The Lansing State Journal Reports:
Local Developer Paul Vlahakis is suing the company that owns the Lansing City Pulse and one of its reporters for a December report accusing Vlahakis of owing $327,288 in delinquent taxes.
The lawsuit was filed Monday against To the Max, LLC, which owns the weekly publication, and reporter Neal McNamara.
Attorney Andrew Abood said the story caused Vlahakis, “Humiliation, mortification, and embarrassment”, because it falsely claimed Vlahakis owed delinquent taxes on 101 S. Washington Square property. A limited liability company, 101 S. Washington Development, is responsible for the taxes, not Vlahakis, Abood said.
Abood and Vlahakis requested a front-page retraction before filing suit. “The way they published this article, it was published as a most wanted ad,” Abood said. “We asked them to publish a retraction. Ultimately, they never did.”
Berl Schwartz, Lansing City Pulse’s editor and publisher, said he was expecting a meeting to negotiate a clarification when he learned that his publication was sued.
“I don’t think a retraction is in order,” Schwartz said. “What we printed was substantially true.”
---From Staff and Wire Reports
Local Developer Paul Vlahakis is suing the company that owns the Lansing City Pulse and one of its reporters for a December report accusing Vlahakis of owing $327,288 in delinquent taxes.
The lawsuit was filed Monday against To the Max, LLC, which owns the weekly publication, and reporter Neal McNamara.
Attorney Andrew Abood said the story caused Vlahakis, “Humiliation, mortification, and embarrassment”, because it falsely claimed Vlahakis owed delinquent taxes on 101 S. Washington Square property. A limited liability company, 101 S. Washington Development, is responsible for the taxes, not Vlahakis, Abood said.
Abood and Vlahakis requested a front-page retraction before filing suit. “The way they published this article, it was published as a most wanted ad,” Abood said. “We asked them to publish a retraction. Ultimately, they never did.”
Berl Schwartz, Lansing City Pulse’s editor and publisher, said he was expecting a meeting to negotiate a clarification when he learned that his publication was sued.
“I don’t think a retraction is in order,” Schwartz said. “What we printed was substantially true.”
---From Staff and Wire Reports
Labels: news
