MTV personality Carson Daly is suing Motorola, claiming the company reneged on a $1 million deal to promote cell phones, pagers and other products.
The breach-of-contract lawsuit, filed Thursday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, accuses Motorola of breaking a promise to renew a contract with the host of “Total Request Live” because of economic woes.
The company, “motivated by declining earnings and the effect of the same on its advertising budget, reneged on its agreement,” the suit says.
Daly claims that as part of a tentative agreement reached in January, he agreed to not make commercials for any of Motorola’s competitors. As a result, he turned down a lucrative deal with another cell phone maker.
Motorola notified Daly in July the deal was off. He claims the company still owes him $1 million.
Julie Cordua, a spokeswoman for Motorola, confirmed that the company had been in negotiations with Daly but decided against signing him to a contract after reviewing its marketing strategy.
“We did not feel that bringing Carson on board would be the right decision for Motorola,” she said. “A contract between Carson Daly and Motorola did not exist.”