• by Ray Schultz , October 15, 2024

Gannett has dropped a lawsuit asking that its paper, The Argus Leader, be reinstated as the newspaper for publishing legal notices in the city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

The city council had chosen an alternate paper, The Dakota Scout, citing cost savings and local ownership, the Argus Leader reports. The Scout was founded by two former reporters for the Argus Leader. 

A judge with South Dakota’s Circuit Court for the Second Judicial District refused to issue injunctions requested by Gannett and at least temporarily upheld the city council decision. 

This isn’t likely to change the overall debate over legal notices, although it does bring into question the fairness and appropriateness of awarding exclusive rights. The Argus can reapply in 2025. 

In Kansas, The Wichita Eagle has lost its right to publish notices—to a town website. 

The Argus Leader, which has had the legal notice plum for many years, had requested a “temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction declaring the Dakota Scout does not quality as a legal newspaper under South Dakota statutory law, and to direct the City to reinstate the Argus Leader as the official legal newspaper of Sioux Falls, unless and until another newspaper meets the statutory qualifications of a legal newspaper is approved by the City to serve as the official legal newspaper.”

Gannett explains its decision to drop the suit this way:, “Although we disagree with the Judge’s statutory interpretation, we see no efficient way to appeal that decision and are discontinuing our legal action at this time.”