CCLR Internet, the Internet division of Chi Chi LaRue’s Channel One Releasing, is the latest to file suit against troubled payment processor iBill.
The suit was filed in Broward County Circuit Court on February 23, naming iBill, along with former president Cathy Beardsley and CCLR’s iBill account representative Bertran Metcalf, as defendants.
“We decided to take the issue to court because this has been an especially hurtful situation not only for us, but for the entire Internet business in general,” LaRue told AVNOnline.com. “This has caused revenue losses with our pay sites and a myriad of aftershocks with webmasters that purchase Live and Raw and additional content packages we sell. After having a close working relationship with iBill for over four years, recommending them to business associates, considering them our friends for God’s sake, now to not get a straight answer, that just isn’t right.”
The issue with iBill, like that of many other companies, stems over alleged non-payments. Their circuit court claim is for contract indebtedness and damages.
“iBill owes CCLR monies from past and current missed payouts. In addition, there are numerous damages CCLR has incurred due to iBill’s current practices. The exact amounts we prefer to leave undisclosed for now, but they are enough to warrant litigation,” LaRue said.
Until recently, CCLR was still communicating with iBill about the situation, but their conversations yielded little result. The company sent a letter to iBill in October 2004 terminating their processing agreement, but according to CCLR executives, iBill replied asking them not to cancel and then continued processing their payments anyway. The relationship has since been severed completely.
“We have had numerous communications. All are filled with missed deadlines and false promises of everything working out and ‘the check is in the mail,’” LaRue said.
“From our perspective, whatever structure is in place (at iBill) is unable to explain why there aren’t sufficient funds to make good on their past due payouts or even explain why current sales are not being paid.”
Cybersocket recently filed two separate small claims actions against iBill in Los Angeles over the alleged non-payment for advertising and settled with the company out of court.
Adding to iBill’s troubles, publisher/producer The Score Group also has pending litigation against the company. The company’s Internet administrator David Uwate confirmed the proceedings but reserved comment. A records search indicated a hearing would take place on April 4. Score filed their suit in October of 2004.
CCLR and Score are being represented by law firm Buchanan Ingersoll.
iBill CEO Charles Pratt did not reply to a request for comment as of this posting.
