InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) won a $179,000 default judgment late last week against host agency Joystar in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
The 179,000 judgment includes attorney fees of $16,000.
IHG had claimed that one of Joystar’s agents raided the IHG booking systems and took $163,000 in improper commissions. The lawsuit, filed in Atlanta on Oct. 15, claimed that Thomas Perkins, a former IHG employee and Joystar agent, accessed the IHG system and peeled off direct bookings, then claimed them as commissionable sales for himself and his wife.
According to the IHG complaint, Joystar kept $115,000 of the improperly claimed commissions.
Scott Bonder, attorney for IHG, said Joystar made no attempt to respond to IHG claims in court. He added that the judgment is only against Joystar. Travelstar, Joystar’s parent, is a defendant, as well, but IHG has been unable to serve Travelstar.
According to Bonder, if Joystar goes into Chapter 7 liquidation, IHG could make a claim like any other unsecured creditor, but the judgment came too late -- meaning after the bankruptcy proceeding was launched -- to give IHG a preferred status among creditors.
Also, he said, in the event of liquidation, IHG would have to choose between accepting the cents-on-the-dollar deal offered to others and giving up the full judgment amount or bowing out of the bankruptcy process and pursuing the full $179,000 separately.
