January 25, 2023
WPP Moves To Strike New Delhi TV Suit
- by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, August 29, 2012
WPP has asked the New York State Supreme Court to dismiss a breach of contract and negligence lawsuit filed against it and several subsidiaries by New Delhi Television
(NDTV) last month. The original suit alleges that a TV ratings service in India that WPP companies own with Nielsen, known as TAM, has issued incorrect data for years, costing NDTV hundreds of
millions of dollars.
WPP challenged NDTV’s allegations both on their merits -- calling them “completely baseless” -- and on technical grounds. It argued that New York is
not the proper venue for the suit, given that NDTV’s complaint is focused on events and activities that took place in India. WPP also said it was not served properly, and that NDTV got some of
the names of the subsidiaries it is suing wrong.
“This case is nothing more than a desperate attempt by the plaintiff… to drum up media coverage in India to divert attention
from the real reasons its programs have had low audience ratings and its financial performance has been abysmal for five years,” WPP stated in papers filed Aug. 28.
In its original
suit, NDTV charged that TAM was underfunded, corrupt, and spewing out false data. It asked for $1 billion-plus in damages. Part of the problem, NDTV said, was that competitors, some owned by unnamed
Indian politicians, were bribing ratings panel members to tune their TV sets to certain channels while they actually watched programs on sets not hooked up to ratings meters.
All the more
reason to try the case in Indian courts and not New York, WPP asserted.
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“Hundreds of paragraphs” in the NDTV’s complaint “demonstrate that the nexus of any potential
claim lies in India, not New York,” the WPP brief stated. “There are dozens of Indian residents whose names appear in the complaint that will be witnesses and many other witnesses in India
that are not listed in the complaint. Key agreements that are at the core of the dispute are subject to jurisdiction of Mumbai courts.”
Nielsen’s response to the suit has not
yet appeared in the New York State Supreme Court.
I will give you 2 reasons why this case should be tried in New York and it is based on precedence and facts.
A few years ago Mick Jagger fathered a bastard child with a Brazilian model (Luciana J Morad) in Brazil. She took him to court in NY despite the fact that she is Brazilian and he is British and they fathered the child in Brazil. Jagger was forced to appear in New York City's family court since the couple was not married. He even testified by phone from his home in London.
Another older case of Adnan and Soraya Khashoggi. Even though Soraya was born in the UK, she did not live there at the time but regardless, Adnan who is a Saudi Citizen had to go to another country to settle the divorce case.
Unfair and silly as it is, WPP's claim that New York is not the proper venue for the suit is without merit. Now if only New Delhi Television lawyers are smart enough to pull these historical facts then there is a case and dollars to be made. Marriage in the end is a contract and is sanctioned by countries so the scenarios are pretty similar in terms of "breach of contract".