American Express Moves for Judge to Rule Against TNA by Default in Debt Case

Remember how when American Express sued TNA for not paying their bill to the tune of $269,049.50, the summons was served to a receptionist at TNA’s old office that they were evicted from months earlier? Well, that’s about to become an issue for TNA: This coming Wednesday, American Express will be in court arguing that they are entitled to a default judgment because TNA has not acknowledged the complaint. A default judgment is exactly what it sounds like, TNA losing by default. TNA has not filed anything in the case since it was fire filed back in July, and thus are currently listed on the court docket as having no legal representation recorded by the court.

As we have previously reported, it does not appear that TNA ever filed a change of address with the United States Postal Service after being evicted from their longtime offices at Cummins Station in Nashville, Tennessee (which is still listed as the company’s mail order address on ShopTNA.com).  They do have an “authorized agent” (a third party proxy) in Chattanooga that can be served instead, but that option is not mentioned in American Express’s latest court filings, and neither is the TNA merchandise warehouse, where it’s been reported the company is now headquartered. In fairness, American Express has now repeatedly served the lawsuit and related documents to the address on file, which TNA never changed while becoming delinquent on their account.

For what it’s worth, as of a change on October 27th, the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website now lists Impact Ventures, LLC, TNA’s parent company, as being headquartered at 1404 51st Ave North in Nashville. According to Google Maps, that’s this red and white building building in what looks like an office park (zoom in up the driveway to get a better look):

The gist of American Express’s request for a default judgment is that the deadline to respond has expired, that TNA did not move for an extension, and that TNA had not yet responded by November 2nd, when the motion was written. So as a result, they think they should get their $269,049.50 and whatever else “the Court deems just and proper.”

In addition, one of the exhibits filed by American Express is TNA’s billing statement from May, the month that the account was cancelled. The new charges consisted entirely of late fees:

• $577.88 for being late in paying off a $19,327.08 balance on one of TNA CFO Dean Broadhead’s two corporate cards.
• $7,233.15 for being late in paying off a $241,911.39 balance on the corporate card of Shane Emerson, who serves as TNA’s Director of International Content Distribution and Live Events.

On top of that:

• Because of the cancellation, a pro-rated portion of the annual membership fee was credited back on every card.
• TNA had 11 cards distributed to nine employees, with Broadhead, Emerson, and Dixie Carter each having two. Of the nine who had cards, two are now gone from the company: Eric Barnes, who handled media relations, and Tyson Ciesiensky, TNA’s Director of Information Technology. Ciesiensky is now Chief Information Officer of Skyway Studios, where TNA does post-production. The others with corporate cards were Serg Salinas (Dixie’s husband), John Gaburick (creative/talent relations), and Bob Ryder (travel).

I have reached out to TNA for comment on if they will have legal representation present at the hearing. In the event that they respond, we will update this space and let you know what they say.