The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., seeks damages of $5 million plus costs and fees, stemming from an Aug. 10 incident involving the termination of Naked Rhino’s NATS account and a damaging post on adult entertainment industry bulletin board GoFuckYourself.com.
“The two main causes of action are breach of contract and defamation,” plaintiff’s attorney Albert Zakarian told XBIZ. “The breach of contract claim is fairly simple. We had an agreement wherein Too Much would provide a service and they simply stopped. That’s a breach of contract.”
Zakarian reserved the bulk of the 34-page complaint for defamation claims, which he highlighted with careful detail.
“I highly over-plead the evidence I need to prove defamation,” he said. “I could make this case in trial tomorrow.”
According to the complaint, the defamatory statement allegedly made by Albright using the handle “PbucksJohn,” was made with a “reckless disregard for the truth” in a manner “as to lead the average adult industry person to conclude that the Too Much Media defendants were accusing Naked Rhino of defrauding the XclusiveCash affiliates.”
The posting on GFY, and subsequent reposting on other industry boards such as JustBlowMe.com, spread like “wild fire,” according to the complaint, which alleged that claims by Too Much of “shaving” by Naked Rhino are tantamount to destroying the company’s business.
The more posting that are made in reference to the original post, the easier my case becomes, Zakarian said.
According to Naked Rhino CEO Jason Tucker, the origin of the dispute and the subsequent aftermath remain unclear.
“We still don’t know what happened from Aug. 10 until today,” Tucker told XBIZ.
While the lawsuit estimates damages at $5 million, Tucker said that he felt that number was a conservative amount given the loss of business and reputation allegedly suffered by Naked Rhino.
“We’ve sued for what seems to us to be a conservative, quantifiable and easily proven number,” Tucker said.
Naked Rhino, which operates paysites BrandiLove.com and SinamonLane.com, recently launched operations under Naked Rhino banner, joining Falcon Foto with XclusiveCash.com.
Naked Rhino was founded in 2004 by husband and wife team Chris and Tracey Potoski.
Calls and ICQ messages from XBIZ to Too Much Media and Albright were not immediately answered.
According to Zakarian, the complaint, though filed, has not been served on Too Much Media or Albright. The next step is to serve the defendants under the federal rules of procedure and wait for a response, he said.