Ruble v. Redden
| Decision Date | 26 December 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 44974,44974 |
| Citation | 517 P.2d 1124,1973 OK 157 |
| Parties | Edna E. RUBLE, Appellee, v. Oran REDDEN et al., Appellants. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
William A. Vassar, Chandler, Meacham, Meacham & Meacham, Clinton, for appellants.
Andrew J. Moore, Woodward, for appellee.
Erwin & Butts, Chandler, for amicus curiae, Donald F. Farrell.
The question presented is whether a newspaper which meets all the other requirements for publication of legal notices should be denied the official status of a legal publication because its newspapers are not reproduced within the county.
Under the facts and circumstances of the instant case, we hold that the requirement of printing set forth in 25 O.S.1971, § 106(c) should not be construed in its strict literal sense to deny the papers of plaintiffs in error the official status of legal publications.
Title 25, O.S. § 106 was amended in 1973, subsequent to filing of the appeal. The effect of this amendment will be treated in this opinion.
Reddens, appellants, defendants in the trial court, are owners and publishers of the Dewey County News, 51 years old, 1579 circulation; Leedey Star, 36 years old, 536 circulation; and, Vici Beacon, 59 years old, 944 circulation.
Edna Ruble, appellee, plaintiff in the trial court, is owner and publisher of the Taloga Times Advocate, which is 76 years old, 769 circulation, and along with her son and daughter-in-law, own two other newspapers in Dewey County; Vici News, 3 years old, 298 circulation; and, Seiling News Record, 3 years old, 1079 circulation.
The Reddens, defendants, have published legal notices in each of their newspapers since their inception. Plaintiffs complain, however, of Reddens continuing to publish legal notices after June 26, 1969, the date on which defendants began reproducing their newspapers outside the county.
The evidence is undisputed.
Defendants' newspapers are all distributed in Dewey County, Oklahoma, at Vici, Leedey, and Seiling, respectively. An office is maintained at each location for the respective newspapers. One of the defendant partners manages the newspaper at Vici, and another partner manages the newspaper at Seiling. An employee maintains the office at Leedey.
Each newspaper is distributed under a second class mailing privilege in Dewey County. Advertising and subscriptions are solicited; news is gathered; and, the papers are edited at the central office located in Seiling, Dewey County.
The material for the newspapers is typed; the typed material is put into columns; headlines are produced; and, advertising is prepared in the Seiling office. All this material is then pasted onto a 'mock-up sheet' exactly as it will appear when the newspaper is issued, except for local pictures. The mock-up sheets are then taken to Cheyenne in adjoining Roger Mills County, where the defendants have another newspaper. There the newspapers are reproduced by the off-set method. After reproduction, the finished newspapers are returned to the local offices in Dewey County for distribution. Until June 26, 1969, the papers were not taken to Cheyenne. On that date the Reddens began using the off-set method of printing.
In her second amended petition, plaintiff complains that defendants' publishing of legal notices violates 25 O.S.1971, § 106, and 'is injurious to the profits and good will of the plaintiff's newspaper business and is unfair competition . . .'; 'that such action will work irreparable injury to the plaintiff's said newspaper business . . .'
For her first cause of action, plaintiff prays for an injunction restraining defendants from publishing any legal notices in their newspapers until the newspapers are printed in Dewey County; and, for her second cause of action, plaintiff asks for a 'declaratory judgment determining that said newspapers are not newspapers entitled to publish legal notices.'
The trial court rendered judgment for the plaintiff of both causes of action.
The pertinent portion of 25 O.S.1971, § 106, reads as follows:
'No legal notice, advertisement, or publication of any kind required or provided by any of the laws of the State of Oklahoma to be published in a newspaper shall have any force or effect as such, unless the same be published in a newspaper of the county which, during a period of one hundred four (104) consecutive weeks immediately prior to the first publication of such notice, advertisement or publication:
(d) has been continuously and uninterruptedly published in such county.'
The above statute was amended by Session Laws 1973, c. 5, sec. 1, effective March 6, 1973, by adding the provision giving the district court the power, under specified conditions, to allow a newspaper to retain its legal qualification even though it is printed outside the county. The conditions set forth in the amendment are as follows:
'Such order shall be issued by the district court upon satisfactory proof (1) that the newspaper can be printed more efficiently outside the county, (2) that the newspaper complies with all requirements for a legal newspaper as provided in this statute, and (3) that the said newspaper shall be entered in the United States mails in the city or town and in the county in which the newspaper is otherwise qualified to publish legal notices, advertisements or publications of any kind required or provided for by any of the laws of the State of Oklahoma.'
We find that the 1973 am...
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