Feds Petition D.C. Judges to Find ‘Santa Barbara News-Press’ Owner in Contempt of Court
They Cite Wendy McCaw’s ‘Willful Refusal to Comply’ with 2017 Court Order
A contempt of court ruling may be in the cards for Wendy McCaw, the Santa Barbara News-Press owner and co-publisher who shamelessly filed for bankruptcy earlier this summer. She owes nearly $3.5 million to her former newsroom employees and a former unit of the Teamsters in recompense for flagrant violations of labor law dating back 16 years.
Since last November, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been petitioning the Washington, D.C., District Court to issue a contempt of court ruling against Ampersand Publishing LLC, the company set up by McCaw to run the News-Press, for its “inexcusable neglect … indeed its willful refusal” to comply with a 2012 board order that was upheld in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017.
“Orders are not issued by courts for parties to obey at their leisure,” the board states.
