Equifax sued for $42.9 million

ATLANTA – Information services company Equifax has been named in a $42.9 million lawsuit filed in Fulton County Superior Court by the owners of its former headquarters-1600 Peachtree LLC. The landlord alleges that Equifax has not lived up to the lease termination agreement it signed in 1999 and seeks back rent as well as compensatory damages. The 1999 termination agreement stated that Equifax guaranteed that rent would be paid on the entire building until March 2004 and other portions that it still occupied until 2013. After the landlord reached a lease agreement with dot-com company iXL in 1999, both Equifax and 1600 Peachtree signed an amended and restated termination agreement. With the recent failure of iXL and subsequent payment requests from the landlord, Equifax disputes the assertion that it did not honor its contractual commitments. According to a letter sent to 1600 Peachtree dated November 7, Equifax attorney Tim Carssow of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP says that 1600 Peachtree LLC violated a Georgia law that states any action by a creditor that places a guarantor at more risk or exposes it to greater liability discharges that guarantor from any liability. Carssow also claims that the landlord’s actions had a negative effect on iXL’s cash position and that made a lease default more likely.