Sirius XM Wins Over $2,000,000 In Lawsuit – Legal Update
The two former employees, identified as Brenda Jones and Valencia Person, worked in accounts payable and embezzled money from the company over a period of time. The theft was discovered when vendors complained that they had not received payments due. An investigation into the matter revealed that it was employees that paid themselves instead of cutting checks to vendors.
The company was not only successful in arguing their case, but also was able to get treble damages which allowed the company to receive total compensation of $2,143,893. The case, which went to the court in November of 2010 was pretty much open and shut. While not the best way to make money, the company likely happy with the results of this suit. Think of it as 13,795 subscribers signing up for a year.
Goe v. Amble Update
In another suit, Goe v. Amble, a derivative class action suit, there has been an amendment to the complaint. At this point the amendment has not been made public, but it is interesting to see there are changes happening in the suit. Whether this is a positive or negative can not be determined until the court documents are made public.
Shenk v. Karmazin
This is another derivative suit brought against the company. The Blessing matter, which reached a proposed settlement e few weeks ago was a class action suit brought on behalf of subscribers. The Shenk matter is similar, but is an action brought on behalf of investors.
It may be coincidence, but ironically there was an amended complaint in this suit as well. The amendments deal with the Blessing matter, and seem to clean up some vagueness in the initial filing. The arguments put forth in the amended complaint, on their face, seem to be stronger than in the original filing.
Consumer Satellite Radio LLC v Sirius XM, Honda, Toyota, Radio Shack, and Best Buy
This is a patent infringement suit that has been ongoing for two years now continues to trudge along. The suit alleges that Sirius XM infringes on a patent that enables subscribers to receive content that is not normally not available on the subscription package of their service. In other words, Consumer Satellite Radio argues that they hold the patent on the concept of “Best Of” programming. Consumer satellite Radio is not a satellite radio company. They simply hold a patent.
Howard Stern v Sirius XM
Stern and his agent Don Buchwald have filed affidavits in their case against the company. In addition, a motion opposing the Summary Judgement request by Sirius XM was submitted. There are some aspects of these filings that would not seem to bode well for Sirius XM. It would appear that this matter will not settle easily. Additional details are available on my Seeking Alpha article.
Position – Long Sirius XM Radio
Seeking Alfalfa is garbage. I can’t believe u lower ur standards for the website u write for.
beensirius….
Seeking Alpha is an aggregator of content. I left them in a protest a while back, and now that the issues I was concerned with are mostly corrected, I will work with them again.
Seeking Alpha is fine. Some that have problems with the site probably created their own issues. One thing I appreciate about them is the diversity of opinion.
Diversity of opinion? Really? They canceled my account after I poked holes at their authors theory. I didn’t curse or anything. I strongly disagreed and laid out my reasons.
They pretty much ban anyone who doesn’t pump Pandora and/or bash Sirius.
I read them for yrs which is where I found out about you and other writers. However, as of this year they are producing one-sided crap. I refuse to read anything with Seeking Alf on it.
I know many on various SIRI related sites/forums who’ve stopped reading them.
They have varied opinions on many stocks. I appreciate that. For SIRI, it can be frustrating. There are some true idiots who have had their “work” published there. In addition many Sirius investors are way to cultish and it makes good discussion nearly impossible.
I have had both “positive” and “negative” pieces on SIRI published there. I have also had both “positive” and “negative” articles about Pandora published there
Seeking Alpha is simply an aggregator of comtent. Think about it….If sentiment on the street is bad, you will tend to see most authors writing about that. The people you need to question as authors are the ones that spin, spin, and spin the “positives” There are several authors who see anything as positive, and try to “explain” away any negatives. Those people are not really writers….they are fan-boys. There are some that call themselves writers who see themselves as “defenders” for SIRI. Again…not writers….fan boys
osborne, you are incredible. You are consintently called up for mis-information and associating with the likes of SA. Now you defend them with some BS statement that now you have corrected past grievenses and they are the best thing since sliced bread. It seems every site I go to there you are defending yourse for some bogus article or some hac web site you are affilliated with. You’re incredible and rediculous. Do you really think you are kidding anybody. Time to change that pen name again, dude.
I’m sure the paycheck for clicks doesn’t hurt either…..
http://seekingalpha.com/page/p.....ership-faq
Is this the reason your articles on SA do not appear on SB? I have always wondered….
I have been writing for Seeking Alpha for quite some time. Actually I was there prior to any of the other satellite radio sites. I did stop writing articles for them for quite some time.
Their premium program is finally a good way for contributors to get some reward for all of the effort they put in.
I know the popular mantra is that these sites like SiriusBuzz are cash cows. I can tell you that this is not at all the case. If I took what I make from it and divided it by the hours I work on it, I would become very frustrated and stop writing altogether.
I submit some articles to Seeking Alpha on an exclusive basis. This gives the SiriusBuzz added exposure. It is a fine balance.
Over the past 50 days Seeking Alpha has published 25 articles of mine covering Ford, GM, Cal-Maine Foods, Sirius XM, and Pandora.
Over the same period SiriusBuzz has about 90 articles and ikicktires another 15 or 20.
I do not blame you for doing it. It makes perfect sense to get more exposure for SB. However, I believe this premium feature from SA has led to the sudden rise in nonsensical articles about the company. Writers know Sirius is owned by a large retail base which makes for easy clicks and easy money. This is not a knock on YOUR articles, but something I think people need to realize when they start to go wild about every article published on Seeking Alpha. Writers are simply trying to get paid. They do not care about Sirius one way or the other.
Did anyone read Howard’s statement? It is laughable. It doesn’t matter how he feels. All that matters is the wording in the contract and the ability of each party to impart their will as to the interpretation.
He should be embarrased.
This decision against Jones and Person is not just a judgment I hope.
Where are two accts. payable clerks going to come up with 2+ million bucks? Were they bonded?
Please clarify.
James….
Not sure how this pair will pay, but they have a judgement against them. Sirius XM will certainly lien anything they can
The
Consumer Satellite Radio LLC v Sirius XM, Honda, Toyota, Radio Shack, and Best Buy
suit is an easy win for Sirius, IMO. It looks like one of those “the patent office will patent anything so I will send this in” patents– lots of verbiage signifying pretty much nothing, and seeming, to me anyway, designed to bamboozle patent inspectors. It is a silly “patent” to me, there is no “invention” there, it is a patent given (and I would bet likely to be revoked when the suit is done) for an idea– not an invention, but just an idea (allegedly a “method”, lol). Sort of like saying “if people are eventually able to be teleported, it should be done over encrypted systems”… since I have invented neither the teleporter nor the encryption, I deserve no patent.
The diagram with the patent is pretty funny, too, IMO.
Sirius will have no problems with it, and hopefully will eventually file a countersuit if they haven’t already– they can turn the claim 180degrees I bet (.i.e., take his claims and say that his “patent” is based on patents/ideas owned by Sirius).
IMO,
BigGuy
Your title and content are misleading. Sirius was awarded a judgement. However, they will not receive one penny from this suit because the defendants cannot pay the amount.