Zombies sure can be scary. After all, who wouldn’t be frightened by reanimated corpses, roaming the streets to feast on hapless humans?
But an event promoter in Amesbury claims another reason to be afraid of the walking dead: They can apparently cost you big money in lost business.
At least, that’s what Event Partners LLC argues in a lawsuit filed last week against Maryland-based Reed Street Productions LLC and its two principals, Ryan Hogan and Derrick Smith. Event Partners LLC, a firm led by Mary Carol Fowler that runs events at Amesbury Sports Park, says Reed Street unfairly backed out of an agreement to hire Event Partners to help promote a new series of 5K zombie races on a national basis.
Zombie races? Yes, Reed Street apparently tapped a successful market this year with the launch of its “Run for Your Lives” series, combining two hot trends right now: zombies and obstacle races. Participants can enter as runners, they can dress up as zombies to chase the runners, or they can do both in separate 5K obstacle races at the same event. Smith conservatively estimates that Reed Street will total 75,000 participants among its 13 events this year (12 in the U.S. and one in Canada).
The problem for Event Partners is that it claims it only received payments for its role in one of those events, the one that took place on its home turf in Amesbury over two days in May.
Event Partners’ lawsuit claims that Reed Street first reached out in mid-2011 about holding a zombie race at Amesbury Sports Park in 2012 and 2013. Those talks, according to the lawsuit, were expanded by September of last year to include all food, beverage and parking work for the race series in all U.S. locations. The proposed contract would have required an exclusive arrangement for three years, the suit claims, and Event Partners turned away opportunities to do similar work for competing race promoters. In anticipation of this arrangement, the Amesbury firm pitched in to help with races in Maryland and Georgia, and also helped secure national sponsorships, according to the suit. Event Partners says it eventually helped out with more races as well.
Event Partners claims that Reed Street was working on a final contract but kept putting off issuing it so it could be signed by both parties. But soon after the Amesbury event was held, Event Partners claims that Hogan called to terminate the relationship.
Event Partners now claims that it never received any compensation for efforts on zombie races after the Amesbury race, and it never received full compensation for efforts for races prior to the Amesbury event.
Smith wouldn’t comment about the lawsuit when I called to ask him about it. But I suspect Reed Street’s defense will hinge on the fact that there never was a signed contract in Event Partners’ hands.
Michael Tucker, Event Partners’ lawyer, tells me that even though there wasn’t a signed contract, he has more than enough evidence (such as email correspondence) to show that his client did indeed have a working relationship with Reed Street that the Maryland firm should have honored. Reed Street made it abundantly clear, Tucker says, that his client was getting the national job for three years.
Meanwhile, Reed Street is already looking ahead to an even busier schedule for 2013, with as many as 18 zombie races scheduled at various locations across the country. Except there’s still a big question mark for the Boston-area race ostensibly set for Oct. 16, 2013. The location? Reed Street’s website just says “coming soon.”
~bizjournals.com
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