Tribune Investors’ Suit Over Sinclair Merger Failure Dismissed

Tribune Media Co. won’t face a would-be class suit over its scrapped merger with Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc. because the investors didn’t sufficiently allege an actionable misstatement, an Illinois federal judge said Jan. 6.

Investors accused the broadcasting conglomerate of misleading them about Sinclair’s plans to divest some stations in order to comply with Federal Communications Commission ownership requirements and antitrust regulations. But the challenged statements fall within a safe harbor provision and aren’t actionable, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said, dismissing the suit with prejudice.

The Sinclair merger fell apart in 2018 after ...