Friday, November 03, 2006

Judge asked to stop Examiner distribution

An angry Baltimore County resident, who happens to be a lawyer, has gone to court to force the Baltimore Examiner to stop delivering newspapers to his driveway every day. According to the Baltimore Sun, Joel L. Levin has filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order against the free newspaper owned by billionaire oilman Phil Anschutz. The article says:

    The papers are not only litter, Levin said, but when he's out of town, an invitation to burglars. In court documents filed this week, Levin said he wants to go to Florida and that he's afraid of what will happen if The Examiner keeps coming.

    "It's not just me," said Levin, who subscribes to The Sun and the business publication Barron's. "A lot of people around me are very frustrated. There's some irritation that we can't control the paper."

    In Baltimore's Federal Hill neighborhood, residents have put signs in windows warning carriers to stop leaving The Examiner. "We have enough battles keeping our streets clean," said Keith Losoya, former president of the neighborhood association and a candidate for state Senate in the 46th District. "This periodical gets blown around and just adds to our trash issues."

    In a column in the Oct. 26 edition of The Examiner, publisher Phelps appeared to acknowledge the complaints: "If we've failed to stop your delivery quickly, I'm truly sorry. We don't want you to get it if you won't read it."

Similar distribution problems have been reported at the Examiners in Washington and San Francisco, but this may be the first lawsuit that has been filed.