In an update on the ongoing TNA Wrestling vs. Audience of One lawsuit, TNA Wrestling’s production company Aroluxe LLC and Ronald Dean Harris (Ron Harris of the “Bruise Brothers”) were dismissed as defendants in the lawsuit, with the dismissal coming at the request of Audience Of One following a hearing back on February 3rd that saw Aroluxe’s Jason Brown, as well as Ron Harris speak about why they should not be defendants in the case.
Aroluxe and Harris’ lawyers argued in court filings late last year that under Virginia law, Audience of One had failed to produce evidence that there was a conspiracy to defraud the company and that since there was no evidence of a conspiracy, that the court should not allow a plaintiff to establish jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant by simply pleading bare allegations of a business conspiracy. They also argued at the time that any dispute between the parties did not originate in the State of Virginia, meaning that having the case heard there was meaningless, with Harris stating at the time that he was not a party to the agreement between TNA Wrestling and Audience of One and is a resident of Tennessee, while Aroluxe’s Jason Brown stated that his company were not headquartered in Virginia, did not do regular business in the State and do not make significant money based on their business in the State, therefore Virginia could not have jurisdiction in any potential lawsuit. Aroluxe and Harris had requested the lawsuit to be dismissed, however that request has since been dropped after Audience of One requested that they be dropped as defendants, with the court officially removing them without prejudice, meaning that legal action can still be opened against them again down the line if Audience of One find something over the course of the case that leads to them wishing to file new claims against both parties and that each party would be responsible would be responsible for their own legal costs.
Following the dismissals, this now means that IMPACT Ventures and Dean Broadhead remain as the only defendants. The lawsuit from Audience of One alleges that Broadhead and IMPACT Ventures worked to get them on board under the false pretense of using them full-time as TNA Wrestling’s production company, only to then fail to pay them in a timely fashion for the work done, requiring the set up of an agreed upon payment plan and that TNA Wrestling then allegedly stopped paying after the first initial payment installment was made. Audience of One are seeking $223,000 plus interest and post-judgment costs for breach of contract and for the defendants violating Virginia code, while a settlement conference has been set for the morning of April 5th in an attempt to settle the matter before going to trial.