A spokesman for New Times Media, parent of the SF Weekly, says his company doesn’t have the money to pay a $21 million judgment the Bay Guardian has won in an illegal pricing case, according to a report in the Arizona Republic today.
Spokesman Andy Van De Voorde said the Phoenix-based New Times Media doesn’t get any money from its individual publications across the country because each paper is organized either as limited-liability corporations or limited partnerships.
Van De Voorde said neither New Times Media nor SF Weekly has the money to pay the judgment.
The Bay Guardian is considering several options for collecting the money including forcing New Times into bankruptcy.
The Guardian, headed by Bruce Brugmann, persuaded a jury in March 2008 that New Times Media had been selling ads at below cost in an attempt to run the Guardian out of business.
Other New Times Media publications include the Village Voice Orange County Weekly, LA Weekly, Seattle Weekly, Houston Press, Dallas Observer, Westword in Denver and others. The chain is headed by Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin.
If Van De Voorde’s name is familiar, that’s because he was brought in from the chain’s headquarters to cover the trial in San Francisco for the SF Weekly.