Restaurant settles over 'carcass removal' listing
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A phone book company has settled a lawsuit over its placement of a Montana restaurant in the "Animal Carcass Removal" section of its yellow pages, a listing the restaurant owner says cost him customers and made him the butt of a Jay Leno joke.
The terms of the Nov. 16 deal between Dex Media Inc. and Big Sky Beverage Inc., the parent company of Bar 3 Bar-B-Q, were not disclosed. A tentative agreement proposed in September said a deal would include a payment to the restaurant owner.
Restaurant owner Hunter Lacey sued Dex after the listing appeared in the 2009 phone book and was reprinted in other print and online directories in 2010 and last year. It gained national notoriety after Leno featured it as a joke on the Tonight Show in January 2011.
Lacey's lawsuit claims a Dex salesman deliberately published the free listing under the "Animal Carcass Removal" section after he refused to buy an advertisement in the phone book. The salesman no longer works for the company.
Lacey claimed the negative publicity caused business to drop off at his Bozeman and Belgrade restaurants and his brand's reputation to suffer. His lawsuit alleged negligence, defamation and slander, among other charges.
Dex has said it was an erroneous listing the company removed from its online directory when it was discovered.
The case seemed to be headed for court after it was filed in U.S. District Court in September 2011. But settlement talks began in earnest after U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Strong denied a request to dismiss the case because of problems he saw with Dex's disclosure of company documents to Big Sky Beverage's attorney.
Strong took issue with the timing of Dex's release of audio recordings of the salesman's calls to Bar 3 Bar-B-Q and a company document without giving the other side adequate time to inspect them in preparation for questioning the salesman.
Attorneys for both sides told the judge less than two months later they had reached a tentative settlement, which was finalized this month.
Neither Lacey nor attorneys for Dex and Big Sky Beverage returned calls and emails seeking comment this week.
The terms of the Nov. 16 deal between Dex Media Inc. and Big Sky Beverage Inc., the parent company of Bar 3 Bar-B-Q, were not disclosed. A tentative agreement proposed in September said a deal would include a payment to the restaurant owner.
Restaurant owner Hunter Lacey sued Dex after the listing appeared in the 2009 phone book and was reprinted in other print and online directories in 2010 and last year. It gained national notoriety after Leno featured it as a joke on the Tonight Show in January 2011.
Lacey's lawsuit claims a Dex salesman deliberately published the free listing under the "Animal Carcass Removal" section after he refused to buy an advertisement in the phone book. The salesman no longer works for the company.
Lacey claimed the negative publicity caused business to drop off at his Bozeman and Belgrade restaurants and his brand's reputation to suffer. His lawsuit alleged negligence, defamation and slander, among other charges.
Dex has said it was an erroneous listing the company removed from its online directory when it was discovered.
The case seemed to be headed for court after it was filed in U.S. District Court in September 2011. But settlement talks began in earnest after U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Strong denied a request to dismiss the case because of problems he saw with Dex's disclosure of company documents to Big Sky Beverage's attorney.
Strong took issue with the timing of Dex's release of audio recordings of the salesman's calls to Bar 3 Bar-B-Q and a company document without giving the other side adequate time to inspect them in preparation for questioning the salesman.
Attorneys for both sides told the judge less than two months later they had reached a tentative settlement, which was finalized this month.
Neither Lacey nor attorneys for Dex and Big Sky Beverage returned calls and emails seeking comment this week.
That reminds me, I need to retrieve that wad of moist paper left on my driveway. Not now, of course; next recycle pick up day is soon enough.
Phone book? I thought Dex was sending out free door stops.
There are too many things I have a hard time believing about this. Did the restaurant really suffer from nation wide publicity? Do that many people still watch Leno? (I would think he ran out of OJ jokes by now) Would that many people really steer clear (nyuk, nyuk) from the restaurant because of a mis-listing in the yellow pages, taking it seriously? Well, on that part I digress, look how many people still read KOMO news and take it seriously. "I read it on the internets"
I wish this didn't actually do harm to his company because really all I want to do is rub my hands together and laugh maniacally. That has to be the biggest burn EVER.
I tried using Dex about that time and they just could not get it right. It took 4 years to cancel the account and they still send collection people after me 8 years later. I will never use them for anything but starting fires again!!!
The only thing phone books are good for anymore is starting a fire.
The most surprising part of this story is the implication that some people still use phone books.
@relatively I sitll use a phone book because sometimes it's faster than my computer and phone.
 @relatively Not everyone has heard of Google... yet :D
@relatively Yes, there are still a few of us and guess what it doesn't hurt anyone else.
@Jatok Except all the unnecessary waste of paper since 99.9% of phone books are just tossed and never once used.
@Tattooed_Angel And you seen these statistics where? Did someone do a survey on this? Just because you don't use it doesn't mean that no one else does either. You have a large population (seniors) who don't want any part of new technology so I guess that should mean that they should have no means to find what they need or want....right.
It may sound like a funny joke but I can't imagine the financial damage done to this business.
I hope his settlement was adequate.
I hate those yellow page advertising companies. They are incredibly crooked. I have not given them money for years, nor will I ever. I am talking about you, Bhoopi. You belong behind bars.
Yeah, the butt of a Jay Leno joke should be the deciding factor when it comes to legal action. Can you imagine if everybody did that? Wow, the government would end up screwing themselves!