True North Sues Prospective Buyer

The contentiousness between True North Communications and Publicis Communications was raised a notch Wednesday when True North filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago against Publicis. Publicis has offered to buy True North, the Chicago-based parent of Foote, Cone & Belding. But True North claims in its countersuit that the purpose of Publicis’ offer is to derail True North’s plans to acquire another ad agency, Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt Inc. In its suit, True North is accusing Publicis of “tortious interference” with its business relationships, among other things. True North and Publicis, which is based in France, formerly had a global business alliance.