PENNSYLVANIA RECORD

The owners of the region’s two most recognized daily newspapers have filed suit against a well-known area camera shop alleging the business has refused to fully compensate the publishing company for ad space bought in the papers.

Attorney James W. Adelman, of the Philadelphia firm Morris & Adelman, filed the civil action June 6 at Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Philadelphia Media Network, owner and publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.

The defendant named in the lawsuit is Philadelphia-based Ritz Camera & Image LLC.

The suit claims that Ritz Camera has an outstanding balance of more than $47,000 relating to advertising the defendant had the plaintiff place in its newspapers.

The media company has sent the retail business monthly statements of the balance owed to the plaintiff, the lawsuit claims, but the defendant has repeatedly “failed and refused” to pay what it owes.

As a result, Philadelphia Media Network has been deprived of $47,297.20 in advertising dollars it is entitled to, the lawsuit states.

In addition to the outstanding amount, the plaintiff seeks attorney’s fees and interest at 6 percent per annum dating back to Dec. 11, 2011, when the working relationship between the parties began.

“Defendant received the benefit of the services from Plaintiff and it is unconscionable for Defendant to receive those benefits without making restitution to Plaintiff,” the lawsuit states. “It can be inferred from the acts in the light of the surrounding circumstances that Defendant implied that it would pay Plaintiff for the services.”

In its complaint, Philadelphia Media Network alleges that it had an agreement with Ritz Camera for the advertising services and that while the newspaper publisher held up its end of the bargain, the camera company failed to compensate the plaintiff for the services in the agreement.

An arbitration hearing in the matter has been scheduled for February of next year.

 

The case ID number is 120600678.