The owner of the SF Weekly, Village Voice Media of Phoenix, is suing the owners of the East Bay Express, claiming that they failed to make a $500,000 for the Emeryville-based alt-weekly.

Express Publisher Steve Buel, Hal Brody and a few other investors bought the Express from VVM in 2007. In response to the suit, the buyers claim the SF Weekly violated the sale agreement by selling ads in the East Bay. The Bay Guardian has a detailed story about the case (link).

While VVM is seeking money from the Express, it still hasn’t paid a court-ordered $16 million (including interest) verdict in favor of the Guardian. A San Francisco jury ruled that VVM violated California’s predatory pricing law by selling ads at below cost in an attempt to run Bruce Brugmann’s Guardian out of business.

The SF Weekly reports that its owner has appealed the verdict and wants another trial. Not only did the Weekly write a lengthy story on the appeal, but it provides a link to its brief.