven't seen a comment from the folks at the N&O, I suspect they would have gladly refunded his money in the way we do in the non-litigious world.
Thursday update: The N&O catches up with the story.
Good quote from Editor John Drescher:
"We've had some really good papers recently, and they're worth more than the 36 cents a day that Mr. Hempstead is paying us. In fact, he owes me money. So when he gets a lawyer, he can work with my lawyer and figure out how much he's going to pay me for the excellent coverage he's been getting recently."
Comments (5)
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I don't know, I have to confess I'm a little pleased that a reader took umbrage at the layoffs, acknowledged that it will impact the quality of his paper in a negative way, and voiced that concern in a way that will get attention. It would be nice if more readers reacted the same way.
Posted on July 9, 2008 10:41 AM
To clarify: I don't mean more people should file lawsuits (which will get tossed), just that more people should express their anger over the state of journalism in this country in a public manner.
Posted on July 9, 2008 10:46 AM
I think I agree with Chris on this one. It's an imaginative way to register a complaint about what will surely become an inferior product, no matter what the high-paid suits at McClatchy say.
At some point, I suspect investors might bring similar suits against some of the major newspaper companies after all the layoffs and buyouts and paper shrinkage and consolidation of printing and off-shoring of design and editing jobs is finished and the stock price is still in the tank.
Posted on July 9, 2008 1:46 PM
Um, couldn't the N&O just give him a pro-rated refund?
Posted on July 9, 2008 3:29 PM
I feel his pain.
Durham subscribers have essentially lost a daily paper because of McClatchy's problems in Florida and California.
Last week the only Durham story to get much coverage in the N&O was the broo-ha-ha over a Democratic party member getting arrested with a prosecutor's highly suspect -- even for Durham -- open court claim that it involved satanic activity.
Instead the plan is to stuff all the Durham news into The Durham News -- a free weekly that gets tossed on our front lawns.
Well, I feel cheated. I wouldn't sue over it. But I'm not going to bust his chops for it, either.
Posted on July 9, 2008 5:17 PM