The PGA Tour is suing Kansas-based Digital Ally for what it claims is a failure to pay tens of thousands of dollars in agreed-to sponsorship money from the Web.com Tour stop in Overland Park, Kan.
Filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas, the suit alleges Digital Ally has reneged on $340,000 it signed up to pay as part of a sponsorship deal signed in 2015 for the Digital Ally Open. Digital Ally makes in-car and body-worn cameras, mostly for use by law enforcement and other emergency and trauma organizations, and their agreement with the Tour was to run five years through the 2019 event.
The Kansas City Star first reported on the lawsuit.
As part of their agreement, Digital Ally was to have paid $190,000 at the 30-day-out mark of the 2017 edition of the event, as well $150,000 toward the 2018 event in November 2017. Digital Ally, the PGA Tour alleges, didn't pay either fee and then notified the Tour on Jan. 12, 2018 it was terminating the agreement unilaterally.
The Tour is suing for a total of $1.19 million in damages, seeking a jury trial. Part of the damages sought includes another portion of the 2018 fee and the full 2019 tournament sponsorship fee. They're also seeking pre- and post-judgment interest on that $1.19 million, as well attorneys fees and court costs.
“Tour at all material times performed or substantially performed the essential and/or significant requirements of the Agreement and at all times has acted in good faith,” the PGA Tour said in the complaint. “Digital Ally materially breached the Agreement by failing to pay sponsorship fees owed under the terms of the Agreement.”
What was to be the Digital Ally Open in 2018 was played as the Kansas City Golf Classic instead. In 2019, the tournament has moved from Overland Park to Blue Hills Country Club in Kansas City.
