A private jet company has filed a lawsuit against Twitter, saying that the social media platform refused to pay for flights given to an executive in October, The Hill reported.
On Friday, Private Jet Services Group (PJS) filed a complaint against Twitter in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, alleging that Twitter has failed to pay $197,725 that it is due for flights that CEO Leslie Berland took from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to San Francisco and returned on October 26 and 27.
PJS is suing for both contract and quasi-contract violations.
According to the lawsuit, Taylor DeLorenzo, a Twitter employee, booked Berland’s air charter transportation services through email and text on October 25, the evening before the first trip, and Cynthia Ancheta, another employee, booked Berland’s return flight on October 27, in the afternoon.
PJS claims that it sent an invoice to Twitter on October 26 for $103,850 for the first trip, with payment due by November 2, and on October 27 for $93,875 for the second flight, with payment due by November 3. However, the business claims that neither of them were paid for by Twitter.
According to the complaint, Twitter and PJS inked a contract in June 2020 allowing Twitter to make reservations for charter passenger transportation services via PJS.
The agreement says that only Twitter’s “designated representatives” may make reservations for its services; but, in fact, workers other than the approved representatives frequently made reservations for flights.
The private jet company claims that on November 16, it received an email from Marty O’Neill, Twitter’s head of global strategic sourcing, claiming that the company is not responsible for the costs since workers other than the appointed representatives booked the tickets in contravention of the contract.
The emails were sent by O’Neill following the flights, which took place just before Elon Musk bought the business.
According to the complaint, DiLorenzo, who made the initial reservation for the flight, responded to O’Neill’s email from November 16 by stating that Parag Agrawal, the company’s former CEO, had approved payment of the fees because the flights were urgent. Berland was the primary person who spoke with Musk directly at the time.
According to the complaint, O’Neill replied that he understood the situation but that management would not bend and that the conditions of the contract remained the same.
PJS contends that Twitter’s refusal to pay them was a contract violation. Furthermore, it argues that even if the contract was broken by Twitter’s designated agents failing to make the airline reservations, there may still be grounds for a claim under New Hampshire law if the services were rendered in conditions that would reasonably lead one to anticipate payment.
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