Businessman Awarded $7.5 Million in Libel Suit : Courts: Jurors find a Santa Barbara paper falsely linked Beverly Hills attorney Leonard Ross to the misdeeds of a former partner. The defense says it is weighing an appeal.

A jury Monday awarded Beverly Hills attorney and businessman Leonard M. Ross $7.5 million in damages from the Santa Barbara News-Press and its owner, the New York Times Co., ruling that they libeled him in investigative reports on his business career.

The verdict in Los Angeles Superior Court climaxed a four-week trial in which Ross maintained that the News-Press falsely linked him to the misdeeds of his former partner, Barry S. Marlin.

Ross, 49, who at the time the articles were printed was trying to establish a business and social life in Santa Barbara, said he was pleased jurors “understood the article and the misleading way it was written.”

“The thing that’s most important is the vindication of Mr. Ross’ reputation,” said his lawyer, Anthony M. Glassman.

“We’re quite disappointed by the outcome,” said defense lawyer Rex Heinke. He said the defendants will ask Judge Harvey A. Schneider to set aside the verdict and, if that fails, will “seriously consider an appeal.”

The lawsuit--which also named former News-Press business reporter Kathleen Sharp and editor David McCumber--stemmed from a lengthy November, 1988, story and a follow-up article in February, 1989. The stories were a detailed examination of past business deals and litigation involving Ross, who had become the largest shareholder in Santa Barbara Savings & Loan, then the city’s largest financial institution.

Ross’ lawyers sought to prove that the articles contained four false statements and had a defamatory “tenor and tone.” After deliberating 3 1/2 days, jurors agreed that three of the disputed statements were false.

Two of the statements concerned a pair of federal criminal investigations that took place in the 1970s, early in Ross’ business career. Jurors agreed with Ross that the News-Press falsely reported that he was a target of both probes, when in fact he was investigated only once.

A third erroneous statement involved a claim that a traffic accident, which severely injured a man who had been Ross’ opponent in several lawsuits, was actually attempted murder. The victim of the 1987 accident was Ross’ former attorney, Lynn B. Stites.

The News-Press correctly reported that Stites had claimed in a lawsuit that Ross tried to have him killed, but that the suit was dismissed. However, the paper also quoted a former Stites associate as saying the parking valet responsible for the accident never had been found--which Ross argued in the libel case was untrue and lent credence to the assassination claim.

The damages included $5 million for harm to Ross’ reputation and $2.5 million for emotional distress.

Defense lawyers had argued that the articles, including the disputed statements, were substantially true.

The lawsuit was filed in 1989; Sharp and McCumber have since left the News-Press. Sharp, now a free-lance writer, is a contributor to the Los Angeles Times.

Jurors approved the damage award on a 9-3 vote, but panel members said two jurors merely disagreed with the amount and only one was opposed to compensating Ross.

Ross has won millions of dollars in court battles before, and his victory in this case is expected to cement his reputation in Southern California legal circles as a formidable litigator. During the 1980s, while a defendant in lawsuits involving his business dealings, Ross won more than $20 million from lawsuits against insurance companies that refused to defend him.