Coca-Cola Cited in Complaint

The Los Angeles Track and Field Organizing Committee filed a complaint against Coca-Cola North America in Los Angeles County Superior Court Tuesday for damages allegedly suffered when a dispute over sponsorship led to the cancellation of the Powerade Indoor Track and Field Championships Feb. 11 at Staples Center.

The complaint seeks $1.371 million in monetary damages to cover out-of-pocket losses, plus general and special damages and damages for “serious injury and great emotional pain and suffering” allegedly inflicted upon the committee and officials Skip Stolley, Douglas Nelson and Damon Haley.

Stolley is chairman of the LATFOC, a non-profit corporation that stages and promotes track and field events in Southern California. Nelson is the vice chairman. Haley is director of marketing.

The LATFOC contends it agreed with Lisa Speakman, a West Regional non-carbonated brand manager for Coca-Cola North America, for the company to pay $250,000 a year for three years--with the first payment due Jan. 24--to have its Powerade sports drink as the meet’s title sponsor. In exchange, the LATFOC promised to promote the Powerade name, and it did so at considerable expense, according to the lawsuit.

However, the complaint says 11 days before the meet, the LATFOC was told Coca-Cola understood its obligation to total $250,000 for the three years. Its proposal to pay $150,000 this year and $100,000 each of the next two years wasn’t enough to meet the LATFOC’s upfront costs, which included athletes’ appearance fees and TV production costs.

The complaint reads in part, “Knowing that it was too late to secure alternate title sponsorship, and knowing that the event could not go forward without its title sponsorship, Coca-Cola North America reneged on and denied the terms and the existence of the agreement and attempted to renegotiate the amount of the sponsorship to a significantly reduced amount . . . The conduct of the defendants as alleged herein above was extreme, outrageous, unjustified, shocking and should not be tolerated in a civilized community.”

Scott Williamson, a spokesman for Coca-Cola, said he could not comment because the company’s lawyers had not seen the complaint. “Our position at the time [of the cancellation] was very clear,” he said from Atlanta, “and I don’t think it’s changed since then.”

Fruitless negotiations preceded the filing, LATFOC officials said.

“We believe there was a wonderful agreement with Coke that would have benefited the LATFOC and Coca-Cola,” Nelson said. “We were shocked when they informed us they had changed the sponsorship amount.”

LATFOC’s attorney, Richard Foster, said he anticipated a response from Coca-Cola within 40 days and a trial within a year.