Par Ridder did no wrong, says Papa Tony

Embattled Star Tribune Publisher Par Ridder and two colleagues have the summer to sweat out whether they'll be ordered off of their jobs.

The judge officiating the courtroom battle between the Minneapolis paper and its rival St. Paul Pioneer Press said Wednesday that it could be at least two months before he decides whether to grant the Pioneer Press the temporary injunction it wants to block Ridder and two other ex-Pioneer Press employees from working at the Star Tribune for a year.

"I'd be real surprised if that's before the end of the summer," Ramsey County District Court Judge David Higgs told the court Wednesday.

Written closing arguments are due July 16.

Higgs comments closed a three-day injunction hearing, part of a Pioneer Press lawsuit against the Star Tribune that accuses Ridder and the two other employees of stealing confidential information and breaking noncompete agreements as they exited for their new jobs in March. The job hop also netted Ridder a $600,000 severance package, Pioneer Press attorney Phil Sechler noted in court.

At issue in the hearing was whether the noncompete agreements of Ridder, Jennifer Parratt and Kevin Desmond are valid, and whether their presence at the Star Tribune creates "irreparable harm" to the competing Pioneer Press. Parratt was hired as director of niche publications for the Star Tribune and Desmond is senior vice president of operations.

A key highlight Wednesday was a videotaped appearance by Tony Ridder, Par Ridder's father and former head of the dismantled Knight Ridder newspaper chain to which the Pioneer Press belonged. In an odd "Father Knows Best" courtroom moment, the elder Ridder beamed down from a large screen on the wall, testifying that Par "had full authority" to waive the noncompete agreements without getting approval from higher-ups at the Knight Ridder chain.

"He did not have to get permission from corporate," Tony Ridder said.

Tony Ridder also testified that Art Brisbane, former senior vice president of operations for Knight Ridder, told him: "I believe I gave him permission, I just don't remember it." In videotaped testimony shown Wednesday, Brisbane was indecisive about whether Ridder would have needed corporate approval to waive the noncompetes, including his own.

Click on the headline to read the full story by Jennifer Bjorhus of the Pioneer Press