Public relations execs leave unpaid bills from newspapers

Tuesday, June 6, 2000 | 10:50 a.m.

Several lawsuits have been filed against a bankrupt Las Vegas public relations company that also published three local business newspapers and left a trail of debt, angry customers and stiffed employees when it closed down.

Ingram Communications Group Inc., which did business as Ingram Communications, Cindy Ingram & Associates Inc. and Ingramedia and published the Southern Nevada Real Estate Journal, has been sued by two printing companies for overdue printing and advertising bills.

In addition to the Southern Nevada Real Estate Journal, which was launched in 1997, the Ingram group published the Southern Nevada Health Care Journal, founded in 1998. Each of the two monthly publications reported a circulation of 11,000. The group also started the Southern Nevada Small Business Journal in 1999 and had a few editions on the street before closing its doors.

The nonpayment lawsuits came on the heels of another suit filed against the company by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors that signaled the beginning of the end of the company's operation in Las Vegas. Shortly after that, the company's owners, Gerald and Cindy Ingram, filed for bankruptcy.

Former employees said the Ingrams have moved to Monroe, La. The couple could not be reached for comment. Their bankruptcy attorney also could not be reached.

The Ingrams' Las Vegas office at 3131 Meade Ave. Suite C is empty, but a message machine continues to take calls for the Ingram Communications Group. Neighboring businesses at the office building say the Ingrams moved out in December.

The company also has an active Internet site that links viewers to the last editions of all three publications and to subscription and advertising information.

Fred Couzens, who served as managing editor of the Southern Nevada Real Estate Journal, said he and four writers, two production employees, a sales manager and an information technology specialist were on staff when they received their last paychecks in mid-September.

Couzens said that late last summer, the company was in negotiations with potential buyers, including the Greenspun Media Group, owner of the Las Vegas Sun and other publications; and Wick Communications, publisher of local publications including the Las Vegas Business Press.

The sales negotiations didn't work out and Couzens said the Ingrams let the publications languish. The last edition published, with an August date, came out in early September. He said he was paid in September and he produced editorial copy for September and October editions that never ran.

Employees quietly left the company when they weren't paid. Couzens said he stayed to the end, which turned out to be mid-November. He figures the Ingrams owe him about $5,000.

In January, employees got another surprise -- the company that had been doing the Ingram payroll said it couldn't release employee W-2 statements at tax time.

"They said they couldn't release anything directly to employees, so it put us behind the eight ball in our filing with the IRS," Couzens said.

Couzens said he now writes freelance and does research for a legal firm.

Robert Steelman, former managing editor of the Health Care Journal, said he now works in Las Vegas as a freelance writer after going three pay periods without getting a check from the Ingrams. The company made good on one paycheck that had bounced, he said, but he's still owed back pay.

The Ingrams have been involved in several legal actions, some in District Court, some in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

A default judgment of $2,935 was handed down last month on the company's failure to contribute to the state's unemployment compensation fund.

Court documents listed the Ingrams' Louisiana address; the state's legal action was unopposed.

The most recent nonpayment suit against the company was filed by Southwest Printers, 3721 Meade Ave. The suit said Ingram owes the company more than $16,000 for advertising printing services.

But other plaintiffs and their attorneys don't expect to see any money anytime soon following the Ingrams' May 1998 Chapter 13 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Las Vegas. For Gerald Ingram, it was his second Chapter 13 filing in the Las Vegas court in eight years. A 1990 filing was disposed of by the court in October 1995.

"They've pretty much milked the cow about dry," said a disgusted Bob Serres, owner of the Copycat Printing Center, which is owed more than $10,000 by Ingram for printing services contracted in May 1997.

Serres filed a breach-of-contract suit in District Court that was dismissed in August 1999 after the bankruptcy was filed. Now, Serres is among 48 creditors in the bankruptcy, which also lists several banks, doctors, attorneys, office supply stores, the Nevada Department of Taxation and the IRS.

"We try to do everything we can to help people who fall behind in their payments," said Serres, who has been in business about 22 years.

But he said it makes him angry when people make expensive acquisitions, then file for bankruptcy protection.

"I had heard they were driving around in a new car," Serres said. "That just isn't right."

The District Court suit Serres filed in 1998 also named the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, which filed its own suit against the Ingrams a year earlier. Once Serres and his attorney, Denise Gentile, discovered that the association was pursuing its own action against the Ingrams, they removed the Realtors from the suit.

The association's breach-of-contract suit against the Ingrams, filed in 1997, said it was owed more than $54,000 by the company.

According to the suit, the Ingrams agreed to produce the Southern Nevada Realtor, the association's in-house publication. Under terms of the agreement, the Ingrams were to get $9,850 and 25 percent of the monthly advertising revenue generated. The association was to get the other 75 percent of the ad revenues.

The suit said after about four months, the association inquired about its percentage of the ad revenue and was told by Cindy Ingram that several advertisers were not paying on their accounts. But association accountants researched and found allegedly canceled checks from advertisers that allegedly had been cashed by Ingram. The association canceled its contract with the Ingrams July 1, 1997.

In the suit, the association alleged that the Ingrams were using the ad revenue money to finance the launch of their new magazines. The association also complained that the Ingrams infringed on its copyright when it approached clients to support their new publications.

The Ingrams' bankruptcy filing also stopped the association's pursuit of its claim and it also is listed as a creditor in the bankruptcy.