Resolution Seen in Suit Against the O.C. Register : * Litigation: Lawyers for the newspaper and 20 former newspaper distributors suing it said that a trial should not be necessary in the multimillion-dollar action.

Although settlement negotiations are being extended for another month, lawyers for both the Orange County Register and 20 former newspaper distributors said Thursday that a resolution is near in the multimillion-dollar dispute and that a trial should not be necessary.

The independent distributors sued the Register last spring after the newspaper terminated their contracts. While no precise damage claim has been made, one lawyer in the case estimated a minimum of $3.6 million would be sought in a trial.

Orange County Superior Court Judge David H. Brickner on Thursday continued until Dec. 19 the settlement conference he is overseeing between the distributors’ lawyers and the Register’s attorney, which is designed to avoid a civil trial.

“There are some details to be ironed out but we’re pretty darned close to settlement,” said Robert Scott Dreher, attorney for one of the former distributors.

The Register’s attorney, Duffern Helsing, similarly said: “We’re optimistic (about settlement), and I think that goes for everybody.”

The comments contrast sharply with the harsh exchanges of the lawsuits. One suit, on behalf of 18 distributors, charged that the Register had dismissed the independent distributors as part of a scheme for “falsely reporting the circulation of the paper.” The Register denied the allegation.

Most of the former distributors’ anger was aimed at Patrick Elster, the Register’s then-vice president for circulation. Elster was dismissed in early September in the midst of a lengthy independent audit of the newspaper’s circulation that allegedly found irregularities and inaccuracies in the reported circulation.

Results of the Audit Bureau of Circulation’s review of the Register have not yet been made public, but on Oct. 26 the newspaper admitted the average circulation it claimed last spring has turned out to be substantially less. .

The Register last month filled Elster’s vice president for circulation position with John Scheuler, who attended Thursday’s settlement conference.

“I’m very optimistic this will be resolved,” said Taylor J. Daigneault, the attorney representing 18 of the former distributors.

Scheuler, in a brief interview, said, “I am hopeful for a win-win settlement.”