Owner of Newspaper Sues D.A. Over Search of Office

The owner of the legal newspaper Metropolitan News-Enterprise sued Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the May 2 search of the newspaper’s offices and Cooley’s explanations of it.

During the search, reporters and other staff had to leave the building for three hours, and an edition was delayed.

The investigators, who were probing allegations of corruption in South Gate, were seeking material relating to a legal advertisement a law firm had placed in the paper.

The paper’s owner, Roger M. Grace, eventually provided the material under a search warrant.

The complaint filed Monday alleges the warrant was invalid.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Cooley, said the district attorney would have no immediate comment about the suit.

He had not been served yet, she said.

Grace alleges in the suit that during the search, Cooley “did not even attempt to provide a justification” for closing the paper and removing the staff.

He also alleges that a press release and letter written by Cooley to explain the search “were false and defamatory, calculated to harm the reputation and standing of the Metropolitan News Co. and to deflect criticism of the rash and unconstitutional raid by the district attorney.”

Cooley had insisted that Grace failed to cooperate with his investigation, necessitating the search.