Parking contract for cruise passengers results in litigation

GALVESTON - Claiming Galveston.com & Co. committed actions which led to the loss of significant profits, Santa Fe Discount Cruise Parking Inc. is pursuing legal action.

A lawsuit filed Nov. 10 in Galveston County District Court accuses Galveston.com of sending EZ Cruise's customers into direct competitors' parking lots to the detriment of the plaintiff.

The original petition explains both parties had a contract dating back to 2006 which states that Galveston.com would provide and maintain the online parking reservation component of EZ Cruise's Website, ezcruiseparking.com, as well as create and maintain an exclusive toll free number for the plaintiff's telephone bookings.

"This agreement was exclusive, and Galveston.com was to book EZ Cruise customers exclusively and solely in an EZ Cruise parking lot," the suit says.

"In return, EZ Cruise was to pay Galveston.com a 5 percent commission on EZ Cruises' parking sales that originated and were booked through the Galveston.com Website and/or toll free EZ Cruise telephone number."

According to the complaint, EZ Cruise subsequently discovered that Galveston.com began rerouting its customers who booked their online reservations through either the EZ Cruise or Galveston.com Websites into the parking lots belonging to rival businesses.

Galveston.com also allegedly siphoned the complainant's telephone reservations and wrongfully charged and collected parking sales commissions from EZ Cruise in violation of the 5-year agreement, the suit says.

Consequently, the EZ Cruise seeks unspecified monetary damages.

It is represented by Greer, Herz & Adams.

Galveston County 10th District Court Judge David Garner is presiding over the case.

Case No. 11-cv-1773