In Re Covina Argus-Citizen

This is an appeal by San Gabriel Valley Newspapers, Inc., a California corporation, proprietor and publisher of The Covina Argus-Citizen, from a judgment modifying a prior judgment of July 31, 1952, with respect to the status of The Covina Argus-Citizen as a newspaper of general circulation. *Page 317

On July 31, 1952, by decree of the superior court, The Covina Argus-Citizen was adjudged to be a newspaper of general circulation "for the City of Covina, and for the County of Los Angeles, and for the State of California," as defined in section6000 of the Government Code.1 On August 21, 1958, the respondent, A.J. Jenner, filed notice of a motion to have such adjudication vacated pursuant to the provisions of section 6024 of the Government Code.2 In the affidavit filed in support of the motion, respondent set forth that he is the publisher of the Covina Sentinel, a newspaper of general circulation, printed and published in the city of Covina, that since the time that The Covina Argus-Citizen was adjudicated to be a newspaper of general circulation, printed and published in the city of Covina, and for more than two years last past, The Covina Argus-Citizen has not been printed and published in the city of Covina but is printed and published in the city of West Covina, and that said newspaper has ceased to be a newspaper of general circulation, printed and published in the city of Covina. The affidavit of A.Q. Miller, Jr., was filed in opposition. In that affidavit he stated in part that The Covina Argus-Citizen has an office located in the city of Covina, "where news is collected and assembled, advertisements are solicited and accepted, and where the layout work of the newspaper is done and where substantial business affairs of said paper are conducted," that the newspaper has a building in West Covina, about one block from the city limits of Covina, at which building the mechanical work of printing the newspaper is done, and that the newspaper "has a substantial list of bona fide paying subscribers," most of whom are in the city of Covina, and it has an audited circulation of 5,161, of which approximately 90 per cent is within *Page 318 the city of Covina, and that the newspaper is under contract to the city of Covina to do its municipal official printing.

The motion was heard on September 29, 1958, at which time certain exhibits were received in evidence by stipulation and the parties stipulated as to the circulation of the respective papers of appellant and respondent. There was a dispute in the evidence as to just how far outside the city limits of Covina the printing plant of The Covina Argus-Citizen is located but such distance does not, in any event, exceed one mile. The matter was submitted on such evidence and the affidavits. The court made the following findings of fact: 1. That since the time of the original adjudication The Covina Argus-Citizen has moved its printing facilities to 2037 West San Bernardino Road. 2. That said address is not in the city of Covina but is in the county of Los Angeles. 3. That the said newspaper is not printed and published within the city of Covina. The conclusion of law reached by the court was that the newspaper is no longer entitled to adjudication as a newspaper of general circulation, printed and published within the city of Covina, but is entitled to retain its adjudication as a newspaper of general circulation, printed and published within the county of Los Angeles and the State of California. The original decree was accordingly modified.