Traverse City Record-Eagle

Leelanau County

April 30, 2009

Court: No venue change in defamation suit

Developer wanted suit against paper moved downstate

BY ART BUKOWSKI

SUTTONS BAY -- Proceedings in a defamation lawsuit against a Leelanau County newspaper should be held in the county, an appeals court ruled.

Downstate developer Marcus Yono filed suit in Livingston County against the Leelanau Enterprise and Enterprise reporter Eric Carlson in 2007. Yono alleged they harmed his business with inaccurate and negative coverage of a Suttons Bay housing development called BayView.

The Enterprise, a weekly newspaper, successfully moved to have the case transferred to Leelanau County. Yono appealed that decision, but the Michigan Court of Appeals in a recent ruling said the suit should be dealt with locally.

"Defendant Leelanau Enterprise, Inc. has its corporate registered office in Leelanau County. It also prepares and prints its newspaper solely in Leelanau County ... " the ruling stated. "Accordingly, venue is proper in Leelanau County ... because the original injury occurred there when the allegedly defamatory words were printed."

The lawsuit is in inactive status in Leelanau County; there have been no hearings or filings on it since July, a court spokeswoman said. Yono's attorney did not return a call for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Enterprise owner and Publisher Alan Campbell said the appeals court ruling makes sense.

"I guess we're just glad it's back in Leelanau County," Campbell said. "We thought it was absurd that they thought it was a Livingston County issue."

A portion of the first phase of the BayView development was built, but Suttons Bay officials haven't heard from Yono in more than a year about additional development, Village Manager Wally Delamater said.

"There's absolutely nothing going on that we're aware of," Delamater said.

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