poto

looks like the Naked Rhino thing tacked on the NATS security issue to their lawsuit... will be very interesting to see how this turns out...

A class action suit has been filed against Too Much Media/NATS and its owners.

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NATURE OF THE ACTION
This is a proposed “hybrid” action to brought pursuant to F.R.C.P. 23(c)(4).
Specifically, NR Media, Inc. (“NRM”) seeks damages and equitable relief on behalf of itself
and on behalf all persons and entities that operate Affiliate Programs, and that suffered harm
as a result purchasing information processing services from Too Much Media, LLC
(“TMM”) based on NATS, a software program designed for, by and owned by TMM, and/or
John Albright and/or Charles Berrebbi (collectively, the “TMM Defendants”). In addition,
Plaintiffs seek relief based on the tortious conduct that the TMM Defendants specifically
directed at Plaintiffs and which resulted in the destruction of NRM’s profitable and popular
on-line Internet business and sabotaged NR LCC from its inception.


Defendants,
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TMM’s officers, directors, and employees, Doe Defendants 1 through
30, and any judicial official to whom this matter is assigned.
16. The Class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable. While
the exact number of Class members is unknown to NRM at this time and may only be
ascertained through discovery, NRM believes there are several hundreds of members in the
proposed class.
17. The claims of NRM are typical of the claims of the members of the Class,
because NRM and all Class members sustained damages out of defendants’ wrongful
conduct complained of herein.
18. NRM will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the Class. NRM has
no interests antagonistic to those of the Class, and has retained counsel and consultants
experienced in consumer class action litigation and who are further familiar with the
technical aspects of the Affiliate Program business model.
19. A class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient
adjudication of the claims asserted herein, because the expense and burden of litigation, and
the power to deny members of the Class vital information-processing services that would
lead to the collapse of their business, make it virtually impossible for the Class members to
pursue individual redress for the wrongs they have suffered and continue to suffer. The
likelihood of individual members of the Class prosecuting individual, separate claims is
remote.
20. In addition, members of the Class reside in many states throughout the United
States and in foreign countries and are so numerous that it will be impracticable to join them
each individually. However, it will be highly practicable to ascertain their identities and to
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communicate with them because TMM has a list of all members of the Class.


NR Media Moves to Amend Lawsuit Against Too Much Media - XBIZ.com

and our thread here way back when news of the exploit first broke:
rumors of a NATS exploit

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poto

and it continues...

FREEHOLD, N.J. — Too Much Media (TMM) has issued an official statement responding to the claims made by Naked Rhino and NR Media in that company’s motion to amend its lawsuit pending against TMM in federal court.

“Naked Rhino and NR Media have, with great fanfare, announced their motion to amend their complaint in the lawsuit pending against Too Much Media in federal court in New Jersey,” TMM said it in its statement. “They have obviously sought to gain from publishing false statements what they have not been able to gain after a year and a half of litigation.”

The statement called observers to “consider the source” of the claims made in the NRM motion, and said that TMM’s attorneys will “vigorously oppose the motion to allow its filing.”

The statement also included a list of items that TMM asserts are facts that have come to light through NRM’s litigation to date, including:

* “Chris Petoski, the president of NR and NRM, in testimony has admitted cursing and hanging up on John Albright after John Albright telephoned him to find out why affiliates have not been properly paid.”
* “NR’s former technical director has testified that the accounting for affiliate rebills was flawed, not because of a problem with NATS, but because of his use of an erroneous password. Petoski was aware of this but refused to make required corrections.”
* “Until this day NR and NRM have not correctly paid affiliates what was owed them for rebills since well before the lawsuit started in August 2006.”
* “NR and NRM have not set aside money to pay the affiliates when the litigation ends.”
* “NR and NRM, in transferring its affiliate tracking software from NATS to Epoch’s Hosted MPA solution chose not to pay what Petoski testified was $5,000-$10,000 for the software necessary to keep track of its obligations to affiliates and sales generated prior to the transfer.”

The statement also noted that the attorney who is now seeking to represent NRM in the case, Charles Carreon, is also counsel for Mansion Productions, the maker of the primary competing product for NATS, MPA3, and followed that observation with the question “coincidence?”

With respect to the much-publicized NATS security breach, TMM’s statement asserted that the breach “has not, apparently, continued, as TMM has received no related complaints since December.”

“TMM is very much aware of its obligations to the industry,” the statement said. “It was that feeling of obligation which led to John Albright’s call to Chris Petoski in August, 2006. Think of it – what did John Albright or TMM have to gain by picking a fight with NR, NRM or Petoski? It’s that same feeling of obligation which has caused TMM, on a monthly basis, since 2005, to deliver a CD containing the updated NATS source code and a list of current clients to its attorneys for safekeeping. In the unlikely event anything happen to TMM, its NATS customers are protected.”

The statement also took NRM to task for, in effect, trying its case in public view.

“Lawsuits are meant to be tried in courts,” TMM said in its statement. “Because, however, NR, NRM and their friends have sought to use various media outlets to try to harm NATS and Too Much Media, a response was required. We can only hope and request that you be objective and fair in considering all related communications.”

In response to the statement, Carreon, the general counsel for NRM that was referenced in TMM’s statement, told XBIZ that what he found most interesting about TMM’s statement is what it did not say.

“It is TMM’s contention that NRM is at fault for under-reporting the rebills at issue,” Carreon said. “In order to assert that, they have to argue that NRM circumvented NATS, and overcame its ‘shave-proof’ nature in order to intentionally shave rebills — but nowhere in this statement do they say that.”

Carreon described as “kind of a hoot” TMM’s assertion that the rebill accounting was flawed due to “erroneous password” use by Petoski.

“What kind of processing software starts miscounting rebills because of a user putting in an incorrect password?,” Carreon said. “I’ve used a lot of software and a lot of websites that require a password, and never have I entered my Bank of America password incorrectly, for example, and seen ‘you have punched in the wrong password — here, have someone else’s money.’ It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

Carreon brushed off the implication that he was biased against TMM, or otherwise affected by the fact that Mansion Productions is another of his clients.

”If you represent one lawn mower company, the chances are pretty good that a third party suing another lawn mower company might retain you, on the idea that you might have some specific knowledge about lawn mowers,” Carreon said. “Mansion is simply a good client that does a good job of providing a service that TMM also provides. That’s the only connection and relevance here — I’m reasonably well-informed about the kind of service that TMM provides.”

Carreon did concur with TMM on one point made in its statement, however: the facts of the case, whatever they are, will eventually come to light in court.

“They [TMM] are in possession of the information that would answer the questions that are implicit in their [statement issued Monday],” Carreon said. “The innocent have nothing to worry about. If they are correct that they have done nothing wrong, then they have no cause for concern.”

source: Too Much Media Responds to NR Media Claims - XBIZ.com

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