{"id":22511,"date":"2022-04-04T23:51:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T23:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pr.asianetpakistan.com\/?p=89440"},"modified":"2022-04-04T23:51:14","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T23:51:14","slug":"district-court-closes-the-door-permanently-on-wickfires-meritless-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myanmarnewswire.com\/district-court-closes-the-door-permanently-on-wickfires-meritless-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"District Court Closes the Door Permanently on Wickfire\u2019s Meritless Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"
AUSTIN, Texas, April 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wickfire suffered the latest in an extensive line of litigation defeats to TriMax. This time, a District Court dismissed Wickfire\u2019s meritless claims permanently.<\/p>\n
In 2021, an Appellate Court ruled that Wickfire lacked any evidence supporting its multi-million-dollar claims against TriMax. Undeterred by this monumental loss, Wickfire tried its hand once more and failed.<\/p>\n
After losing at the Appellate Court, Wickfire moved a District Court to order TriMax pay Wickfire more than $400,000. This led to a flurry of findings and orders against Wickfire:<\/p>\n
The orders and findings appear in published opinions from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Case Number 17-3043040 and the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Case No. 1:14-CV-0034-RP.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit centered around Google AdWords Auctions, an online-auction platform where companies like TriMax and Wickfire compete for advertising space. Wickfire asserted a series of claims against TriMax, but as to each one, Wickfire failed. Wickfire alleged TriMax intentionally interfered with Wickfire\u2019s contracts, intentionally interfered with Wickfire\u2019s prospective business, and committed civil conspiracy. An Appellate Court found \u201cWickfire offered no such proof\u201d and declared that each of these claims failed.<\/p>\n
After the Appellate Court found an earlier District Court judgment awarding $2.3 million to Wickfire to be erroneous due to the lack of any supporting evidence, the District Court more recently issued the \u201cTAKE NOTHING\u201d judgment. Through the \u201cTAKE NOTHING\u201d judgment, Wickfire received no award and, conversely, was ordered to pay its own attorneys\u2019 fees and costs.<\/p>\n
In the same lawsuit, the jury previously found Wickfire LLC and its co-owners, Chet Hall and Jon Brown, to have intentionally interfered with TriMax Media\u2019s business. TriMax argued that Wickfire intentionally interfered with TriMax\u2019s contracts by (1) paying kickbacks to merchant representatives in exchange for exclusivity agreements; (2) impersonating TriMax by placing unauthorized ads that plagiarized TriMax\u2019s ad copy and contained other identifying information of TriMax; (3) repeatedly clicking on TriMax ads in order to artificially increase TriMax\u2019s costs (known as \u201cclick fraud\u201d); and (4) using an automated software program to manipulate the Google auction system (known as \u201cbid jamming\u201d).<\/p>\n
TriMax presented evidence to the jury that Wickfire had been suspended from over 200 Google accounts, violated merchant terms, and employed fake user agents and proxies to conceal its identity. The jury also saw evidence that Google referred to Wickfire as \u201cKnown Fraudsters\u201d and that Wickfire registered the domain name \u201cGoogleClickFraud.com\u201d.<\/p>\n
TriMax also presented evidence regarding Wickfire\u2019s destruction of evidence. During the litigation, Wickfire wiped all the data from its Chief Technology Officer, Jon Brown\u2019s, laptop and then failed to disclose that information to TriMax or the District Court. Once TriMax uncovered the destruction, Wickfire claimed it was necessary, since the laptop had been stolen during a home burglary. However, the police report\u2014which TriMax obtained independently after Wickfire failed to produce a copy\u2014contradicted Wickfire\u2019s story because it mentioned nothing about an allegedly stolen laptop.<\/p>\n
While the jury heard extensive evidence about Wickfire\u2019s conduct comprising Wickfire\u2019s intentional interference against TriMax (which the jury found to have occurred), some of the most devastating evidence was excluded. For example, the jury was not permitted to see:<\/p>\n
Despite the jury\u2019s finding against Wickfire, Chet Hall, and Jon Brown for intentional interference with TriMax\u2019s business, no damages against Wickfire were awarded. This was, as the District Court noted, a finding reached by the jury after \u201cthe jury heard evidence that Google investigated Wickfire\u2019s AdWords bidding and determined it was permissible.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the District Court\u2019s Final Judgment did not disturb the jury\u2019s finding that Wickfire, Chet Hall, and Jon Brown committed the intentional interference in the first place. Thus, the interference finding against Wickfire, Chet Hall, and Jon Brown stands and is final.<\/p>\n
Prior to issuing the \u201cTAKE NOTHING\u201d judgment and dismissing Wickfire\u2019s meritless claims permanently, a Magistrate Judge considered a motion to disqualify Wickfire attorney, Katy Hall (formerly known as Katy Atlas). TriMax alleged that while in possession of TriMax\u2019s sensitive documents, Katy Hall began a personal and intimate relationship with Chet Hall (CEO and Co-Founder of Wickfire, and, himself a party to the case), divorced her prior husband, had a child with Chet Hall, and married Chet Hall after he divorced his prior wife. TriMax also alleged that Katy Hall wrongfully accepted an in-house position with Wickfire while in possession of the documents. Katy Hall is currently Chief Operating Officer of Wickfire\u2019s BuyersGuide.org. A Magistrate Judge however, ruled that TriMax could not \u201cmeet its heavy burden to prove that disqualification is warranted\u201d and denied the motion to disqualify Katy Hall.<\/p>\n
TriMax\u2019s CEO, Laura Woodruff, commented: \u201cAfter the Fifth Circuit exonerated TriMax in 2021, we were surprised that Wickfire chose to continue asserting meritless claims with the District Court. However, we are pleased with the recent orders by the District Court, which\u2014like the Appellate Court before it\u2014repeatedly rejected Wickfire\u2019s claims for lack of merit. We are, however, still disappointed that Google and the Networks permitted Wickfire to intentionally interfere with TriMax\u2019s business in the first place. Nevertheless, based on the jury\u2019s finding that Wickfire interfered with TriMax\u2019s business\u2014a finding that was not reversed or altered by the recent Final Judgment\u2014we now hope tactics like impersonation of competitors, kickbacks, bid jamming, and click fraud, will no longer be tolerated in the online advertising industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
About TriMax Media:<\/strong><\/p>\n Founded in 2003, TriMax Media is a digital marketing agency specializing in performance-based search engine marketing. TriMax served on the first Google Advertiser Research Council and was one of the first companies to generate over one million leads for its clients utilizing Google AdWords. The agency focuses on creating highly effective search marketing campaigns and developing successful long-term relationships with its clients.<\/p>\n Company Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n