Tallmadge man files federal
lawsuit against ABJ, owner
AKRON -- Akron Beacon Journal retiree John Olesky Jr. filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court here today against the ABJ and its owner, Canadian media mogul David Holmes Black.
Olesky Jr., of Tallmadge, filed the lawsuit -- the second of two lawsuits filed regarding broken retiree-benefits promises -- alleging that in 2006, ABJ broke its promises to retirees and one of their unions, according to his attorney Subodh Chandra.
Olesky Jr. belonged to the Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild Local 1.
Chandra said that Olesky Jr., along with other retirees, were promised when they retired that they would receive low-cost prescription-drug benefits for themselves and their spouses for the rest of their lives.
The lawsuit alleges that, immediately after Black took control of ABJ, ABJ breached its promises and replaced retirees low-cost benefits with high-cost plans.
On May 13, in the other lawsuit that was filed before this one, U.S. District Court Judge David Dowd issued a preliminary injunction against ABJ and Black, ordering them to restore prescription-drug benefits to retirees from another union, the Communications Workers of America Local 14514.
ABJ and Black are appealing Dowd's ruling.
The lawsuit filed today seeks the same kind of injunction for retirees from Ohio Newspaper Guild Local 1, damages and attorneys' fees.
ABJ Vice President and Editor Bruce Winges referred all comment to the ABJ attorney Brett K. Bacon, with Frantz Ward LLP.
"We haven't seen (today's lawsuit) but this is about the kind of coverage, not the absence of coverage," Bacon tells Channel 3.
"We have complied with (Dowd's) order in the first lawsuit and would, even though we have not seen it, likely do the same for this lawsuit," Bacon added.
Bacon said ABJ is "trying to figure out, in today's economic marketplace, how we can get them coverage."
Click on the headline to read the story on WKYC-Channel 3.
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