Ginn says DEI owes Hendrick 80 percent of $1.5 million

Former team owner Bobby Ginn contends that he owes only 20 percent of the $1.5 million that Hendrick Motorsports is seeking from Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. because of the termination of Ginn’s engine contract with Hendrick in 2007, according to court documents.

Hendrick Motorsports is suing DEI and Ginn in North Carolina Superior Court over the termination fee resulting from the merger of DEI and Ginn in July 2007.

DEI claims Ginn Racing and Ginn are responsible for a $1.5 million fee that was due Nov. 15, 2008. Ginn states in a recent filing that because a new entity was created that was 80 percent owned by DEI and 20 percent owned by Ginn, that DEI is responsible for 80 percent of the fee due Hendrick.

In filing his response to Hendrick’s and DEI’s claims, Ginn states that it had been agreed that the $1.5 million fee would be paid from operating revenues of the new entity, which was named “DEI/Ginn – Team #01." If there were not sufficient revenues to pay the fee, then the responsibility for payment would be split 80/20, Ginn contends.

Although not broken down in the suit, 80 percent of $1.5 million would be $1.2 million, with $300,000 left for Ginn to pay.

The $1.5 million fee was the second of two termination fees. The first payment of $1.754 million was paid by Ginn, with a portion of the proceeds received “as part of the merger and acquisition transaction," according to Ginn’s filing. Scenedaily.com