LOS ANGELES : Remainder of Judge’s Suit Against Paper Dismissed

The last two causes of action in a Los Angeles Superior Court judge’s suit against a small legal newspaper have been dismissed.

Judge Ricardo A. Torres had sued the Metropolitan News for libel, among other allegations, after employees of the paper circulated a memo at the County Courthouse lampooning Torres, who was then presiding judge.

In the mock memo on Superior Court stationery, Torres pompously describes himself as “a judicial officer with august status” who was suspending “the election of my successor until such time as I determine it to be appropriate to hold such election.”

An appellate court ruled in February that the memo was an obvious parody and ordered that the libel portion of Torres’ suit be dismissed. On Monday, retired Court of Appeal Justice Winslow Christian, sitting as a Superior Court judge, granted the newspaper’s request for summary judgment against Torres’ remaining allegations--invasion of privacy and conspiracy.

Metropolitan News Publisher Roger M. Grace said the newspaper’s conflict with Torres can be traced to its aggressive coverage of his tenure as presiding judge.

In 1992, Torres told the court’s administrative staff, 234 judges and 60 commissioners, that the county would pay for one subscription to a legal publication. Most selected the Daily Journal, a larger publication. Grace said the loss cost his paper $34,000 a year.