Judge Denies News America's Post-Trial Motions in Wayne County Case
December 01 2009 - 4:31PM
PR Newswire (US)
LIVONIA, Mich., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Valassis
(NYSE:VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing
services companies, announced today that the Honorable Michael F.
Sapala of Michigan's Wayne County Circuit Court has denied the
post-trial motions made by News America (News), a division of News
Corp., for a new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict
with respect to the July 2009 trial. This ruling leaves intact the
jury award of $300 million to Valassis for compensatory damages. In
the trial, Valassis claimed unfair competition and tortious
interference by News. The jury's unanimous verdict found News
liable for both counts. In his opinion, in addition to finding
ample evidence in the record to support Valassis' claim of unfair
competition, Judge Sapala noted, "With regard to plaintiff's claim
of tortious interference, there is sufficient record evidence to
support the jury's verdict particularly with regard to defendant's
deceptive, fraudulent and unethical behavior." "We are pleased with
Judge Sapala's opinion, and we look forward to moving ahead with
our two remaining cases against News," said Todd L. Wiseley,
Valassis General Counsel and Senior Vice President of
Administration. As previously announced, United States District
Court Judge Arthur J. Tarnow formally scheduled Valassis' federal
trial against News for Feb. 2, 2010. Valassis originally filed the
action in the United States District Court, Eastern District of
Michigan on Jan. 18, 2006 alleging violations of the Sherman Act.
Generally, the complaint alleges that News has improperly leveraged
and tied the purchase of its in-store promotion and advertising
services to the purchase of space in its free-standing insert (FSI)
and that News has attempted to monopolize the FSI market. In
September 2009, Judge Tarnow denied all motions for summary
judgment and established the trial schedule. In addition to the
Federal antitrust law claims, Valassis has a lawsuit pending
against News in the Supreme Court of the State of California for
the County of Los Angeles raising claims under California's
Cartwright, Unfair Competition and Unfair Practices Acts. This case
is not currently scheduled for trial. Under the relevant Federal
and California laws, any compensatory damages awarded in either of
the remaining cases will be automatically tripled by the respective
court. News has publicly indicated that they plan to appeal the
Wayne County verdict to the Michigan Court of Appeals. For more
information regarding these lawsuits, see Valassis' most recently
filed Form 10-Q. About Valassis Valassis is one of the nation's
leading media and marketing services companies, offering
unparalleled reach and scale to more than 15,000 advertisers. Its
RedPlum media portfolio delivers value on a weekly basis to over
100 million shoppers across a multi-media platform - in-home,
in-store and in-motion. Through its interactive offering -
redplum.com - consumers will find compelling national and local
deals online. Headquartered in Livonia, Michigan with approximately
7,000 associates in 28 states and eight countries, Valassis is
widely recognized for its associate and corporate citizenship
programs, including its America's Looking for Its Missing ChildrenĀ®
program. Valassis companies include Valassis Direct Mail, Inc.,
Valassis Canada, Promotion Watch, Valassis Relationship Marketing
Systems, LLC and NCH Marketing Services, Inc. For more information,
visit http://www.valassis.com/ or http://www.redplum.com/. Safe
Harbor and Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements found in
this document constitute "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among
others, the following: price competition from our existing
competitors; new competitors in any of our businesses; a shift in
client preference for different promotional materials, strategies
or coupon delivery methods, including, without limitation, as a
result of declines in newspaper circulation; an unforeseen increase
in paper or postal costs; changes which affect the businesses of
our clients and lead to reduced sales promotion spending,
including, without limitation, a decrease of marketing budgets
which are generally discretionary in nature and easier to reduce in
the short-term than other expenses; our substantial indebtedness,
and ability to refinance such indebtedness, if necessary, and our
ability to incur additional indebtedness, may affect our financial
health; the financial condition, including bankruptcies, of our
clients, suppliers, senior secured credit facility lenders or other
counterparties; our ability to comply with or obtain modifications
or waivers of the financial covenants contained in our debt
documents; certain covenants in our debt documents could adversely
restrict our financial and operating flexibility; ongoing
disruptions in the credit markets that make it difficult for
companies to secure financing; fluctuations in the amount, timing,
pages, weight and kinds of advertising pieces from period to
period, due to a change in our clients' promotional needs,
inventories and other factors; our failure to attract and retain
qualified personnel may affect our business and results of
operations; a rise in interest rates could increase our borrowing
costs; we may be required to recognize additional impairment
charges against goodwill and intangible assets in the future; court
approval of the settlement agreement among the parties to the
pending ADVO securities class action lawsuit; our current
litigation with News America Incorporated may be costly and divert
management's attention; possible governmental regulation or
litigation affecting aspects of our business; the credit and
liquidity crisis in the financial markets could continue to affect
our results of operations and financial condition; reductions of
our credit ratings may have an adverse impact on our business;
counterparties to our secured credit facility and interest rate
swaps may not be able to fulfill their obligations due to
disruptions in the global credit markets; uncertainty in the
application and interpretation of applicable state sales tax laws
may expose us to additional sales tax liability; and general
economic conditions, whether nationally, internationally, or in the
market areas in which we conduct our business, including the
adverse impact of the ongoing economic downturn on the marketing
expenditures and activities of our clients and prospective clients
as well as our vendors, with whom we rely on to provide us with
quality materials at the right prices and in a timely manner. These
and other risks and uncertainties related to our business are
described in greater detail in our filings with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission, including our reports on Forms
10-K and 10-Q and the foregoing information should be read in
conjunction with these filings. We disclaim any intention or
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
DATASOURCE: Valassis CONTACT: Mary Broaddus, Director, Investor
Relations and Corporate Communications, +1-734-591-7375, Web Site:
http://www.valassis.com/
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