Opinion ID: 1643072
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jesse Glass

Text: Glass began delivering papers for the News in 1975 and purchased his branch in 1987 for $135,000. The automatic renewal of the agreement was a factor in Glass's decision to purchase a branch as an ongoing business. He received assurances from the News that he was purchasing a contract that would be his for as long as he wanted it and that the News would not implement changes that would adversely affect the value of his dealership franchise. Glass had a good working relationship with the News until Pearson and Keeble were hired. After the arrival of Pearson and Keeble at the News, he was forced to split his deliveries and to trade the single-copy portion of his franchise to another dealer for an additional home-delivery area at a cost to Glass of approximately $35,000. The News debited nearly $7,000 from his account without substantiation and later tried to force him into a $500 monthly route reduction. Shortly before his agreement was terminated, Glass was presented with the revised version of the agreement that eliminated the automatic-renewal provision. He had very little time to make a decision on whether to renew the agreement and was extremely worried about how the elimination of the automatic-renewal provision would affect his business. When he declined to sign the renewal agreement, the News terminated his dealership franchise on its anniversary date. He testified that at the time it was terminated his dealership franchise was worth $423,286. Williams valued the loss of Glass's dealership at $285,000, and he valued Glass's lost profits, reduced to a present value, at approximately $848,603 for a 20-year period.