McCaw ordered to pay Roberts $900K

By COLBY FRAZIER — Feb. 6, 2010

Santa Barbara News-Press owner Wendy McCaw has been ordered to pay the paper’s former editor, Jerry Roberts, more than $900,000 in legal expenses, a spokesman for Roberts confirmed.

An arbitrator issued the award last October. The details became public yesterday after McCaw’s attorneys filed a petition in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, which seeks the award’s reversal.

Roberts, who was the paper’s executive editor for four years prior to resigning in 2006 amid accusations that McCaw was interfering with objective news reporting, called the award “a decisive victory for ethical journalism.”

“Ethics, not money, was always the issue for me,” he said in a prepared statement. “I am elated to finally be so fully vindicated, and I’m also glad to recover most of my family’s financial outlay for my defense.”

Roberts’ resignation from the paper was followed a mass exodus of reporters and top editors, many of whom resigned, and some of whom were fired, for an ultimately successful attempt to unionize. The Graphic Communications Conference, an arm of the Teamster’s Union, now represents the paper’s newsroom.

Shortly after Roberts resigned, Ampersand Publishing, LLC, the parent company of the News-Press, which is wholly owned by McCaw, filed multiple claims in arbitration against Roberts, including breach of contract.

Roberts countered with his own claim, alleging wrongful termination, according to Dave Hyams, a spokesman for Roberts.

Ampersand countered with another claim, seeking $25 million in damages.

But the arbitrator, Deborah Rothman, rejected Ampersand’s claims. According to a news release from a law firm that represents Roberts, the arbitrator found that Ampersand’s true objective in the arbitration was to punish Roberts in “retaliation for speaking out about ethics at the paper.”

However, the arbitrator also dismissed Roberts’ claim.

When it came to who would fork out cash for legal fees, the arbitrator found that Roberts was the prevailing party, and that Ampersand should pay for attorney’s fees, which total $748,022, as well as arbitration costs, which topped out at $167,516.

“The arbitrator didn’t find anything to support any of the claims,” Hyams said last night in a telephone interview, “but ruled that the whole process was started by Wendy in retribution and that Jerry was the prevailing party and therefore that he needed to be made whole.”

McCaw’s attorney, A. Barry Cappello, called the arbitrator’s award a “miscarriage of justice.”

Cappello said the News-Press would “take every step” to see that the award is reversed. “It is a sad example of some of the abuses that can take place when parties are outside the actual court system,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It is with the judiciary that we will now pursue our petition to seek redress and reversal of this arbitrators (sic) invalid ruling.”

Hyams said Roberts’ attorneys would file a petition in Superior Court on Tuesday to seek a court order that would force McCaw to pay the award.

If and when the court rules in favor of Roberts, Hyams said McCaw could appeal, though she would first have to pay 120 percent of the award, which likely wouldn’t go immediately to Roberts. Without this payment, Hyams explained, parties who lose in arbitration would have little incentive to pay up after awards are handed down.

“Roberts is delighted that the math went his way and that it all came out OK,” Hyams said. “This chapter ended in a victory.”

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What goes around : 2/6/2010

'McCaw’s attorney, A. Barry Cappello, called the arbitrator’s award a “miscarriage of justice.”' He is correct. Certainly with a better attorney McCaw would have won. Perhaps she should sue Cappello.

SB Citizen

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GO Jerry : 2/6/2010

McCaw should have to pay all the good people of the News Press she had fired or resigned she needs to learn she cannot have a PET Paper and only report on what she wants congrats Jerry....

happy in solvang

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: 2/7/2010

Paying that amount for Mick-Ahh is akin to moving the decimal point over a couple of places to the $90.00 range. Money is not her object as she never made it herself; it was the result of marrying up.

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another white newspaper : 2/7/2010

It's white paper, but black ink.
What's up with that??

literary activist

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It's all Rob Lowe's fault : 2/8/2010

If Rob didn't come to Santa Barbara to build that mega mansion, none of this would have happened. He should move back to Hollywood.

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HEY "HAPPY IN SOLVANG"... : 2/9/2010

Ever hear of FOX NEWS??

wowo man

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victory : 2/10/2010

the joke is also on Cappello! Hurrah

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