Date: 11-03-2009

Case Style: City of San Antonio, Texas v. Hotels.Com, L.P., et al.

Case Number: 5:06-cv-00381-OLG

Judge: Orlando L. Garcia

Court: United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (Bexar County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Gary Cruciani, Steven Wolens and Mike Fritz and Tom Graves, McKool Smith, P.C., Dallas, Texas; Frank Herrera, Jr., Law Offices of Frank Herrera, San Antonio, Texas; Patrick J. O'Connell, Baron & Budd, P.C., Austin, Texas; Bill Reid, Diamond McCarthy Taylor Finley & Lee, L.L.P., Austin, Texas; Mike Dernard, City Attorney of San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas for Plaintiffs.

Elizabeth Provencio and Clarissa Rodriguez, Denton, Navarro, Rocha & Bernal, San Antonio, Texas for the Texas Municipal League

Defendant's Attorney: Celso Gonzalez-Falla, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, L.L.P., Houston, Texas; Karen Valihura, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, L.L.P., Wilmington, Delaware;
Darrel Hieber, Skadden Arps Slate Mcagher & Flom, L.L.P, Los Angeles, California; Jim Karen, Kelly Stewart, Emmanuel Ubinas and Deborah Sloan, Jones Day, Dallas, Texas; Aron Frakes, Elizabeth Herrington and Josh Herman, McDermott Will & Emery, LLP, Chicago, Illinois; Paul Chronis, Jeffrey Rossman and Lazar Raynal, McDermott, Will & Emery, L.L.P., Chicago, Illinois; Ricardo Cedillo, Les Strieber and Mark Kiehne, Davis, Cedillo & Mendoza, San Antonio, Texas;
Stacy Russell and Brian Stagner, Kelly Hart & Hallman, L.L.P., Houston, Texas; for Expedia, Inc., Hotels.com, L.P., Hotwire, Inc., Internetwork Publishing Corp., Orbitz, L.LC., Priceline, Inc., Site59.Com, LLC, Travelnow.com, Inc., Travelocity.com, LP, Travelweb, LLC, Trip Network, Inc.

Bill Ford, Lori Massey and Sam Houston, Ford & Massey, P.C., San Antonio, Texas for Hilton Worldwide, et al.
Jeffrey Valle and
Steven Ragona, Valle & Associates, Los Angeles, California and Mark Murray, Law Offices of S. Mark Murray, San Antonio, Texas for Interactive Travel Services Association

Description: The City of San Antonio, Texas sued Hotels.Com, L.P., Expedia, Inc., Hotwire, Inc., Internetwork Publishing Corp., Orbitz, L.LC., Priceline, Inc., Site59.Com, LLC, Travelnow.com, Inc., Travelocity.com, LP, Travelweb, LLC, Trip Network, Inc. for failing to pay hotel and other taxes for bookings made through there respective travel sites. Plaintiffs claimed that Defendants paid cities hotel occupancy taxes based only on the wholesale rates they had negotiated with the hotels rather than the retail rates customers paid when they booked online.

The defenses asserted by Defendants are not available.

Outcome: Plaintiffs' verdict for $20 million.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: