Injunction granted
Judge halts transfer of legal ads to out-of-state paper
A judge has temporarily halted the county’s attempt to transfer The Catoosa County News’ legal organ status to an out-of-state newspaper.
Senior Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs of Marietta issued an injunction Wednesday, Dec. 27, effectively stopping the transfer, which was scheduled to take place Jan. 1, 2018.
Three Catoosa County constitutional officers — Sheriff Gary Sisk, Probate Court Judge Jeff Hullender and Superior Court Clerk Tracy Brown — want to turn CCN’s legal advertising over to the Times Free Press (TFP), a newspaper in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Grubbs was brought in to hear the case because Georgia law prohibits a county’s judge from presiding when it involves another judge in the circuit.
CCN’s attorney, Bob Berry of Rome, Ga., argued during a hearing Friday, Dec. 22, that granting legal organ status to TFP would cause “”irreparable harm” to the CCN. “Within a short period of time, ... The Catoosa County News would go out of business,” Berry told the judge.
Legal ads are a major source of revenue for most local newspapers. They include notices such as sheriff’s sales, probate court citations, bankruptcies, foreclosures, and more, which is why the decision on legal organ status is left to the sheriff, probate judge and Superior Court clerk.
Berry said that even if the CCN won on an injunction on appeal to a higher court, which could takes months, the newspaper “would not be able to come back.”
Granting an injunction will not harm the county financially, Berry said.
County Attorney Chad Young argued that CCN’s claim of “financial harm” isn’t