(U-WIRE) MONTREAL-The McGill Daily does not have a valid lease, ruled Judge Irving Halpern at the conclusion of court proceedings last week at the Palais de Justice. The ruling concludes a four-month lawsuit between the Daily and the Students’ Society of McGill University over a lease dispute after SSMU deemed it necessary to lock the paper out of its offices.

The Daily’s primary contention was that although there was no signed physical lease, past behavior between SSMU and the Daily constituted a legally binding agreement.

Michael Bergman, attorney for the Daily, argued that lease arrangements made between SSMU and clubs housed in the University Centre building in the mid-1990s did not apply to the Daily. The focus on the Daily’s right to be in Shatner, Bergman argued, is that the lease between McGill University and SSMU for the building, is co-terminant with the lease between SSMU and the Daily; that is, the Daily’s lease expires when SSMU’s does.

“We’re arguing a valid lease, and secondly that [the Daily] has a right to occupy the premises as a result of the agreements between the Daily and the University,” argued Bergman. “The sum total of the documents, letters and behaviors of parties involved constitutes a lease. The lease continues because it is co-continuous with that of the SSMU.”