The Black List
In which we attempt to summarize the legal quagmire currently surrounding Hollinger (including a slew of defamation lawsuits emanating from Black), and claiming more than $2 billion (Cdn.) in damages. Here are just some of the details of the complicated mess
2004
• Shareholders sue Hollinger International’s board, alleging it gave top executives “unfettered license to line their pockets at shareholder expense.” (In May 2005, a settlement was reached when Hollinger’s insurance providers, on behalf of a group of current and former directors, agreed to pay the company $50 million (U.S.).)
• Black announces a suit of $1 billion (Cdn.) in damages plus punitive and exemplary damages of $100 million (Cdn.) under the Libel and Slander Act of Ontario against members of the Hollinger International board committee which produced a report accusing him of looting the company.
• Hollinger International announces a damage claim of $542 million (U.S.) against Black and other former executives.
• The SEC files civil fraud charges against Hollinger Inc., Black and Radler.
2005
• Hollinger Inc. sues Black and others for $635 million (Cdn.) claiming they acted “in bad faith.”
• The members of the Hollinger Inc. board resign and promptly sue the company. Their claims total more than $6 million (Cdn.) for unpaid directors’ fees and departure bonuses. (The disputes were settled in late February with an aggregate of $1.25 million (Cdn.) being paid in full satisfaction of all their claims.)
2006
• Hollinger Inc. declares it is taking Black to court claiming amended damages of more than $700 million (U.S.). They claim breach of contract, conspiracy, unjust enrichment and unlawful interference with Hollinger’s economic interest. They want $500 million (U.S.) for the conspiracy claims, $200 million (U.S.) in additional damages, and a minimum of $5 million (U.S.) in punitive or exemplary damages.
• Hollinger Inc. is also suing Hollinger International (which recently changed its name to Sun-Times Media Group Inc.) seeking damages for alleged fraud involving the transfer of the London Daily Telegraph in 1995, as well as several Canadian newspapers in 1997, from Hollinger Inc. to Hollinger International at prices below fair value.
• Sotheby’s is suing Black, claiming he failed to pay the $557,000 (U.S.) commission on the sale of his Park Avenue apartment in New York. A cheque issued for the commission amount was returned with payment stopped.
2007
• Black slaps Tom Bower with an $11 million (Cdn.) libel suit, alleging Bower’s book Conrad & Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge depicts him as “evil and devoid of any redeeming or even mitigating qualities,” while portraying Barbara Amiel as “grasping, hectoring, slatternly, extravagant, shrill and a harridan.” Black considers the book to be “vindictive, high-handed, contemptuous, sadistic, pathologically mendacious and malicious.”
