Jesse Iwuji Motorsports has taken legal action against one of its sponsors. The Xfinity Series team has filed a $4.125-million lawsuit against Equity Prime Mortgage.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as TobyChristie.com first reported on December 7. It alleges that Equity Prime Mortgage failed to make its agreed-upon payments to Jesse Iwuji Motorsports on October 1 and November 1.
“On November 30, 2021, JIM and EPM entered into the EPM Agreement wherein EPM guaranteed JIM compensation in accordance with the payment terms set forth in an attached Statement of Work (‘SOW’),” the court documents state.
“In Year One of the Term (defined as beginning on November 30, 2021, and continuing for a period of two years thereafter), EPM was required to pay JIM $2,250,000.00 on a monthly basis starting December 1, 2021, at the monthly payment amount of $187,500.00 paid on the first day of each month.”
The Document Provides Further Details About the Missed Payments
GettyKyle Weatherman made multiple starts for Jesse Iwuji Motorsports.
According to the court documents, an executive at EPM told an executive at JIM “on or about September 27” that the company could not make any additional compensation payments as part of the original agreement.
The documents state that the unnamed executive said that “EPM got ‘margin called’ and was suffering due to mortgage rate hikes.” The documents also state that an executive at EPM texted an executive at JIM “on or about September 29” to say that the sponsor would not be making its October 1 payment or any other payments thereafter.
One of the filed documents was a letter that JIM sent to EPM. This “Notice of Intent to Terminate” the sponsorship agreement stated that EPM was in breach of the agreement and that JIM was providing 30 days after receipt “to remedy the issues.” The court documents allege that EPM took no action.
The court documents lay out the “damages” that JIM seeks as part of the lawsuit. The first amount, $375,000, is the total of the missed payments in October and November. The second amount, $3,750,000, is the entire second year of this existing deal between JIM and EPM.
In the court documents, JIM alleges that EPM has “continued to fully exploit and receive the benefits” from the original agreement between the two companies. The list of examples in the documents included promotional posts on social media featuring the EPM logo on the Xfinity Series car, requests for special access at Talladega Superspeedway, and prominent placement of the logo on the No. 34 during the October 2 race at the Alabama track.
EPM Was the Primary Sponsor for Multiple Races
The agreement between the two teams was signed on November 30, 2021, but the team did not provide any details to the public until more than one week later. The Xfinity Series team — which was founded by Emmitt Smith and Jesse Iwuji — posted a video on Instagram that revealed the No. 34 Equity Prime Mortgage Chevrolet Camaro.
EPM served as the primary sponsor of the No. 34 for several races. Iwuji had the company on his stock car for seven of his starts, including the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway. He also had EPM as his primary at Circuit of the Americas. Though he failed to qualify for the race.
Kyle Weatherman made 18 starts for Jesse Iwuji Motorsports during the 2022 Xfinity Series season. He had EPM as his primary partner for six of his starts. The company was on the No. 34 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway.
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Jesse Iwuji Motorsports Files Lawsuit Against 1 of Its Sponsors