After a local jury found SF Weekly guilty of illegal predatory pricing and awarded the local alt weekly a cool $6.39 million (the verdict subject to "treble damages," which bring the total award to $15.6 million), SFBG Executive Editor Tim Redmond tells the harrowing tale of the five-week trial in his own words:

But the verdict sends a clear signal to small businesses, independent newspapers and the alternative press that a locally owned publication has the right to a level playing field and that a chain can’t intentionally cut prices and sell below cost to injure a smaller competitor.

The trial had been underway for more than five weeks. The Guardian charged the Weekly with violating the state’s Unfair Practices Act, a Progressive-era law that bars a company from selling a product below cost for the purpose of destroying competition.

Evidence produced in the trial showed clearly that the Weekly had been selling ads below cost. In fact, the paper had lost money every year since the New Times chain, now known as Village Voice Media, bought it in 1995.

But wait. It gets better! Redmond goes on to say "Lacey [VVM Editor In Chief] could be heard mumbling 'shit' over and over again." Ouch. Anyway, an appeal is more than certain, a process that "can take years."

Years? Ack. Let's hope that print publishing is still around by then.

In the end, though, this litigiousness all boils down to two important thing: where is the an open-bar celebratory party and is SFist invited?