Angiulo: How One Worcester Judge Told NY Times To Wait A Minute
Email to a friend
Permalink
Monday, November 04, 2013
Leonardo Angiulo, GoLocalWorcester Legal Contributor
October turned out to be a big month for John Henry. You know him, he's the guy who owns the Red Sox, got a new World Series ring last week and bought the Boston Globe the other day. Not to mention purchasing the Worcester Telegram & Gazette along the way. As you can imagine, this is a guy who has some sway. Like never has to wait in line for a beer at Fenway and probably has a private jet kind of sway. And yet, no matter how much pull he might have on Yawkey Way, a Judge of the Worcester Superior Court reminded him this past week that the court has the final say on many things. Even for a guy like him.
In case you didn't hear, the New York Times and John Henry entered into a multi-million dollar deal transferring ownership of certain local newspapers including the Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Before the deal could be completed, a judge of the Worcester Superior Court entered an injunction holding up the contract. The reason for the injunction was to ensure the value of the Telegram & Gazette was protected so that certain plaintiffs suing that paper would be paid. To put this in context, a billionaire tried to do a deal with an international media conglomerate and one judge in the fair city of Worcester told them all to wait a minute while they make sure some newspaper delivery people were being fairly compensated for wages and benefits they say they're owed.
If anyone ever tries to tell you that the little guy doesn't have a voice in America today I want you to tell them this story. The reality is that it was only because some newspaper delivery people came together to claim fair value for services that John Henry had to stop and wait for Worcester. Which leads us to an important question: How did this happen?
It turns out that any party to litigation has the opportunity to file for an injunction when the proper circumstances are shown. Massachusetts Rule of Civil Procedure 65 establishes the guidelines for when a court will step in to restrict the behavior of someone's behavior. Essentially it is only when a moving party can show specific facts that an immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to the applicant that a temporary restraining order will be entered. The purpose of these motions is generally to make sure resources, either money or specific property, do not get used up before a plaintiff can get what they are looking for.
Injunctions are just one example of the number of ways that a lawsuit can have a big impact on a civil defendant's assets. Take Attachments of real estate pursuant to Massachusetts Rule of Civil Procedure 4.1 as an example. Did you know that the court has the ability to place a hold on your property? Similarly, if you are sued a plaintiff may use what's called an application for trustee process pursuant to Massachusetts Rule of Civil Procedure 4.2 to freeze your bank account. While every case is different, so long as the legal requirements are met, and the judge is convinced, an order can be issued against you whether you're the richest man in town or a guy barely making his mortgage payment.
If you've ever seen statues of lady justice you know she has a blindfold on. The reason why is because she doesn't care whether you drive a Bentley or a jalopy: the rules apply equally to everyone before the court. Just ask John Henry.
Related Slideshow: The Living History of the Telegram and Gazette
From contamination to a sale, and injunction to layoffs, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette has been through quite an interesting run in a very short time. Since 2012, GoLocal has been chronicling the goings on of Worcester's only daily printed newspaper. Take a look at our coverage:
Prev
Next
April 6, 2012
If the Worcester Telegram & Gazette was offering alternatives for the 64 employees it is laying off, Luis Lopez didn’t get the memo.
“I knew it was coming, but it’s hard,” the 37-year-old father of two girls said of being laid off Monday from the job he held for six years at the T&G’s Millbury printing plant. “When I came here, they promised me they would not lay me off. Now look at me.”
Prev
Next
June 22, 2012
The New York Times Company has sold a contaminated Worcester Telegram and Gazette building to a local development agency, leaving taxpayers on the hook for potentially up to $1.1 million in cleanup costs.
Before the sale, Telegram and Gazette publisher Bruce Gaultney publicly promised that the building was “not a brownfield.”
Prev
Next
June 27, 2012
The New York Times Company announced that they have agreed to pay for cleanup costs associated with contamination left at the former location of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette at 18-20 Franklin Street.
The announcement comes just days after a GoLocalWorcester investigative report that unveiled that the property was a brownsfield site, despite claims by the publisher that it was not. The non-profit Worcester Business Development Corporation, which bought the property, is receiving government funds to pay for the cleanup of the former newspaper headquarters.
Prev
Next
July 2, 2012
Two local unions are concerned about the health hazards at the former Telegram & Gazette building, after the NY Times Company sold the property to a local nonprofit and the building was declared a brownfield site.
Prev
Next
July 10, 2012
The NY Times Company is only committed to paying 10% of costs to cleanup the hazardous materials at the T&G building, leaving taxpayers footing most of the $1.1 million bill to clean up asbestos, lead, and other contaminants.
Prev
Next
July 11, 2013
Local taxpayers are demanding that the NY Times Company takes responsibility and pays for the T&G cleanup.
Thus far, the corporation has only offered to pay for 10% of the estimated $1.1 million cleanup costs to rid the building of asbestos, lead, and other hazardous contaminants.
Prev
Next
July 13, 2012
Massachusetts legislators, candidates, and councilors are calling for the NY Times to contribute more money for the cleanup of the T&G building contamination. Across the board and across the aisle, they say there’s a need for more corporate responsibility and taxpayers should not be stuck with the bill when a large company is involved.
Prev
Next
July 24, 2012
The Boston Globe and Worcester T&G are facing layoffs and buyouts, affecting a total of about fifty employees between the two markets. Both newspapers are owned by the same media group which is a subsidiary of the New York Times Company.
Prev
Next
February 7, 2013
Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray said that the brownfield site cleanup at the former home of the Worcester Telegram may still take some funding from the former owner, the NY Times Co. The building was sold by the news company after an estimated $1.1 million in cleanup costs to remove asbestos, lead, and other contaminants.
Prev
Next
February 20, 2013
The New York Times Company announced on Wednesday that the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Boston Globe and their related websites are up for sale.
The company has retained Evercore Partners to advise and manage the sales process of the two newspapers, along with the other related properties contained within the New York Times Co.'s New England Media Group.
Prev
Next
August 3, 2013
The New York Times Company has dumped the Boston Globe, Worcester Telegram and some other holdings for less than 6% of what they had paid for the combined assets over the past three decades. John Henry's sports and media group will pay approximately $70 million.
Prev
Next
August 5, 2013
On Saturday morning, August 3, at 3 A.M., the New York Times Company confirmed the sale of the Boston Globe, Worcester Telegram, and other New England assets to John Henry in an all-cash, $70 million deal.
Go Local reached out to top experts on media to get their perspective on the transaction, and insights as to what this means for the future of the paper, as well as industry as a whole. The Boston Globe, once the biggest force in media, has been in decline over the past decade, and now faces an uncertain future.
Prev
Next
August 18, 2013
The tectonic shifts changing the global media landscape are rolling through Southeastern New England, right on schedule.
The media empire of the Providence Journal’s parent company, Dallas-based A.H. Belo, has been coming apart for years, and now, with the sale last week of its Riverside, California, operation, the Press-Enterprise, down to just two main properties. The hope here is that the Projo will, too, be sold before long and end the chronic and debilitating cycle of downsizing for the newsroom and bonuses for the executive suite that has marked the Belo regime.
Prev
Next
October 23, 2013
For John Henry, the St. Louis Cardinals may pale in comparison to the challenges he faces with the Telegram & Gazette and the Boston Globe. In Worcester, he’s now dealing with a temporary restraining order that blocks his purchase of the two papers. In Boston, the Globe’s headquarters sit on land that is highly contaminated.
Prev
Next
October 24, 2013
Judge Shannon Frison of Worcester Superior Court has lifted an injunction blocking the sale of the Boston Globe, and affiliated Worcester Times & Gazette, to Red Sox owner John Henry. On Thursday afternoon, the judge ruled removed the order which was requested as part of a lawsuit filed by former Telegram & Gazette adult carriers.
Related Articles
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.
Email to a friend
Permalink
Follow us on Pinterest Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read It