California IN BRIEF : SAN JOSE : Newspaper Files Suit Against Union Chief

The San Jose Mercury News has filed a lawsuit against the former chief of the San Jose hotel workers union, claiming his 1983 libel lawsuit against the newspaper was an attempt to intimidate it and a violation of free press rights. The newspaper claimed the lawsuit filed by Frank Marolda damaged its reputation and is asking for $1 million in damages and recovery of “a significant amount” for legal fees, according to Mercury News attorney Edward Davis. “It’s a combination of abuse of the process and malicious prosecution,” Davis said. “The union’s lawsuit was designed to send out a message to everyone else that if you write a negative story about the union, you’re going to be in trouble.” In late 1987, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge threw out Marolda’s lawsuit against the paper and two reporters. Marolda, then president of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders Union, Local 19, in San Jose, and the union objected to an article that appeared Oct. 24, 1982. The story described Marolda’s administration of the union and his problems connected to a U.S. Senate investigation of labor corruption.