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A Western Maryland business magazine is continuing to publish as a legal dispute between its co-founders winds its way through the court system.

Harby Tran of Frederick filed a petition in July to dissolve Smart Company Magazine LLC of Hagerstown. The defendant, co-founder RidgeRunner Publishing of Hagerstown, countersued to block Tran from publishing a rival business publication, 270inc Business Magazine in Frederick, and is also seeking $500,000 in compensatory damages.

On Wednesday, Frederick County Circuit Court Judge Julie Stevenson Solt denied RidgeRunner's motion for a temporary restraining order against Tran, who has published several issues of 270inc. Solt cited the lack of a non-compete clause in the founding documents of Smart Company Magazine LLC.

Mary Catherine Rader, managing member and resident agent of RidgeRunner and the publisher, creative director and editor in chief of Smart Company Magazine, acknowledged that, but said that because Tran is still part-owner of Smart Company Magazine LLC, "he still has interest and can still make a profit from the magazine."

But Solt also dismissed Tran's motion to dismiss RidgeRunner's counter complaint against him.

RidgeRunner claims that Tran "negligently and willfully breached his fiduciary duties to Smart Company Magazine by covertly planning to launch a competing magazine."

Tran's attorney, David S. Greber of Greber & Associates in Frederick, called Solt's rejection of the temporary restraining order "dead on," but said he will seek reconsideration of the motion to dismiss RidgeRunner's counter-complaint.

In his petition, Tran said he and RidgeRunner formed Smart Company Magazine LLC as equal partners, just before the first bimonthly issue was published in January 2008. Both Tran and RidgeRunner contributed $15,000 in capital to start up Smart Company Magazine LLC, according to Tran's petition.

Until July, Tran was co-publisher and primarily responsible for marketing and advertising sales in Frederick County. RidgeRunner responded to Tran's petition and while it acknowledges his $15,000 investment, it denies that Tran was an equal owner.

Tran also claims he was not paid for his first nine months with the magazine and "has used substantial personal savings to permit him to continue work on the startup" of Smart Company.

In a previous interview, Rader said there is "no evidence and no documentation" to support any of Tran's claims and that she would refute much of his argument. She said Tran wasn't paid in the first nine months because the company was new and had no revenues.

Rader said Tran was not meeting his responsibilities at Smart Company. Consequently, at a meeting with Tran, Rader and Andrea Rowland, Rader's partner in RidgeRunner Publishing and executive editor of Smart Company, an agreement was reached that Tran would no longer be paid, she said. Rowland resigned from RidgeRunner last week, according to an e-mail from Rowland.

The executives agreed to keep the company's Frederick office open temporarily, even though Tran would no longer be working there, Rader said, but Tran closed it soon after.

Rader, who attended this week's hearing, called Solt's decision "fair."

"The judge did recognize that Tran did have a responsibility and [she] wasn't ready to rule on that," Rader said.

"I did attempt to resolve our partnership but was disappointed that Harby did not do so prior to launching 270inc," she said.

Rader and RidgeRunner are represented by William Schildt of Strite & Schildt of Hagerstown. Another hearing has not been scheduled.