The folks at the Costa Mesa Convention & Visitor Bureau feel duped by a sneaky Irvine marketing business and want, if court documents filed this week are any indication, painful financial revenge.
According to a July 30 lawsuit, bureau officials claim they paid more than $100,000 in fraudulent work invoices submitted by Hyperdisk Marketing, Inc.
They are demanding not only a full refund but a whopping $5 million in punitive damages.
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The company, which is owned by Nicholas J. Singer, was hired in
2006 by the non-profit group to help promote Costa Mesa hotels, shopping
centers and restaurants mainly through website and email campaigns.
Bureau
officials claim that they killed the contract in April 2011 after
discovering that work hadn't been done and the company refused to comply
with a contract stipulation that it must provide access to related
business records, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint, filed in Orange County Superior Court by attorney Albert S. Israel, claims Hyperdisk Marketing–whose website claims its clients include George Argyros's Arnel Development Co., the Newport Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, TCA, Sony, Mark Taylor, The Melrose, The Jefferson and The Hilton Family–breached the contract, committed fraud and gained unjust enrichment.
The defendants have not yet filed a response in court and a detailed telephone message to Singer was not returned.
Superior Court Judge Geoffrey T. Glass has been assigned to handle the case.
***UPDATE, Oct. 8, 2013: An Orange County jury this month exonerated Hyperdisk Marketing of all of the allegations in the lawsuit. Go HERE to read our report following the verdicts.
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