JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - An ad agency is suing Mississippi’s Department of Public Safety over a more than $700,000-bill for seat belt usage and anti-drunken driving campaigns.
The Clarion-Ledger reports The Mann Agency LLC in Ridgeland filed suit Thursday in state court, claiming breach of contract and “fraud in the inducement.”
Agency owner Carol Mann tells the newspaper she was left holding $712,000 worth of bills - most for ads run with more than 70 media outlets including television, newspaper, radio and billboard companies - for months.
DPS says the agency is simply following terms of the contract and federal regulations and will reimburse the agency only after it pays all the media bills. But Mann says that DPS for years has paid the media bills as a “flow-through,” not as reimbursement.
Mann said such a pass-through setup is common practice in the advertising industry.
The contract between the two parties appears to specify both reimbursement and pass-through.
The contract says: “Contractor shall pay all media placement and production costs and be reimbursed by (DPS) upon presentation of detailed invoices.” But it also says: “All media purchases will be completed on a flat rate rather than commission. Further, all advertising money is ’pass through’ and not subject to any general and administrative fees or profit.”
The lawsuit asks for a judgment covering the ad bills, plus legal fees and 18 percent interest based on a state “timely payments for purchases by public bodies” law. It claims DPS “fraudulently induced the Mann Agency to incur the legal obligation to pay for (the ads) … on the expected promise that it would pay the Mann Agency within a two-day turnaround.” It says, “The DPS has in bad faith manufactured a bogus issue as a pretext not to pay for services received.”
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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, https://www.clarionledger.com
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