Two months after Little Rock businessman Larry Crain resolved the litigation involving two radio stations he owned, a new lawsuit has been filed against his Crain Media Group LLC.
In the most recent filing, LaZeta 95.7 Inc., a Washington County company that did business with Crain, wrote that it entered into an agreement with CMG on Aug. 3, 2012, to purchase four months of air time on KOLL, 106.3. That station is owned by Crain and broadcast in Little Rock.
Fayetteville attorney Travis W. Story wrote that LaZeta made music royalty payments to Broadcast Music Inc., the Society of European Stage Authors & Composers, and the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers during the four-month contract term. After the term was up, LaZeta found it had overpaid the companies in 2012 because of an incorrect filing CMG submitted the year before, Story wrote.
The type of filing was not specified in the lawsuit, and Story did not return messages seeking comment last week.
LaZeta also alleges that CMG negotiated with BMI and received a credit for KOLL totaling $12,600 and received another credit from ASCAP for $11,448.
Story wrote that CMG had breached the contract with LaZeta “when it refused to reimburse [LaZeta] for the amount that it overpaid.”
Crain had not responded by last Thursday, but his attorney, Skip Davidson, said he plans to file a timely response denying the allegations and asking the court to dismiss the complaint.
“Management intends to vigorously defend the case. The claim is based on incomplete information and erroneous assumptions,” Davidson said in a statement sent to Arkansas Business.
You might recall that Crain resolved two separate lawsuits earlier this year that were brought by former business partner Steve Renfro and sports personality Bo Mattingly.
