Cumulus Wants Its Money Returned

Michael Baisden

After several rounds of pretrial motions and an unsuccessful attempt to settle its case against syndicated radio host Michael Baisden, Cumulus Media is asking a federal judge in Texas to order him to return $1 million that was mistakenly overpaid between June 2012 and March 2013.

According to InsideRadio, the company has filed for summary judgement, essentially asking the court to rule in its favor without going to a trial. Including the extra million dollars, Baisden received $8.25 million under his 2008 contract, Cumulus claims.

“The undisputed facts show that Baisden received a $1 million overpayment,” Cumulus attorneys tell U.S District Court Judge Sam Lindsay. Baisden has argued his contract included no provision for returning any overpayments.

The end of Michael Baisden’s syndicated radio show in March 2013 came abruptly.  At the time Baisden claimed he was “locked out” by Cumulus Media Networks after negotiations on a new contract stalled. See original posting: Click Here

Cumulus has gone to court seeking $1 million from the personality alleging an “accounting error” led it to accidentally overpay him $66,667 for 15 months.

Baisden has refused to repay the money according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas. The complaint alleges Baisden and his production company were aware of the excessive payments and never alerted Cumulus of the mistake.

Baisden has yet to make a return to radio.