Holiday Inn Hotels vs. Smith Advertising

The lawyer who is representing two of the Holiday Inn hotels, located in the Fayetteville area, has argued to a judge earlier this week, stating that the clients should not have to honor the payment agreement for the month of February between the two hotels and the Smith Advertising & Associates company. The agreement was for about $27,500 worth of advertising work that took place between the span of 2010 through 2011.

Smith Advertising chose to sue the owners of both of these hotel chains last year when they failed to pay the invoices that the advertising company had sent to them. Both the hotel chain owners and Smith came to an agreement towards the end of February, deciding that the Holiday Inn would pay Smith $27,500. Only about two weeks after the court mediation took place, the advertisement agency ending up shutting down for good. The Smiths are now dealing with a lot of lawsuits from numerous clients and there is even a federal criminal investigation underway on their behalf. They are accused of owing investors a whole lot of money, millions of dollars’ worth.

The family that owns and operates the biggest franchise in Fayetteville for the popular fast food restaurant, Taco Bell, claims that Smith schemed them out of their hard earned money, which totaled up to about $720,00 worth of loans, bad checks, and work that was never completed. They were shocked because at the time, they considered the Smiths to be their friends, not just working with them on a business level but on a personal level as well.

There is another lawsuit against the Smiths that comes from a group of different investors, claiming that Smith owes their group millions of dollars, over $17 million. They said they loaned him money but the invoices sent were apparently fraudulent. Shortly after this took place, the owners of the two Holiday Inn hotels found out about it and now, they feel as though they should not have to pay the portion that was owed. Their lawyer says that Smith had absolutely no right to file a lawsuit, especially since he entered a settlement in a fraudulent manner. He says that Smith is just a fraud. However, the lawyer who is representing the Smith Advertising Company says that these arguments are simply not valid, as they pertain to an entirely different case, one that has nothing to do with the Holiday Inn hotels. Their lawyer said that in this case, the work was done and the Holiday Inn does, in fact, owe money. The owners of the Holiday Inn believe that Gary Smith will simply runaway from this problem since he has not been seen since the firm closed its doors.