The owner of the FOX affiliate serving Louisville, Ky; and television stations in Lima, Ohio and Decatur, Ill. has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by its former chief executive, who was removed as part of a bitter family battle for control.
Why? The board of directors at Block Communications Inc. says that under Ohio state law, it had every right to make the leadership change, thus nullifying any legal maneuver to undo it.
As RBR+TVBR first reported on May 22, Allan Block was stripped of his roles as CEO and Chairman of the Board, bringing an abrupt conclusion to his leadership of a company that owns WDRB-TV, the FOX station in Kentucky’s largest market; the ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX affiliates serving Lima, Ohio — WLIO and WOHL; WAND-TV in Decatur, Ill.; and WBKI-TV, which features The CW on its 58.1 main channel and MyNetwork TV programming on its DT3 signal.
Other holdings include Toledo-area internet service provider Buckeye Broadband and two legacy daily newspapers, The Blade in Toledo and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The Block family feud is squarely focused on how Allan Block envisions its future. As far as he’s concerned, the newspapers and other BCI properties are essential assets. Other family members and the BCI board disagree, and they wouldn’t mind engaging in a transaction. Block lost his ability to put a stop to it and on May 8 filed a lawsuit in a Lucas County, Ohio, Common Pleas Court against his twin brother, newspaper publisher John Robinson Block, and other BCI board members in an attempt to thwart any dealings.
Now, the BCI board argues that Ohio state law gives them the legal authority to remove Allan Block as CEO. As such, the lawsuit should be dismissed, they claim.
One big reason for the dismissal is that Allan Block’s role has shifted since he filed the lawsuit, as he was appointed to the board committee looking at BCI’s operational options.
Reinstatement as CEO? That, the board says in its court filing made last week, “is not a remedy available under Ohio law.”
Jodi Miehls, who was appointed President/Chief Operating Officer in 2022, is now the most senior executive at BCI.
Allan Block and his brother each own a 25% share of BCI; the balance of ownership is controlled by other members of the Block family, who collectively own 50%.
John Robinson Block is the Publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which announced in May that it would be terminating its lease of a 250,000 square-foot printing facility and adjoining offices in Clinton, Pa. This gives BCI until July 2025 to vacate the premises; unions put a halt to operation of the presses at the site in October 2022, and the newspaper reports that non-striking employees and editors have continued to publish online daily and twice-weekly print editions per the terms of a contract with the Butler Eagle newspaper in Butler, Pa.
BCI was started by Paul Block, their grandfather, 123 years ago.
