MATA sued; vendor claims it’s owed $555K
by: Jessica Gertler
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Area Transit Authority could be in even more financial trouble following a lawsuit filed by one of its vendors who claims they have not been paid in over a year.
According to the complaint filed in the Tennessee Western District Court, MATA is accused of not paying several invoices to nMomentum, a technology consulting and solutions company.
MATA board meeting minutes we found from 2022 state MATA was in need of “maintenance support.” nMomentum submitted a proposal stating they would team up with a local Memphis firm MATA already worked with to offer maintenance support for MATA’s information technology, fare collection, onboard video, and pedestrian display systems.
The board signed off on a five-year, $3.3 million contract with nMomentum, which began in January 2023. That contract was the fourth contract the company had secured with MATA dating back to 2018.
Now, only two years into the new contract, the company is suing MATA, claiming they are owed over $555,000 from the transit authority, plus interest, which has caused them “extreme financial hardship.”
The lawsuit claims that MATA “stopped paying invoices in January 2024 without legal justification or explanation.” The company says though the invoices went unpaid, they continued to provide services to MATA under their contracts.
It goes on to state the company met with MATA’s counsel and agreed to resubmit revised expense invoices that gave details in a “different format,” invoices MATA did “not dispute, and intend to pay.”
The company is asking for unspecified damages and relief, plus their attorney’s cost and fees covered.
Back in August, Mayor Paul Young’s administration announced they were bringing in Transpro consulting firm to help figure out why MATA was millions of dollars in the hole. Months later, Transpro turned over its findings.
The 117-page report called out MATA’s delayed bills, stating the finance team was “dealing with calls from vendors,” and those calls were “increasing due to invoices being delayed or unpaid.”
It stressed, at that point, “vendors have stopped servicing MATA due to non-payment or excessive late payment.”
We asked the mayor’s office if they were aware of nMomentum’s complaint and if they were working to resolve it with Transpro, now hired to temporarily run MATA. A spokesperson with the mayor’s office said we should reach out to MATA’s Board of Directors.
We have tried contacting the chair but have not yet heard back.
MATA’s interim, external CFO Hamish Davidson voiced concerns in September. He claimed the city’s new checks and balances system was causing even more issues paying their main vendors, though he didn’t mention any vendors specifically.
“You can only juggle so much,” said Davidson. “Those who have pretty much stood behind MATA, and some of them have extended significant amounts of additional credit to us, they’re at their breaking point.”
When we asked MATA about the lawsuit, a spokesperson said, “We are unable to discuss pending litigation.”
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