Legal News

Law Blog Journo-Turned-Lawyer of the Day: Keith Hempstead

By Dan Slater

There are frivolous lawsuits, which tax our patience and our judicial resources. And then there are suits that, regardless of the merits, we can’t help but cheer.

A subscriber of the News & Observer, a North Carolina newspaper serving Durham, Raleigh, Cary and Chapel Hill, is suing the paper for fraud because, after it had already procured his renewal, the paper announced staff cuts and changes in coverage.

The suit, according to an N&O article, was filed pro-se by Keith Hempstead, a Durham lawyer, last month in Wake Superior Court. Hempstead, 42, was a reporter at the Fayetteville Observer before becoming a lawyer. (We think that’s backwards!) He reportedly claims that he renewed his subscription in May just before the paper announced on June 16 the layoffs of 70 staff members and cuts in news pages.

“I wanted to get the newspaper’s attention and the news industry’s attention,” said Hempstead, who acknowledged that he could’ve canceled his subscription but filed the suit to make a point. “I hate to see what companies that run newspapers are doing to the product. The idea that taking the most important product and reducing the amount of news and getting rid of staff to me seems pointless to how you should run a newspaper business.”

If you’re not convinced, on the basis of this suit, that Hempstead is a national hero, consider this: After attending North Carolina Central University law, Hempstead, who’s practiced real estate law for 9 years, also practiced military law as a judge advocate general in the North Carolina Army National Guard during a deployment to the Middle East. Before law school, in addition to his days as a newsman, he did time as a surface warfare officer aboard a guided missile destroyer in the U.S. Navy. Hempstead has a B.A. in Journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill. We placed a call to Hemstead, but haven’t heard back.

John Drescher, executive editor of the N&O, said he’s glad that Hempstead is a loyal reader and that the N&O has meant so much to him. “We’ve had some really good papers recently, and they’re worth more than the 36 cents a day that Mr. Hempstead is paying us,” Drescher said. “In fact, he owes me money. So when he gets a lawyer, he can work with my lawyer and figure out how much he’s going to pay me for the excellent coverage he’s been getting recently.”

Photo: Coldwell Banker Commercial Web Site

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 11, 2008 (boomark / email).