The South Florida party promoter who claims Michael Vick skipped out on a Hallandale Beach bash last year is suing the NFL star.
The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was supposed to have hosted a May 28, 2010 party at the Gulfstream Park Racing and Casino for $10,000 plus travel expenses, but ended up being a no-show.
Promoter Darnell Aponte says he's out a good $20,000 between Vick's costs and advertising, not to mention all the people who left the party at Mi6 at the early hour of 2 a.m.
Now Aponte's suing to get back that money, which his lawyer claims cleaned him out.
"He borrowed a lot of money to launch this venture," attorney Jeffrey Needle told the Sun-Sentinel. "This was devastating."
Aponte says he paid Vick half of the $10,000 fee and spent another $15,000 on advertising.
Vick's booking agent said at the time that bad weather kept him from attending. Vick's first flight, from Newport News, Va., to Charlotte, N.C., was delayed two hours, and Vick missed his connection to Fort Lauderdale. It's unknown whether he was on that flight, because he might have been able to catch a second connecting flight to South Florida.
The second connecting flight would have made Vick about 26 minutes late to the party. Needle says he didn't do enough to get here.
"There is a duty to make every possible effort to fulfill your obligations under the contract," said Needle. "It does not appear as though he made any effort."
The booking agent, Fred Grant, told the Sun-Sentinel that Vick arrived the next day and was ready to live up to his end of the bargain.
"It was our understanding we were rescheduling the event," Grant said.
Just as disappointed as the party guests by Vick's absence were the 20 or so animal rights protesters who showed up. Vick spent 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to running a dog fighting ring in 2007.
