Argus Leader dealt blow in lawsuit against city of Sioux Falls, The Dakota Scout
Judge rejects request to immediately stop local newspaper from printing public notices
This content is courtesy of SiouxFallsLive.com, a Sioux Falls news outlet that operates independently of The Dakota Scout.
SIOUX FALLS – The Argus Leader failed to convince a judge on Thursday to immediately stop the City of Sioux Falls from placing legal notices in The Dakota Scout, a two-year-old news operation.
Judge Douglas Hoffman heard oral arguments from the city and news organizations after reviewing briefs on the Argus Leader’s request, filed in Minnehaha County District Court on July 8.
Hoffman then declined to order a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would have required the city to publish legal notices in the Argus Leader until a trial can be held to decide the issue.
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Joe Sneve, who co-founded The Dakota Scout with Jonathan Ellis in 2022, said he was happy with the judge’s decision
“The public doesn’t have to wonder where to find legal notices,” Sneve said in an interview with Sioux Falls Live. “They’ll be in The Dakota Scout.”
Local governments and school districts are required by state law to publish various announcements, agendas and minutes in a legal newspaper. One of the requirements to qualify was that the newspaper had paid circulation. But the Legislature changed the law earlier this year, allowing freely distributed publications to qualify.
That law went into effect on July 1.
The City Council agreed unanimously on June 5 to designate The Dakota Scout as the legal newspaper. The city on average spends about $70,000 a year on legal notices, though that amount is likely to go down because The Dakota Scout’s fees are expected to be less than the Argus Leader.
The Argus Leader and its parent company, Gannett, had argued that The Dakota Scout did not qualify as a legal newspaper because it failed to file the necessary paperwork before Jan. 1, which is required under the law, including a statement of ownership.
Sneve and Ellis filed the paperwork in June, just before the new law passed during the 2024 legislative session took effect. They maintain that it was impossible to file before the law was changed because their publication, at that time, couldn’t qualify.
Tyler Haigh, a Sioux Falls lawyer representing the Argus Leader, said during the hearing on Thursday that the newspaper wasn’t taking the action because of the money involved. Rather, he said it was in the public interest.
The judge should act now, Haigh argued, rather than wait for an eventual trial which could determine that The Dakota Scout did not qualify as a legal newspaper. If that were to happen, the city would have to republish the notices and the public would not have been properly informed of, for instance, changes in regulations that could affect businesses.
That could cause irreparable harm to the public and the Argus Leader, which would have to retroactively publish the notices, he contended.
“The motivation is not money,” Haigh said. “The motivation is to make sure the city is publishing valid legal notices.”
Representing the city, Sioux Falls lawyer Bill Garry said the purpose of a temporary injunction is to preserve the status quo until the issue is resolved. In this case, the status quo is that The Dakota Scout is the legal newspaper for the City of Sioux Falls, he said.
“The status quo has no meaning at this point,” Garry said.
The Argus Leader failed to present any evidence that it would suffer irreparable harm and The Dakota Scout filed the paperwork properly, he argued.
“There’s no way The Dakota Scout could have qualified as a legal newspaper until July,” he said. “The position of the Argus Leader is somewhat nonsensical.”
The Dakota Scout also intervened in the case on the side of the city. The newspaper was represented by former U.S. Attorney and current Sioux Falls lawyer Jim McMahon.
“They weren’t under obligation to file that report until they were a legal newspaper,” McMahon said.
Without commenting further, Judge Hoffman said he agreed with the position of McMahon and Garry and denied the injunction and restraining order.
Following the hearing, Haigh told Sioux Falls Live that he would be consulting with Gannett officials about possible next steps.
The case could still go to a trial at an undetermined date in the future.
The company’s corporate communications and public relations department forwarded a statement to Sioux Falls Live, attributed to an Argus Leader spokesperson.
"For decades, readers have trusted The Argus Leader for news and important information including public notices. Citizens expect this information to be where it can be seen by a broad, informed audience. This decision by The Sioux Falls City Council will cause confusion and result in notices being missed by citizens, and should be reconsidered," the statement read.
Garry said he’s confident the issue is settled.
“I doubt there'll be any further proceedings. But it'll be the Argus Leader’s decision on that,” Garry said. “But if it would go any further, it could be months in the process, so I think time is on The Dakota Scout’s side as well as the city’s side.”
Sneve said The Dakota Scout would prevail.
“Hail Mary's usually hit the ground.”
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The "Argus" forfeited any claim to being a SD newspaper when it chose to close its South Dakota offices, fled the jurisdiction, and publishes out of state. The corporate travesty of their decimation of local journalism is a pox upon the once independent Aberdeen American News, the Argus, and many other dailies, and weeklies - and their once local broadcasting brethren.
Thank heavens that we have the Dakota Scout. When the Argus thought they didn't need to be doing news any longer Dakota Scout picked up and started publishing. I purchased a membership and happy I did.