Johnson v. Metropolitan News Co.

Metropolitan News Company (MNC) appeals a judgment declaring The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) a newspaper of general circulation for the City of Los Angeles pursuant to Government Code section 6000. 1 MNC contends WSJ fails to satisfy the statutory requirements because it is not “printed and published” exclusively in the City of Los Angeles and because the “typesetting” does not take place in the city. We conclude that MNC has shown no error and will affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

WSJ is a daily newspaper published in New York City and several other cities by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Andrew P. Johnson, a manager of Dow Jones & Company, Inc., filed a petition pursuant to section 6020 to declare WSJ a newspaper of general circulation for the City of Los Angeles.

MNC opposed the petition, arguing that WSJ is a national newspaper and “is not a Los Angeles newspaper” (italics omitted). MNC also argued that the petition failed to allege that the “typesetting” takes place in the City of Los Angeles and therefore failed to properly allege that the newspaper is printed in the city. MNC argued further that a newspaper can be “printed and published” within…