Wendy McCaw takes on Bank of America over Estonian purchases

DAILY SOUND

BY MELANIE CARROLL
DAILY SOUND CORRESPONDENT

"Purchases made during a summer trip to Estonia prompted billionaire Wendy McCaw to sue the Bank of America after the credit card giant allegedly failed to reimburse her for items she returned, court records show.

McCaw, the owner of the Santa Barbara News-Press, is seeking more than $25,000 from the Bank of America stemming from $14,436.23 worth of merchandise that the credit card company allegedly refused to reimburse, according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court last month.

The newspaper owner bought four items in Estonia on July 25, 2005, according to the lawsuit. In early August, McCaw learned that the items “were not what they had been represented to be.”
The billionaire returned the items to the vendors, had a specialist vouch that the items were fraudulent and sought her money back from Bank of America.

The credit card company issued credit for two of the four items “but arbitrarily refused to issue credit for the other two items despite repeated requests and sufficient proof of the fraud,” according to the court documents.

McCaw’s attorney argues that Bank of America failed to provide a copy of the cardholder’s agreement and that his client has suffered from unfavorable credit reports resulting from the incident.
“No remedy of law exists for the loss of credit standing and damage of reputation,” the final page of the lawsuit reads.

Colleen Haggerty, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, said the credit card company does not comment in cases involving ongoing litigation.
McCaw’s San Francisco-based attorney, David Millstein, also declined to discuss the case.

“I have no comment to the Sound,” Millstein said.
The case is scheduled to be in court in July, documents show.
McCaw is also embroiled in several other lawsuits, including a $25 million lawsuit against her newspaper’s former editor, Jerry Roberts, who is accused of breach of contract after quitting the paper in July. Roberts argued that McCaw was interfering and wielded excessive control over newsroom operations. Dozens of newsroom staffers have left the paper or were fired since July.

The billionaire also sued Susan Paterno, a Chapman University journalism professor, over an unfavorable article in the American Journalism Review, according to the Monterey County Herald. McCaw alleged that the piece was libelous and an example of “product disparagement.”

The News-Press owner also threatened to sue a Santa Barbara hairdresser and other local businesses for displaying signs supporting News-Press employees."