A lawsuit against One Mighty Weekend promoter Johnny Chisholm is still being tossed around in court. Two investors are suing Chisholm on seven counts, including breach of contract, fraud, racketeering and civil theft. Plaintiffs Stephen Bardfield of New York and Charles Carver of North Carolina claim they loaned Chisholm $200,000 to fund deposits for his One Mighty Weekend parties during Gay Days, with the understanding that Chisholm had secured Walt Disney World venues. They seek immediate repayment, including interest.
Major One Mighty Weekend parties have historically been held at Disney, and this year’s events were promoted—with tickets sold—in keeping with that tradition. In April of this year, Chisholm announced that he had moved Friday night’s Beach Ball to the Buena Vista Palace, and Saturday night’s One Mighty Party to the Gaylord Palms convention hotel on International Drive. Then, three days before the event, the venue for One Mighty Party was switched again to the Buena Vista Palace.
The One Mighty Weekend web site explained the changes this way: “No one expected the economy to become so bad this year. Near the end of venue negotiations, and prior to signing any contracts, we were made aware of price increases that required us to renegotiate our venues. We were able to continue the parties on Friday and Saturday night in a way that we felt would allow the party to continue without simply cancelling the events.”
While the changes were a surprise for many One Mighty Weekend ticket-holders, there are indications that Chisholm’s problems with Disney go back several years. Tony Hayden, who operates thecircuitdog.com web site, provided Watermark with a letter dated January 2004 from Disney to Chisholm. The letter claims that payments for past One Mighty Party events were received late and were then returned due to insufficient funds. “You seem to be under the misimpression that you have some special or preemptive right to conduct an event at Walt Disney World Resort,” the letter states. “We do not have any commitment to contract with you (or Chisholm Properties) for the One Mighty Party, or any other event.”
The current lawsuit states that Chisholm “approached Plaintiffs regarding obtaining some funds for the production of this event scheduled to take place the weekend June 4, 2009” and “Chisholm continually cited his close ties with Walt Disney World and his unique relationship based on years of trust.”
According to the plaintiffs’ complaint, they were to get $240,000 back from their $200,000 loan, based on Chisholm’s claims that his One Mighty Weekend parties historically generate about $2 million in combined revenue. It also states that Chisholm replied “No” when asked “Are you a Defendant in any legal suits or action?” when he was actually involved in two other lawsuits, one of which led to a bankruptcy filing on behalf of Chisholm Properties of Pensacola, LLC.
An email exchange between Chisholm and plaintiff Carver is attached to the lawsuit as evidence. In it, Chisholm wrote, “Disney’s attorneys, at the last minute, threw a wrench in the machine requiring payment in full for all the venues which was not financially feasible… I have exercised my discretion in applying your funds to the other venue rentals as well as securing more named talent to insure [sic] the success of our events.”
Carver’s response said Chisholm had previously reassured the plaintiffs several times that the relationship with Disney was solid, and that the promised $200,000 loan would be applied to secure Disney venues. “There being no ambiguity to the conditions under which the money was loaned, I can come up with no other explanation other than you have intentionally provided false information in order to obtain the loan and are not using the loan as was agreed,” Carver said.
Carver and Barfield also filed a temporary restraining order, and a Pensacola judge granted the investors an injunction freezing all of Chisholm’s proceeds from Gay Days weekend 2009. Chisholm asked the court for an expedited hearing to dissolve the injunction, and was granted that hearing on June 9. Court documents show that Chisholm did not attend that hearing, but his attorney did. Plaintiffs and their counsel presented evidence suggesting that Chisholm violated the restraining order by diverting cash and credit card ticket sales from the frozen accounts to alternate accounts, and failing to properly document One Mighty Weekend ticket sales, according to court documents.
“Accordingly, the court will require defendant Johnny Chisholm to appear and show cause why he should not be held in contempt of the court’s order of temporary injunction,” said the judge’s order.
The judge scheduled the show cause hearing for July 16, 2009, and is requiring Chisholm to appear. If he doesn’t, “failure to appear shall result in a warrant for his arrest,” according to court documents.
Chisholm’s attorney, Bruce Fehr, earlier filed a $15,000 lawsuit against Hayden, who has been following the situation closely on his Circuit Dog web site. That lawsuit alleged that in late 2008, Hayden began using the site to discredit and embarrass Chisholm and ruin his business by discouraging people from purchasing tickets to One Mighty Weekend events.
“The point was to silence, bully and harass me,” said Hayden. “Integrity went out the door.”
He says the lawsuit has since been dismissed.
