SUIT CLAIMS FIRM'S PLAN 'HIJACKED' EARLIER BUYOUT EFFORT FAILED.Byline: Robert Monroe Staff Writer A Newhall company claims in a lawsuit that an Agoura Hills company broke a deal to jointly provide check and credit card processing services, instead proceeding solo with the business plan. Premiere Lifestyles International Corp., which filed the suit in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Superior Court on May 26, seeks damages in excess of $10 million. It alleges Electronic Clearing House Inc., or ECHO, took over its business plan after realizing its potential profitability. The two parties will return to court Sept. 22 to deal with Premiere's charge that the other company misappropriated mis·ap·pro·pri·ate tr.v. mis·ap·pro·pri·at·ed, mis·ap·pro·pri·at·ing, mis·ap·pro·pri·ates 1. a. To appropriate wrongly: misappropriating the theories of social science. its trade secrets and wrongfully disassociated itself from their contractual relationship. ``This case involves the hijacking hijacking Crime of seizing possession or control of a vehicle from another by force or threat of force. Although by the late 20th century hijacking most frequently involved the seizure of an airplane and its forcible diversion to destinations chosen by the air pirates, when of a valuable business in the e-commerce world,'' wrote attorneys for Premiere in the complaint. Attorneys did not comment Friday. However, also Friday, ECHO issued a statement noting that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Cesar Sarmiento overruled four of Premiere's seven causes of action Aug. 21. Court records show Sarmiento gave Premiere 10 days to amend the other three. In Premiere's complaint, the company said it agreed with ECHO in July 1997 that ECHO would provide some portions of a check and credit card processing service Premiere wanted to offer to companies. After the two parties signed a nondisclosure agreement, Premiere said it revealed its business plan to ECHO, which offered to buy Premiere out. After Premiere balked balk v. balked, balk·ing, balks v.intr. 1. To stop short and refuse to go on: The horse balked at the jump. 2. , the two parties instead formed a joint venture, but ECHO and subsidiary XpresscheX squeezed Premiere out of the arrangement, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Premiere's complaint. ``ECHO has used its XpresscheX subsidiary to exploit for its sole profit the business opportunities that were originated by PLIC PLIC Piecewise Linear Interface Calculation PLIC Pseudolikelihood Information Criterion PLIC Piecewise Linear Interface Reconstruction PLIC Partitioned Linear Interference Canceler PLIC Provincial Land Information Council PLIC Progressive Lossless Image Coding ,'' Premiere's attorneys wrote. ECHO's attorney's countered in a demurrer demurrer In law, a plea in response to an allegation that admits its truth but also asserts that it is not sufficient as a cause of action. In the U.S., demurrers are no longer used in federal procedure (having been replaced by motions to dismiss or motions for more definite that there was no partnership to violate. ``There is no statute or case law in California which makes a joint venture the equivalent of a partnership,'' ECHO's attorneys wrote. |
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