Judge denies injunction that would have reinstated Argus Leader as city's legal newspaper

A Minnehaha County judge declined to order a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would have reinstated the Argus Leader as the legal newspaper for the City of Sioux Falls.

The Sioux Falls City Council voted on June 5 to name the Dakota Scout, an outlet founded by two former Argus Leader reporters in August 2022, as the city's official newspaper for legal notices over the Argus Leader, citing cost savings as well as local ownership.

But the Argus Leader and parent company Gannett argued that the Dakota Scout had not filed required paperwork with the state to serve as a legal newspaper, citing state law that says: "In order to maintain legal newspaper status, the newspaper must submit to the secretary of state before January first of each year a sworn statement of ownership and total print and online circulation for the previous calendar year."

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The Dakota Scout filed the statement on June 26, though their attorney argued that the law was about what a legal newspaper was required to do to remain a legal newspaper, not what must be done to attain the status of a legal newspaper.

Tyler Haigh, an attorney for the Argus Leader, said the purpose of filing for the injunction was out of concern that legal notices filed in a paper that was not eligible to publish the legal notices could cause "irreparable harm" to the public and the Argus Leader, given that it would mean that meetings had not been properly noticed and decisions made by the City Council, it could be argued, had not been officially instituted.

But Judge Douglas Hoffman said while he believed Haigh had strongly argued his case that he concurred with arguments from attorneys for the Dakota Scout and the city, denying the request for the injunctions.

"For decades, readers have trusted The Argus Leader for news and important information including public notices," said Carlene Cox, Gannett's senior director of communications." 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."

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Judge denies injunction that would have reinstated Argus Leader as city's legal newspaper