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AROLUXE, RON HARRIS RESPOND TO AUDIENCE OF ONE LAWSUIT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THEM & FORMER TNA PARENT COMPANY

By Mike Johnson on 2017-01-04 23:44:00

Defendants Ron Harris and Aroluxe officially responded to the lawsuit TNA's former production company, Audience of One Productions, LLC filed against [Elite subscribers, click here] TNA parent company Impact Ventures LLC, Aroluxe LLC, TNA Chief Financial Officer Dean Broadhead and Harris on 9/27/5 in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, pretty much pointing fingers at others and disavowing that they should even be defendants in the lawsuit.

As previously reported, the lawsuit alleges that Broadhead, Harris and Aroluxe worked together to get Audience of One on board as a production company under the false pretense of using them full-time, then failed to pay them in a timely fashion for work done, set up a payment plan, then stopped paying after the initial payment was made.   Audience of One is seeking $223,000 plus interest and post-judgment costs for breach of contract, fraudulent inducement on the behalf of Harris and Broadhead, torturous interference on behalf of Aroluxe and for the defendants violating Virginia code.

Filed on 1/3, Aroluxe's response was 15 pages long and claimed they have been improperly named as defendants in the case, that claims in the lawsuit that Ron Harris is a "principal" in their company as alleged by Audience of One are incorrect and that "Aroluxe lacks knowledge and information sufficient to form a belief" in regard to many of the allegations brought against them.  They are also claiming many of the allegations are directed against Impact Ventures, LLC, Ron Harris and/or Dean Broadhead, therefore Aroluxe need not respond to them. 

Harris' 14 page response to the lawsuit, also filed on 1/3 denies all of the allegations against him personally, claims that the court in Virginia has no jurisdiction over him and that any and all of the allegations should be directed to TNA Impact Ventures, LLC and/or Aroluxe's parent company.  He also claims that Audience of One has failed to state a claim in which they can receive any sort of remedy against him.

Basically, they are all stating that any claims against them are incorrect and other entities, specifically Impact Ventures LLC, should be the one targeted in the lawsuit.  What is interesting with that strategy is that with today's announcement that Anthem Media has purchased Impact Wrestling and formed a new LLC around the company, there probably is not much left to Impact Ventures, LLC in terms of assets that can be seized or paid out to the plaintiffs, if this ever does go to trial.

In each filing on 1/3, Harris and Aroluxe each asked the Court to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice (meaning not allowing Audience of One to refile down the line) and that Audience of One should be required to pay any court costs associated with the lawsuit filing.

As we noted previously on PWInsider.com, attorneys representing Harris and Aroluxe filed a motion on 12/6/16 to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that it being filed in Virginia (where Audience of One is headquartered) meant that the Court lacked jurisdiction over either party.  Harris noted in those filings that he was not a party to the agreement between TNA and Audience of One and as a resident of Tennessee, should not be under the jurisdiction of the State of Virginia. 

Aroluxe's Jason Brown also stated that his company is not headquartered in Virginia, does not do regular business in the State and does not make significant money based on their business in the State, therefore they should not fall under that jurisdiction either.

Harris and Aroluxe's lawyers had also previously claimed that under Virginia law, Audience of One was failing to produce evidence that there was a conspiracy to defraud the company and that since there is no evidence of this, that the court cannot "allow a plaintiff to establish jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant by simply pleading bare allegations of a business conspiracy. This is not the law."  They are also arguing that any dispute between the parties did not originate in the State of Virginia, which means that having the case heard there is meaningless.

A hearing on the jurisdiction matter has been set for 2/3/2017 at 10:00 AM in Richmond Courtroom 6300 before District Judge Henry E. Hudson, who is presiding over the case.  Judge Hudson had attempted to send the two sides to mediation  to work out a settlement, but all of that has been paused until a ruling is made on whether the lawsuit has been filed in the wrong venue.  If it is tossed out, one would expect Audience of One to try and file again, but this time in the State of Tennessee.

 

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