It was back in 2014 when Cumulus sued host Michael Baisden, claiming they overpaid him by $1 million. Baisden’s contract called for Cumulus to pay either $7.5 million or half of net program income for January 2012 to March 2013. The company said it paid $1 million as an advance and skipped 15 monthly installments by paying another $7.25 million, mistakenly not subtracting the advance. A filing with the bankruptcy court states this dispute is now settled.
A district Court in Texas originally ruled in favor of Cumulus in 2017 and told Baisden he needed to pay back $1,869,054.79, plus post-judgment interest and attorneys’ fees. On January 26, 2018, Baisden filed a notice of appeal currently pending in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Court documents filed yesterday states that Cumulus and Baisden have reached an agreement to settle their disputes, “so as to mitigate the risk, inconvenience, and expense of litigating the Appeal. It’s clear Baisden is paying something to Cumulus to end the lawsuits, however, that amount was redacted from the court filing. It is somewhat less than what the court originally awarded Cumulus.
Cumulus says they believe the settlement agreement is “fair and reasonable.” Cumulus decided litigating Baisden’s appeal would be time-consuming and costly and the company was not certain they would even win. The settlement allows them to avoid the time, expense and additional risk of litigating the appeal in exchange for a modest reduction in the judgment amount.”
