Philadelphia Newspaper War Will Resume on Nov. 13

No surprise announcements at today's status hearing.

The legal war between the owners of Philadelphia’s major daily newspapers will continue on Nov. 13, a judge said today.

The major participants in that war—George Norcross, Gerry Lenfest and Lewis Katz, all partners in Interstate General Media—were in a City Hall courtroom today for a brief status hearing.

Katz and Lenfest are suing a majority faction of owners, led by Norcross, over the early October firing of Inquirer editor Bill Marimow.

Norcross has offered to buy out the pair to settle litigation; over the weekend, multimillionaire Raymond Perelman also offered to buy the papers to bring peace. But none of the current partners are prepared to sell; any breakthrough on that front might’ve been announced at today’s hearing.

Instead, Judge Patricia McInerney met briefly behind closed doors with lawyers from both sides before returning and saying the suit would proceed in November.