Complete Story
10/09/2015
Former Dispatch owner drops lawsuit over fake invoices
The Dispatch Printing Company, the former owner of The Dispatch, has dropped a lawsuit that accused an Oregon business of sending bogus payment requests for newspaper subscriptions.
Readers Payment Service, which mailed the invoices, was among a number of businesses shut down in June as part of the settlement of a consumer-fraud lawsuit in Oregon.
“The action in Oregon permanently closed the operation of the defendants,” said Marion Little, a Columbus lawyer who filed the suit on behalf of The Dispatch. “At this point, the public is protected and it’s no longer necessary for us to proceed with the lawsuit.”
The local lawsuit, filed one year ago in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, was dismissed on Wednesday.
The Dispatch Printing Company had sued after learning that central Ohio residents had received invoices from Readers Payment Service that falsely suggested they were being sent on behalf of the newspaper. The invoices requested payment of “$499.95 for 365 issues of the Columbus Dispatch” and told recipients to send the money to an address in White City, Ore.
Dispatch Printing Company attorneys said the solicitations had no ties to The Dispatch and were designed to dupe recipients into overpaying.
The operators of the business agreed to pay a $3.5 million settlement in the Oregon lawsuit and cease operations.
According to the allegations in that suit, a network of at least 19 companies was mailing fake invoices for dozens of publications across the country. Other suits are active in several states.
In June, Dispatch Printing Company sold The Dispatch to New Media Investment Group, the holding company for GateHouse Media.
