Eric Ralls, of Telluride, is the CEO of Earth.com. He and the company filed for bankruptcy in April. (PlantSnap)
Earth.com, a Telluride-based science and nature news website, has abandoned its bankruptcy plans so that it can devote more money to suing, and being sued by, a phone app.
The site was created in 2016 by Eric Ralls, who had previously invented PlantSnap, an app that allows users to identify plants by taking a photo with their phone. PlantSnap was partly funded by $9.1 million in loans from an angel investor, collateralized with company stock.
By early 2021, PlantSnap owed $12.4 million that it couldn’t repay, according to the investor. Ralls was forced to hand over his majority shares in PlantSnap and was removed as CEO.
The next month, PlantSnap sued Ralls, accusing him of moving PlantSnap money to Earth.com and not turning over PlantSnap’s bank accounts. He countersued in April 2021, accusing the investor of using illegal loans “to steal Ralls’ company out from under him.”
The case has not gone well for Ralls. Last year, he was ordered to spend two days in a Telluride jail and pay $85,000 to PlantSnap after Judge Keri Yoder found him in contempt of court for destroying evidence and using a PlantSnap bank account for personal expenses.
Then, in April of this year, Yoder ruled that Ralls had breached his contract with the investor and ordered him to pay about $1 million. The next day, Ralls and Earth.com both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, forcing Yoder to cancel an eight-day trial that had been set for June.
Bankruptcies typically halt state lawsuits, but PlantSnap asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas McNamara to make an exception, since the two sides had been so close to trial. McNamara agreed. Ralls and Earth.com then ended their bankruptcies to focus on the PlantSnap case.
A two-week trial is now scheduled to begin March 4 in Telluride.
The end of the bankruptcies will also revive a Denver case in which Ralls and Earth.com are being sued by an advertising company called Adnimation that said it gave Ralls $50,000 in exchange for Adnimation software being installed at Earth.com. Ralls then reneged and kept the $50,000, Adnimation alleges. He has not yet responded to that lawsuit in court.
Ralls and his attorney also did not respond to BusinessDen’s requests to discuss his legal cases. He is represented by Rob Podoll of Podoll & Podoll in Greenwood Village.
Earth.com is headquartered in Ralls’ home at 473 W. Colorado Ave. in Telluride. That house is worth $2.8 million, according to county property records.
Eric Ralls, of Telluride, is the CEO of Earth.com. He and the company filed for bankruptcy in April. (PlantSnap)
Earth.com, a Telluride-based science and nature news website, has abandoned its bankruptcy plans so that it can devote more money to suing, and being sued by, a phone app.
The site was created in 2016 by Eric Ralls, who had previously invented PlantSnap, an app that allows users to identify plants by taking a photo with their phone. PlantSnap was partly funded by $9.1 million in loans from an angel investor, collateralized with company stock.
By early 2021, PlantSnap owed $12.4 million that it couldn’t repay, according to the investor. Ralls was forced to hand over his majority shares in PlantSnap and was removed as CEO.
The next month, PlantSnap sued Ralls, accusing him of moving PlantSnap money to Earth.com and not turning over PlantSnap’s bank accounts. He countersued in April 2021, accusing the investor of using illegal loans “to steal Ralls’ company out from under him.”
The case has not gone well for Ralls. Last year, he was ordered to spend two days in a Telluride jail and pay $85,000 to PlantSnap after Judge Keri Yoder found him in contempt of court for destroying evidence and using a PlantSnap bank account for personal expenses.
Then, in April of this year, Yoder ruled that Ralls had breached his contract with the investor and ordered him to pay about $1 million. The next day, Ralls and Earth.com both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, forcing Yoder to cancel an eight-day trial that had been set for June.
Bankruptcies typically halt state lawsuits, but PlantSnap asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas McNamara to make an exception, since the two sides had been so close to trial. McNamara agreed. Ralls and Earth.com then ended their bankruptcies to focus on the PlantSnap case.
A two-week trial is now scheduled to begin March 4 in Telluride.
The end of the bankruptcies will also revive a Denver case in which Ralls and Earth.com are being sued by an advertising company called Adnimation that said it gave Ralls $50,000 in exchange for Adnimation software being installed at Earth.com. Ralls then reneged and kept the $50,000, Adnimation alleges. He has not yet responded to that lawsuit in court.
Ralls and his attorney also did not respond to BusinessDen’s requests to discuss his legal cases. He is represented by Rob Podoll of Podoll & Podoll in Greenwood Village.
Earth.com is headquartered in Ralls’ home at 473 W. Colorado Ave. in Telluride. That house is worth $2.8 million, according to county property records.
