Yes, Joe Krause and JAKIB Media Did Win in Court Against Rob Ellis (UPDATED with new comments)

Wednesday, we shared some of the documentation from a civil complaint Mike Missanelli filed against JAKIB Media owner Joe Krause. Missanelli is asking for $65,000 in unpaid compensation for work primarily on the Eagles postgame show.

That complaint was filed on August 9th.

In a response to the Crossing Broad story, Krause wrote this on Twitter, mentioning a legal case with former contributor Rob Ellis and accusing him of being an “unnamed source” in the January story we wrote, titled “JAKIB Media Contributors Say They’re Regularly Paid Months Late, or Not at All” –

I was not aware of any court case involving Ellis, so I emailed Krause asking where to find it. Turns out this was a Delaware County Magisterial Court case, which is basically what we’d call “small claims” court. This is where you go to resolve minor criminal cases, traffic offenses, and disputes that are usually limited to something like $12,000 or $15,000 dollars, some sort of low five-figure threshold. The only document available in the system is a docket sheet looking like this:

There’s not much information on this sheet. It confirms a legal win for Krause (“judgment for defendant”) and reveals that Rob sued for $8,166.60. In the calendar section, you can see that the hearing was pushed back four times (unclear why), then finally settled at the end of May. But there’s no court summary in the system and there’s nothing that explains why the judge ruled the way he did.

Rob declined comment (see EDIT below), but I talked to Krause on the phone and he sent over the following notice of judgment:

You see proof of Krause’s legal win, and there’s an explanation of a 30-day appeal window, which was not exercised.

Krause explained more in a statement emailed to Crossing Broad:

“Our Talent are hired as Independent Contractors and not employees. In the State of Pennsylvania, Independent contractors, work whenever and wherever they choose as long as they provide the work as promised by the contracted deadline. They are paid in full when they work & fulfill, NOT when they don’t. – The Court ruled in our favor in the Ellis Matter and will rule in our favor against Missanelli. For clarity, I have the most powerful Legal Firm in the Country representing me and I will not back down from anyone despite being called a scumbag by your Crossing Broad Employee. (Malice)”

It would seem as though the judge in this case ruled that there was some kind of contractual obligation that was not fulfilled, but as mentioned above, the contract itself is not in the court system.

The Crossing Broad employee mentioned in Joe’s statement is none other than Kyle Pagan, who did get into a bit of a social media kerfuffle. Kyle called him “the biggest scumbag in Philly (allegedly)” and Joe responded by calling Pagan “the worst street reporter wannabe in the city.” Pagan ended the exchange by calling Joe a “dummy” and accusing him of hiring a racist (Dan Sileo).

Anyway, that’s Kyle’s personal opinion. I handle the Big J journalism on the site, and dispute any allegation of a JAKIB Media “take down” attempt. I’ve had two amicable phone calls with Krause and email exchanges are always cordial.

EDIT: Ellis got in touch after initially declining comment, and said this in a statement:

“Krause owed me in the neighborhood of $8,000+ dollars. I wasn’t getting paid as he promised in an email. This went on for more than a year, late payments constantly or no payments at all. Continual follow ups, nonstop. It was getting nowhere, to the point where I felt like I had no other recourse but to go to small claims court. I went to small claims court, postponed three times on Mr. Krause’s end, and then after he was served with his papers for the small claims court, I got payment of $5,900 that I was owed. That payment, in my opinion, would have never happened, had I not filed in small claims court. So I certainly don’t view it as a loss, even though he beat me out of a month’s pay, because in court, and technically this is correct, there is nothing that accounts for any off days in my contract. If I took a day off, to, say, go to my daughter’s graduation, there was no problem when I did it, and I was paid for it, but suddenly, conveniently, when we’re in court, that came up. I even asked Krause in court if you apply that to your other employees that are currently working for you and he didn’t have an answer. He got me on a technicality, which is legit. But I would have never got a penny out of him had I not taken him to small claims court. So I do not, in any way, shape, or form, view this as a loss.

Let’s just review the last year – Barrett Brooks, Seth Joyner, Mike Missanelli, Rob Ellis, Derrick Gunn, Jody McDonald, just to name a few. All gone. Who is the common denominator? Who is still there? Him. Do you think it’s all of those people, or do you think it’s him?” 

 

The post Yes, Joe Krause and JAKIB Media Did Win in Court Against Rob Ellis (UPDATED with new comments) appeared first on Crossing Broad.