Jerry Roberts is publicly taking on his former employer, Santa Barbara News-Press owner Wendy McCaw, claiming her lawyer leaked the fact that McCaw filed a $500,000 claim against Roberts.

Roberts, longtime managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, took the top newsroom job at the Santa Barbara paper in 2002. He resigned July 6, along with several other editors and reporters, in a dispute over newsroom interference by McCaw.

Among McCaw’s complaints was that the paper printed the address of actor Rob Lowe when his proposed home was the subject of a public zoning hearing. According to the rival Santa Barbara Independent weekly newspaper, Roberts is now accusing McCaw’s attorney of leaking the news about the $500,000 demand to a reporter at the News-Press. The demand, along with Roberts’ claims against the newspaper, were supposed to be litigated in secret.