Benefit A - Advice

The *Plan will retain counsel to provide oral or written responses to telephone or written inquires requesting legal advice concerning the following areas of law concerning the publication of a newspaper:

1. Legal Newspapers (25 O.S. 106)
   a. Qualifications
   b. Postal regulations
   
   
2. Sales & Use Tax Exemptions (68 O.S. 305)
   a. Advertising and circulation
   b. Equipment, supplies and raw materials
   
   
3. Excise Tax
   a. Long distance telephone calls used in gathering news
   
   
4. Advertising
   a. Overview
   b. Types of advertising:
   Political
   Lottery
   Professional
   c. Supplements/inserts
       Sales tax on advertising inserts (AG 78-308)
   d. Release
   e. Legal publication rates
   f. Public notices
   g. Issue & candidate advertising (State and Federal)
   h. Other advertising
   
   
5. Management
   a. Circulation
   Employment of minors
   Independent contractors
   Age limitations (State and Federal)
   b. Production
   Age restrictions/ machinery
   Labor
   OSHA
   Workers' Compensation
   Unions
   EEOC
   c. Anti-trust
   Restraint of trade
   Price fixing
   
   
6. News
   a. Open Meeting Law
   b. Open Records Law
   c. Libel, defamation, slander
   d. Honest Mistake Act
   e. Minutes Request Law
   f. News Reporter, Shield Law
   g. Juvenile Names
   h. Cameras in Courtroom
   i. Copyright
   j. First Amendment
   k. Subpoenas
   l. Invastion of privacy
   
   
7. Internet Law

Availability
The legal services provided by Benefit A shall be available to all participants during regular business hours (9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.) Mondays through Friday, except legal holidays.

The services can be obtained by calling, at the participant's expense, a telephone number specified by the Legal Services Plan Committee. Telephone calls in response to participant inquires from the retained counsel shall be paid for by the Plan. No collect calls shall be accepted.

All telephone or written inquiries are made in accordance with the procedure established by the Legal Services Plan Committee.

Exclusions from Benefit A
Benefit A does not include:

1. Any area of law not listed in Benefit A.
2. Personal calls or inquires not related to the publication of the participant's newspaper or the participant's newspaper website.
   
   

The purpose of Benefit A is to provide complete legal advice to Plan participants. It is not intended to provide extensive legal research on matters not directly pertaining to the list of covered subjects under Benefit A.

If a participant has a request for extensive research significant to all members of the Plan, it should be submitted to the Plan Counsel. The Administrator is authorized to approve such expenditures.


*The Plan is not an Insurance Contract
The Plan is designed only to provide quality prepaid legal services and to pay certain specifically enumerated expenses. The Plan should not be construed to be a contract or policy of insurance for the payment of any judgment, claim, or demand other than the specifically-enumerated benefits set out herein.
The participant shall be solely responsible to pay any final judgment for money rendered against it and to pay any money as a compromise settlement for any claim. No participant may have a claim against the Plan, the Committee members, OPA Officers, OPA Board of Directors and staff of same in excess of the fund balance of the Plan.