Court is asked to freeze Herald's assets

Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy yesterday asked a judge to freeze the assets of The Boston Herald Inc., saying that financial problems at the tabloid threaten to make it impossible for him to collect his libel judgment totaling more than $2 million.

Murphy filed papers in Suffolk Superior Court yesterday requesting that Charles R. Johnson, who presided at the libel trial in February, bar the newspaper from selling any real estate or other property it owns.

The papers ask Johnson to block the company from disbursing funds in bank accounts except for payouts in the normal course of business. Murphy also asked the court to bar the company from selling any stock, changing its ownership structure, or incurring more than $5,000 in new debt.

David H. Rich, one of the lawyers who represented Murphy in the high-profile libel suit, said Murphy is concerned about recent published reports that the newspaper is losing circulation and that three of its equity partners want to cash out.

''One can make oneself judgment-proof very easily," Rich said in an interview, although he hastened to add, ''We're not saying they could or would do that."

The newspaper will fight Murphy's request, according to M. Robert Dushman, who represented the Herald in the lawsuit. The newspaper, he said, is insured, making Murphy's effort to obtain a court order ''totally unnecessary and improper."

After deliberating for nearly 25 hours over five days, a Suffolk jury this year ordered the Herald to pay Murphy $2.09 million after finding that the paper and its reporter David Wedge libeled him in a series of stories that ran in 2002.

The stories, which began with the front-page headline ''Murphy's Law," portrayed him as a lenient judge who had made inflammatory and insensitive remarks about two crime victims. Two jurors interviewed after the verdict criticized what they said was the Herald's inattention to accuracy.

Johnson last month upheld the jury's finding that the Herald libeled Murphy with 19 statements in the series of articles, but he set aside the verdict concerning three statements. That trimmed the $2.09 million damage judgment by $85,000.

The Herald notified the Superior Court two weeks ago that it intended to appeal the jury's finding.

In his request for a court order, Murphy said that the award is growing by more than $26,800 a month because of interest. At the same time, the newspaper's paid daily circulation fell 4 percent over the past year, and Sunday circulation dived nearly 14 percent, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported earlier this month. And the paper has lost dozens of newsroom staff members through buyouts or layoffs.

Murphy also said he has ''substantial doubt" about whether the newspaper's insurance company, Mutual Insurance Co. Ltd. of Bermuda, has adequately insured the Herald against the damage award. The company, he said, is not registered to do business in Massachusetts. As a result, he wants the court to make sure that ''the judgment it has entered is collectible," his request said.

Dushman, however, said circulation losses and job cuts are plaguing many newspapers, including The Boston Globe. ''It doesn't mean all newspaper companies in the country are going out of business," he said.

He also disputed questions about Mutual Insurance of Bermuda, saying it represents many major media outlets in the United States and is a ''very strong, solvent insurance company."

Officials at the insurance company were not immediately available for comment.

Dushman planned to file a response opposing the request for a court order.

''I don't think anybody would want to be under a court order that restricts what you can do with your assets, particularly when it's unnecessary, as this is," he said.

Herald publisher Patrick J. Purcell did not return a phone call.

Earlier this month, a Barnstable County jury awarded a Cape Cod veterinarian a judgment of $225,000 in his libel suit against the Herald for a 1995 article about the veterinarian's alleged mishandling of the treatment of a sick dog that later died.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com