Promoter sues festival, organizers
Published 12:00 am Thursday, June 26, 2003
Weeks after the Tri-State Mega Festival & Fair came to an abrupt halt, the fallout continues.
Earlier this week, MacKay Marketing & Entertainment filed a lawsuit against the corporation and its organizers.
Based out of Bridgewater, Mass., the promotion company's owner, Gordon MacKay, filed a suit Monday in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court, seeking a total of $106,295 in damages, as well as a jury trial for the case.
In addition to the Tri-State Mega Festival and Fair Corp., a non-profit group incorporated in Kentucky, the suit named the board of directors, Rick Clark and Gary Stevens of 1131 Terry Street in Raceland, Ky., and Casey Kerns of 7464 County Road 15, Chesapeake.
The suit seeks $100,000 in punitive damages and $6,295 in compensatory damages. The suit cites breach of contract, interference with contractual and business relationships, fraud in the inducement and other complaints that have allegedly damaged owner Gordon MacKay's ability to do business.
"Defendants, Rick Clark and Casey Kerns, intentionally and knowingly deceived the plaintiff, with actual malice, in that they never intended to pay plaintiff in full for any and all acts solicited," the suit states.
The Mega Fest was originally advertised as a five-day event - June 4-8 - but was ended a day early after poor attendance and rain left organizers scrambling to pay many of the acts.
While some of the bigger musical acts that Gordon MacKay booked, including Trick Pony, Joe Nichols and Jennifer Hanson, were paid, many of MacKay's other performance acts were only paid a fraction of what they were owed. The suit also alleges these acts are still owed $55,075.
Several of the shows, including the Zoppe' Family Circus, the Wyndham Mountain Ranch, Animal Enterprises' petting zoo,
and the Las Vegas Magic Show, had all said they received virtually nothing that was promised in their contracts and were left wondering how they were going to make it home.
Although Clark had indicated on June 7 that he and the corporation would have to file bankruptcy, as of Monday neither had filed in federal bankruptcy court in Lexington, Ky.
Organizers Clark and Kerns were unable to be reached for comment this morning.