Chicago Retailer Sues Newspaper Over Circulation D
Chicago, IL, July 12--A carpet store headquartered in Chicago filed suit on Thursday against the Tribune Co., alleging that the company's newspapers defrauded advertisers by inflating circulation figures.
The suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court by Olympic Carpet does not specifically name any of the Tribune company's 14 newspapers, which include Newsday. It comes one month after the Chicago-based media company said that circulation figures had been inflated at Newsday and at Hoy, a Spanish-language daily launched by Newsday and owned by Tribune.
Olympic Carpet declined to comment on the suit.
Gary Weitman, Tribune's vice president for corporate communication, said in a statement, "We take issues regarding circulation very seriously. ... We do have a copy of the complaint and our lawyers are reviewing it to determine its merit."
In February, four New York-based businesses filed a separate lawsuit against Tribune and Newsday alleging that circulation figures at Newsday and Hoy had been inflated.
That lawsuit prompted an internal audit of the newspapers, which found irregularities in a time period different than the one outlined in the suit, and resulted in an announcement last month that circulation figures at the newspapers would be sharply reduced.
