Jackshaw Pontiac, Inc. v. Cleveland Press Publishing Co.

102 F.R.D. 183, 39 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 811, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16438
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedMay 24, 1984
DocketCiv. A. C 83-4481
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 102 F.R.D. 183 (Jackshaw Pontiac, Inc. v. Cleveland Press Publishing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jackshaw Pontiac, Inc. v. Cleveland Press Publishing Co., 102 F.R.D. 183, 39 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 811, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16438 (N.D. Ohio 1984).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ANN ALDRICH, District Judge.

On June 17, 1982, the Cleveland Press Publishing Co. (“Press Publishing”) and its president, Joseph Cole, closed Cleveland’s daily afternoon newspaper, the Cleveland Press (“Press”). Hundreds of employees lost their jobs and Cleveland was left with only one daily newspaper. The Plain Dealer Publishing Company (“Plain Dealer”), publisher of the surviving paper, purchased the Press’ subscription list, an advertising insert, certain comics, and rights to editorial columnists. It also hired some Press employees.

On February 23, 1983, eighty-nine former Press employees filed a six-count complaint against the Plain Dealer, Press Publishing, Cole, and two other defendants. The complaint alleged that defendants violated federal labor laws by breaching the Press’ collective bargaining agreements and violated antitrust laws by conspiring to close the Press and to provide the Plain Dealer with a monopoly in the Cleveland daily newspaper market. Four of the five defendants moved to dismiss. On September 1, the motions were denied. Province v. Cleveland Press Publishing Co., 571 F.Supp. 855 (N.D.Ohio1983). The parties are complying with a discovery schedule and the case is tentatively scheduled for trial on November 12, 1984.

After the Province opinion was issued, two additional antitrust complaints were filed as related cases pursuant to Local Civil Rule 7.09(4)(c). This is the first of those cases.1 Jackshaw Pontiac, Inc. (“Jackshaw Pontiac”) and Willis Appliance & TV, Inc. (“Willis Appliance”) assert that [185]*185Press Publishing and Cole conspired with the Plain Dealer to close down the Press and establish a monopoly. They allege violations of sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 1px solid var(--green-border)">2, and sections 4 and 16 of the Clayton Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 15 and 15/26" style="color:var(--green);border-bottom:1px solid var(--green-border)">26. Subject matter jurisdiction rests on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1337 and 15 U.S.C. § 15. Plaintiffs now move this Court to certify this case as a class action pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a) and (b)(3) on behalf of three classes of advertisers allegedly injured by the conspiracy to close down the Press.

In reviewing such a motion, a court must be particularly concerned with the adequacy of representation, because the judgment in a class action determines the rights of large numbers of class members who will never appear in the courtroom. A court must also remember that not all wrongs may be remedied by a class action, and that, however serious, mere allegations of large-scale conspiracy are not sufficient to satisfy the constitutionally-derived requirements of Rule 23. Jackshaw Pontiac and Willis Appliance, like the plaintiffs in the Province case, raise disturbing questions about the circumstances surrounding the demise of the Press. But they have failed to satisfy the clearly defined requirements for certification of a class action. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion to Certify Class is denied.

I.

A.

Plaintiffs’ two-count Amended Complaint, filed on January 6, 1984, summarizes the alleged antitrust conspiracy in paragraph 7:

In order to acquire, control and dominate advertising in the Cleveland and Northern Ohio geographic market, and in order to foreclose competition from acquisition of and access to such advertisers, The Press and Plain Dealer entered into an unlawful combination, conspiracy, agreement and contract in restraint of the aforesaid interstate trade and commerce by which the Press agreed to discontinue its publication and not to sell its publication or any of its assets to any competition other than the Plain Dealer in return for which the Plain Dealer agreed'to pay The Press a sum of money, the exact amount of which is unknown to plaintiff, but which plaintiff believes and therefore alleges to be in excess of Fourteen Million Dollars ($14,000,000.00) purportedly for subscription and advertisers list which defendant Plain Dealer already knew and which in fact were of absolutely no value whatsoever to the defendant Plain Dealer.

The consequences of this conspiracy are said to be that prices of advertising space in the Plain Dealer “were raised, fixed, stabilized and maintained at non-competitive levels” and that advertising customers “have been deprived of free and open competition in the sale of newspaper advertising space.” Amended Complaint ¶ 8a-b, at 4. Plaintiffs now must allegedly purchase advertising “at prices higher than prices which plaintiff [sic] would have had to pay under natural conditions of competition in the absence of any such conspiracy....” Id. 1111, at 5.

The class affected by the conspiracy alleged in Count I is vaguely defined as follows:

This action is brought on behalf of Plaintiffs as well as each and all persons, firms, partnerships, associations and corporations similarly situated who are advertisers through various media, including the newspaper print media and who are or have been advertisers in the newspaper known as “The Cleveland Press” and “The Plain Dealer” which are owned and operated by the respective defendants as hereinafter described. Advertisers are engaged in one or more lines of commerce and engage directly or indirectly with the public, and fall into three general categories: local, regional and national. Each of these three categories of advertisers buy space in the print media. Such advertisers are located within and without the District and are so nu[186]*186merous as to make it impracticable to join all members as plaintiffs____

Id. ¶ 2, at 2.

Count II comprises allegations made solely by Willis Appliance, which claims that from late 1980 until June of 1982 “Willis entered into an agreement with Cole to trade advertising lineage for merchandise at retail prices” pursuant to which “Willis obtained greater advertising lineage than it otherwise would have been able to obtain.” Id. ¶ 15 at 6. He proposes to represent a class of “other persons, firms, partnerships and corporations [who entered into similar agreements] whereby goods and services were exchanged for advertising lineage.” Id. H 16. Paragraph 17 states the proposed class' cause of action:

As a result of the illegal contract, combination and conspiracy in restraint of trade, Willis and other members of the class have been deprived of the opportunity of obtaining advertising lineage in exchange for merchandise and services.

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Bluebook (online)
102 F.R.D. 183, 39 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 811, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16438, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jackshaw-pontiac-inc-v-cleveland-press-publishing-co-ohnd-1984.