BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—Hustler publisher LFP Inc. filed a $20 million lawsuit against wireless content provider Giant Mobile.
The countersuit follows an April filing from Giant claiming LFP failed to honor a 3-year-old licensing agreement in an effort to strike a better deal with another mobile distributor. Giant is seeking $23 million in that suit, asserting that LFP executive Michael Klein “went out of his way to disrupt Giant’s existing relationship with LFP, cut Giant out of the marketplace and deny it any credit for helping to establish the Hustler Mobile brand.”
But LFP, which is also seeking unspecified punitive damages, said it terminated the deal after conducting an audit of Giant’s financial records. LFP now has a licensing agreement with Mobival for distribution in Europe and Central and South America, and is seeking a distributor for other markets.
“LFP did its due diligence and it is the company’s position that Giant Mobile was in default of our agreement in various areas and when it became clear that these issues could not be resolved we took action to terminate the agreement,” Klein said in a prepared statement. “We see little merit in the claims made against LFP by Giant in the arbitration, and we look forward to the day when this matter is resolved in LFP’s favor.”
