Posted Apr. 25, 2008
A legal battle is brewing over the now-defunct bi-weekly Dover Independent News that pits City Councilor David Scott against former friends and political allies who put money into the paper.
Several of the paper's backers have filed suit against Scott and other investors claiming they misused company resources and orchestrated the paper's demise to start a similar publication. In doing so, the investors say, Scott and others bilked them out of thousands of dollars.
Edward and Katherine Bleiler, Don and Sue Medbery and Andrew and Judith Picariello filed suit earlier this month in Strafford County Superior court against fellow investors including Scott, his wife Lydia, the paper's former editor Caren Peloso, her parents Ray and Norma Curti, and investors Ted Anglace, David Lawton and Dante Stephenson. They are also suing the Dover City News Corp., the newspaper that Peloso and her parents founded after the Dover Independent News stopped publishing.
Not long ago, David Scott, Edward Bleiler and Don Medbery were political allies and friends who worked on a number of causes together, notably the citywide spending cap. That friendship has since fallen apart, much like the paper.
"No, I'm not friends with him," Bleiler said of Scott. "The friendship is over. He used me for my money. That's all he was interested in."
Tony Soltani, who represents Scott, Peloso and her parents, denied much of the suit's allegations and said a jury "will have a good chuckle" when they hear the evidence.
"The events did not occur as the plaintiffs alleged they occur," Soltani said. "The stockholders and the board of directors of the former newspaper tried their very best to maintain the corporation."
The suit claims that the plaintiffs put $34,500 into the Dover Independent News, out of a total $80,000 in seed capital, but have been left with nothing to show for their investment because of bad business decisions made by fellow shareholders.
With $26,000 invested, Edward Bleiler was the company's biggest shareholder and president, according to the suit. In October 2007, he issued a memo forbidding the publication of any more issues of the paper because there wasn't enough money, but the defendants published anyway, fronting their own cash to pay for the printing, the suit says.
"The publication of the additional issues resulted in a lost of at least $34,500, rendering DIN insolvent and unable to pay its debts in the ordinary course of business," the suit reads, noting that the upfront money was later filed as a liability against the company that the shareholders could be repaid for.
The paper was founded in May 2007 and was touted as an alternative voice in the city. It published until February 2008.
After the Dover Independent News folded, Peloso and the Curtis formed a similar publication titled the Dover City News. The suit seeks to take all revenue from the new paper, claiming the defendants improperly dismantled the Dover Independent News in order to supplant it.
Peloso became well-known earlier this year when she testified in the trial of former congressional candidate Gary Dodds.
She was among the first people on the scene of his April 2006 crash on the Spaulding Turnpike. She testified that she did not believe Dodds' story that he became disoriented following the crash and fled across the Bellamy River.
Papers filed with the Secretary of State's office show that on Feb. 19, shareholders voted Bleiler out as president and installed investor Ted Anglace in his place. Incorporation papers for the Dover City News filed on Feb. 22 show that Anglace gave that company permission to use the Dover City News name. The consent was necessary because the paper's name was so similar to the Dover Independent news.
Soltani said the Dover City News paid $10,000 to the Dover Independent News for use of the name and that the money went to pay down corporate debts, which he did not detail.
"Of course a new entity is going to try and capitalize on what the old company had already established," Soltani said, adding, "It's a business decision that's not prohibited by any law. It's the law of capitalism."
Soltani said the Dover Independent News Corp. was dissolved at a shareholder meeting in February, but it's unclear when.
One thing that is clear is that the infighting and hurt feelings on both sides show no signs of ending any time soon.
The 20-page lawsuit levies many accusations, including that Scott used the paper to tout his own political career, and that he, the Curtis and Peloso forced out the paper's only sales representative because they wanted to hire a friend for the position, but later could not generate enough advertising.
The suit estimates the lost revenue to be "in excess of $436,800."
-- New Hampshire Union Leader
