Newhalls Sued Over Plan for Rival Paper

The owner of the Newhall Signal sued Tony and Scott Newhall on Tuesday, charging them with breach of contract by starting a new paper, the Santa Clarita Valley Citizen, to compete with the Signal.

The suit was filed on behalf of Newhall Newspapers and Morris Newspaper Corp. of Savannah, Ga., in Los Angeles Superior Court. The suit does not name Ruth Newhall, the Signal’s former editor, who will edit the new paper scheduled to debut Sunday.

Tony Newhall and his parents quit the Signal’s top posts Aug. 9 in a stock dispute and announced a few days later their plans to launch a twice-weekly publication to serve the Santa Clarita Valley.

The suit says Tony Newhall, the Signal’s former publisher, signed a contract in 1983 pledging not to start a second Santa Clarita Valley paper when he sold his remaining shares of Signal stock to Morris for $779,186. The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to require Tony Newhall to abide by the agreement, said Allan Browne, Morris’ attorney.

Scott Newhall said Tuesday the contract is invalid in California, but he would not elaborate.

The suit asks the Newhalls to stop soliciting Signal employees and advertisers and not to make disparaging remarks about the Signal or its parent company. The suit also asks the court to prohibit the Newhalls from using Signal market research or files to start their paper.

Browne said the suit does not attempt to stop Scott and Ruth Newhall from running the new newspaper.

“We welcome open, fair competition,” Browne said. “What we object to is the underhanded tactics that have been used in an attempt to destroy what we bought and had paid millions of dollars for.”

Browne said the suit does not try to block publication of the Santa Clarita Valley Citizen. “We’re not trying to keep them from putting out their issue,” Brown said. “Scott and Ruth can run that paper. Tony can’t.”