Among the arcane rules governing the law, one simple precept is clear: Listen when the judge makes a request. At the bankruptcy hearing for the Santa Barbara News-Press this Wednesday morning, the small gallery was whispering about the defendants’ attorneys, who Judge Ronald A. Clifford III noted immediately were not present in person, as they were directed to be in the calendar for the hearing.
“You are supposed to be here,” Judge Clifford said calmly to a video screen showing Ashlee Lin of the Eisner law firm in Beverly Hills. She was representing Wendy McCaw’s two LLCs that own the News-Press buildings downtown and in Goleta — 715 Anacapa LLC and 725 Kellogg LLC. The newspaper itself was owned by Ampersand Publishing LLC, which in turn was owned by its publisher, McCaw, and had declared bankruptcy nearly two years ago.
Clifford’s tentative ruling stated that the court could not prepare for the hearing without a status conference report and asked why he shouldn’t sanction the attorneys $500 for failing to file the document. The form had appeared in the records one week late. Apologies and excuses — a signature do-over, a family illness — were heard from both Lin and Edward Hays, of Marshack Hays Wood representing the bankruptcy trustee, who expressed their understanding that these delays interfered with the court’s timeliness.
Unmollified, Judge Clifford asked how a hearing could be held if the attorneys did not do as they were told. Rather than imposing a fine, Clifford informed Lin that her firm must appear in person at all future hearings in his courtroom, regardless of the client. “Not just this case,” he repeated, “this court.” Lin replied that she understood.
The task at hand was to set out the trial schedule for the disputed buildings case, as McCaw has not filed an appeal of Clifford’s ruling in March that allowed the bankruptcy trustee to attempt to claw back the News-Press buildings. Judge Clifford’s ruling determined that the case could continue, but he wrote that a trial was required to decide all the facts. McCaw has demanded a jury trial.
The buildings case is like a tributary to the main flow of the bankruptcy case — an adversarial proceeding filed by the trustee in charge of Ampersand’s bankruptcy, Jerry Namba. The trustee asserts that McCaw had wrongfully transferred Ampersand’s buildings to herself, and that they rightly belong among the assets of the bankruptcy.
The estimated $30 million properties would add substantial assets to the bankruptcy. Ampersand’s filings said its creditors were owed between $1 million and $10 million at the outset of the bankruptcy in July 2023. So far, the trustee has sold equipment and artworks from the News-Press offices and warehouse, its copyright and website, and the paper archive, for less than $500,000, some of which has gone to pay attorneys and auctioneers.
After Clifford expressed his displeasure that McCaw’s trial attorney Zachary Elsea was not present — “This is annoying” — he set a discovery cut-off date of November 28, 2025, for tax records, debtor records, depositions, and expert discovery procedures — all of which generally takes place out of the court’s sight but appear as the evidence presented at trial. All parties would gather in court again on December 3 to see if mediation or settlement was possible. The written order about the dates, Clifford directed, would “make it clear that counsel for the defendant is ordered to appear, but in person.”
