New York-based wedding site operator The Knot Inc., which was delisted by
Nasdaq last week, said that it has won a court victory against five
Weddingpages franchisees who are attempting to sue over the company’s
acquisition of Weddingpages Inc.
The Knot, which acquired publisher Weddingpages Inc. in March of last year
for $8.5 million in cash, publishes (via Weddingpages) regional wedding
magazines in over 40 company-owned and franchised markets in the United
States. Weddingpages capitalizes on its ability to match local brides with
local wedding professionals.
The Knot said that five Weddingpages franchisees “have refused to execute a
settlement reached at the conclusion of court-ordered mediation last winter.”
Today the company issued a press release saying that on Aug. 22, Judge Helen
Freedman of the Supreme Court, State of New York, “denied the remaining
plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief against The Knot, effectively
ordered the plaintiffs to arbitrate their claims against Weddingpages, and
stayed the action against The Knot pending the completion of such
arbitration.”
The court held that the plaintiffs would be unlikely to succeed on the merits
of their claims against the Knot, the company said.
The Knot, which first launched on America Online in 1996, has not had a
profitable quarter since going public in 1998. It lost 68 cents a share for
the first two quarters so far this year. Its stock trades at about 25 cents a
share on the OTC Bulletin Board.
