Dispute between newspaper group and printer in High Court

A dispute between the Thomas Crosbie newspaper group and a printing firm could involve almost €44m over the term of a 15-year agreement between the parties, the Commercial Court heard yesterday.

A dispute between the Thomas Crosbie newspaper group and a printing firm could involve almost €44m over the term of a 15-year agreement between the parties, the Commercial Court heard yesterday.

Webprint Concepts Ltd of Mahon Retail Park, Mahon, Co Cork, claims Thomas Crosbie Printers Ltd is in breach of a “master printing agreement” reached between the parties dated April 22, 2005, which relates to printing services for the group’s newspapers including the Irish Examiner, the Sunday Business Post, the Evening Echo as well as various regional titles.

Webprint is seeking judgment for more than €6.1m as well as aggravated damages for the alleged breach of contract and intentional interference with its economic interests.

However, Thomas Crosbie Printers, as well as Thomas Crosbie Holdings Ltd and Examiner Publications (Cork) Ltd deny the claims and are counter-suing, claiming they are entitled to more than €1.1m from Webprint over the plaintiff ’s failure to meet its contractual obligations relating to newsprint and wastage of newsprint.

The court heard that the dispute between the parties would involve a sum of €43.5m over the duration of the 15-year contract.

Webprint is continuing to print the group's publications, despite initiating legal proceedings in December 2007 after efforts to resolve the dispute through mediation were unsuccessful.

Opening the plaintiff ’s case, Paul Gardiner SC said payment due to Webprint under the agreement consisted of the cost per copy which was defined as a “single pass by the printing press” as well as plate and insert charges.

Mr Gardiner said both parties accepted that they had a contradictory interpretation about what was the definition of a copy of a newspaper.

Webprint denied that the cost of a copy included the printing cost of any supplement as well as the trimming of newspapers.

The company maintains the agreement allows it to charge €8 per plate while the Thomas Crosbie group claims there should be no charge for blank plates.

However, Thomas Crosbie Printers (TCP) is claiming that the charge per copy under the agreement applies to the full newspaper product, including any supplement. It also argues that Webprint has failed to provide the services as agreed in the printing contract between the parties in relation to the late delivery and quality of printed material.

Furthermore, TCP claims that the provision of trimming was either expressed or implied under the terms of the agreement and included as part of the cost per copy. The company maintains that trimming is an integral part of the printing of quality newspapers.

TCP claims that Webprint offered trimming as a fundamental part of its printing facilities to induce the Thomas Crosbie group into agreeing a printing contract arrangement.

The Thomas Crosbie group is claiming that Webprint has breached a contractual obligation to keep wastage of newsprint — which it provides to the printing firm — below 7%, resulting in money that is still owed to Examiner Publications.

The group is also seeking to have the agreement amended to reflect what it insists was the intention of both parties.

Mr Justice John MacMenamin invited the parties on three occasions to consider the possibility of settling their differences without recourse to a full hearing of the case although he was informed that settlement efforts had been exhausted.

The judge said it would be a supreme irony if the case ended up with an outcome that was satisfactory to nobody.

The court heard that the case could last up to four weeks. The case continues today.

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