El Diario brought the suit on November 8, 2004, alleging "libel, slander and business disparagement." In a press release sent out at the time, attorney Joseph G. Chumlea claimed the News' story, published July 4, 2004, "maliciously accuses El Diario of compromising its journalistic integrity to insure lucrative newspaper advertising from state and local government." To which Osvaldo Rodriguez, El Diario's president, added: "We firmly believe in the freedom of the press to investigate and report, however The Dallas Morning News article has gone far afield from these journalistic imperatives into false allegations, reckless disregard for the truth and misrepresentation of the facts. We have spent almost 30 years building a reputation of excellence in Mexico, but we are still a relatively unknown company in the United States. The statements made in The Dallas Morning News damage the only thing that we can stake our future on--our credibility." --Robert Wilonsky