OKLAHOMA CITY - The attorney for an Oklahoma group that recently purchased the International Finals Rodeo and the International Professional Rodeo Association says the other side of the transaction is not holding up its part of the bargain.
Shawnee attorney Gregg Luther said the Rodeo Alliance LLC, an Oklahoma firm, purchased the two rodeo entities from Rodeo Management Inc., an Arizona company, and the World Rodeo Federation Inc., a California corporation, which had moved the IFR out of Oklahoma shortly after the latest rodeo in January.
“There are a lot of contractual and transactional issues that have arisen,†said Luther, who represents the alliance.
“The IPRA office is open for business, back in Cowtown in Oklahoma, and the International Finals Rodeo will take place in Oklahoma City in January 08, and hopefully for many years thereafter," Luther said.
Luther said alliance officials recognize that a lot of local sponsors put up a considerable amount of money to back the IFR.
“They just hated to see it yanked out of here and gone," he said.
The purchase by the defendants was announced in January.
According to the legal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, the plaintiff entered into a purchase agreement with the federation to buy the association and the rodeo on Feb. 14 of this year.
The same filing states that RMI purchased the IPRA and IFR from the World Rodeo Federation on Jan. 1, but that on Feb. 20, WRF executed a buyback provision in its agreement with RMI.
Documents organizing the alliance were filed with the Oklahoma secretary of state's office on Feb. 22.
The complaint alleges that the WRF has failed to transfer all property and assets of the IPRA and IFR to the Rodeo Alliance, although the alliance has tendered the purchase price.
It also alleges that at the time the purchase price was tendered, the IPRA and IRF had received cash proceeds of more than $195,000, which is among the accounts and monies that were to be transferred to the alliance.
The Rodeo Alliance also accuses RMI of interfering with its contract with WRF and making false and misleading statements about the financial viability of the alliance.
Other allegations include deceptive trade practices, misappropriation of proprietary information, among several others.
The Rodeo Alliance is seeking judgment against the defendants in an amount exceeding $250,000.
Oklahoma City attorney Kathy Adler has represented RMI in the past.
“We have not been served in the case yet, and I have not been retained," Adler said Wednesday. She also said that to the best of her knowledge, RMI never entered any contractual agreement with the plaintiff.
Colorado attorney Adam Daurio, who has represented the World Rodeo Federation in previous cases, had no comment.
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