Livonia, Mich. - Valassis, one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced today that it has reached an agreement to settle its outstanding lawsuits against News America Marketing (NAM), a division of News Corporation. The settlement discussions were overseen by the Honorable Judge Arthur Tarnow of the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan. Under the terms of the settlement, NAM will pay Valassis $500 million and will also enter into a 10-year shared mail distribution agreement with Valassis Direct Mail, a Valassis subsidiary. In addition, the judge will issue a permanent injunction related to certain business practices at issue in the lawsuits.

"I am pleased that we were able to reach a mutually agreeable settlement and avoid protracted future litigation," said Alan F. Schultz, Valassis Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

The settlement includes the dismissal with prejudice of Valassis' lawsuits pending against NAM in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, and the Supreme Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles. The settlement agreement also provides that the judgment in the Wayne County Circuit Court case from July 2009 will be satisfied and all related appeals will be dismissed. For more information regarding these lawsuits, see Valassis' most recently filed Form 10-Q. Finally, the settlement dismisses with prejudice NAM's defamation suit against Valassis in The Supreme Court of the State of New York.

The trial team was led by Greg Curtner of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, PLC and David Mendelson of the Law Offices of David Mendelson and included Michael Palizzi, Kimberly Scott and Robert Wierenga, also of Miller Canfield, Anthony Rusciano of Plunkett Cooney PC, and Henry Baskin of The Baskin Law Firm.