Manny Pacquiao Charity Sued Over Used Clothes in Strange Lawsuit
In this corner: The Manny Pacquiao Foundation, which allegedly tried to ship used clothes as "relief goods" from the United States to the Philippines... And in the other corner: The shipping company, which claims it never got paid.
Gossip website TMZ reports on a strange lawsuit against the Pacman's California-based foundation, which aims to "foster, support and transform the health, education and overall well-being of disadvantaged communities in the Philippines."
But it seems the Foundation's "relief" shipment of used clothes got stopped by the Philippines authorities. And the Foundation is using that as an excuse to not pay its $35,000 bill, the shipping company's lawsuit asserts.
The Manny Pacquiao Foundation lawsuit stems from an allegedly unpaid overseas shipment in 2009, according to TMZ.
"The containers were inspected by the Philippines authorities and found to have contained used clothing rather than relief goods," the shipping company's lawsuit states, according to TMZ. The Philippines government "[has] held such containers as a violation of Philippines law."
TMZ's report does not name the shipping company or the lawsuit's cause(s) of action, nor does it say where the lawsuit was filed.
But the dispute sounds like a contract issue. And chances are, if the shipping company made the Manny Pacquiao Foundation sign a shipping agreement, it likely covers this type of incident.
For example, FedEx's international shipping terms explicitly state FedEx is not liable, and will not issue refunds or credits, for "delays caused by Customs clearance procedures."
Similarly, UPS's terms state it's the shipper's responsibility to obtain "any required licenses and permits" for an international shipment. Any fines or storage charges imposed by another country's government are charged to the shipper.
Unless the shipment contract states otherwise -- or perhaps there wasn't a written agreement at all -- the Manny Pacquiao Foundation may end up losing this lawsuit fight. But it's also possible the foundation is preparing some sort of a knockout defense. We'll just have to wait and see.
Related Resources:
- Manny Pacquiao: Boxing Legend's Foundation Hit with Strange Lawsuit (Bleacher Report)
- Customs Duties (FindLaw)
- Pacquiao-Mayweather Fight Fails, Mandela's Daughter Owes $7.5M (FindLaw's Tarnished Twenty)
- Floyd Mayweather Gets 90 Days in Jail for Domestic Violence (FindLaw's Tarnished Twenty)