A Salt Lake County prosecutor sued the Salt Lake Tribune, saying the newspaper newspaper defamed her in coverage of the 2010 election race between Lohra Miller and current DA Sim Gill. Michaela Andruzzi alleges the newspaper ran a libelous story so that Sim Gill, a Democrat, would become the new Salt Lake County District Attorney.” She asserted that the article caused her to be demoted and that “her prospects for future job enhancements have been curtailed.”
The Tribune reported that at a mandatory staff meeting with Andruzzi present, attorneys in her department made disparaging remarks about Gill, including a comment that, “No white soccer mom south of 21st South will vote for someone with brown skin and the name of Simarjit.” The Tribune reported that the racial remark was made by a deputy attorney during a meeting of Miller's domestic-violence unit, which Andruzzi headed at the time. The Tribune said that during the meeting, Andruzzi reportedly told staffers their jobs could be in jeopardy or they could be reassigned to lesser cases if Gill won and carried out his pledge to dismantle so-called “boutique” prosecution teams,like the domestic-violence unit