Fine Art Registry® Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COURT SETS ASIDE DEFAULT JUDGMENT AGAINST FINE ART REGISTRY®
IN PARK WEST GALLERIES MICHIGAN SUIT
(Phoenix, AZ — 5 January 2009) On December 18th, 2008, the Honorable Lawrence P. Zatkoff of the Southern Division of the Eastern Michigan District Court, set aside a Default judgment against Fine Art Registry in the case filed by Park West Galleries Inc, claiming defamation in articles published on the FineArtRegistry.com website.
The default judgment, much touted as a victory by Park West Galleries in press releases and in communications to their own customers, was obtained by Park West Gallery's attorneys, Young & Susser of Southfield, MI knowingly or negligently failing to comply with Court rules and procedures regarding notifying defendants of the requirement to file electronically. The facts, are laid out quite clearly by Judge Zatkoff in his 18 December 08 opinion and order:
"Upon being served with the Complaint, FAR and Franks timely mailed a paper copy of their Motion to Dismiss to the Oakland County Circuit Court judge assigned to the case, Judge Michael Warren. Unbeknownst to FAR and Franks, Judge Warren required that all pleadings be electronically filed and Judge Warren's clerk returned their Motion to Dismiss without filing it. As a result of the paper copy of the Motion to Dismiss not being filed by Judge Warren's clerk, the time within which FAR and Franks could timely respond to the Complaint elapsed. Plaintiff immediately sought and obtained an entry of default against FAR and Franks."
The judge also points out that in such cases the plaintiff is required to give defendants notice that all documents in Judge Warren's cases must be electronically filed, that Park West's lawyers failed to do so and that they do not deny having failed to do so.
Plaintiff's counsel had received a copy of the Motion to Dismiss from Fine Art Regsitry and Ms. Franks before they tried to get the default entered, yet they failed to alert Ms. Franks to the e-filing requirement. This omission, coupled with the fact that the Motion for entry of default was filed so quickly, and that Park West Galleries refused to withdraw their Motion or agree to setting aside the default for many months (knowing their conduct was wrongful) indicates bad faith on their part.
Park West Galleries had press releases published announcing their great victory in the default judgment and also informed a number of their customers who called in with requests for refunds, that they had won a major case against Fine Art Registry which would entail millions of dollars in damages. These announcements were calculated to distract attention from Park West Galleries' own actions and point the finger at Fine Art Registry. Without supporting any allegations of wrongdoing by Fine Art Registry, Park West Gallery relied on the default as their absolute proof that they were blameless, knowing that it should never have been entered.
The fact that Judge Zatkoff set aside the Default finding and that Park West's lawyers withdrew their objection to setting aside the default is a vindication of the honest intentions and willingness to play by the rules on the part of Fine Art Registry.
Lawrence C. Atorthy, Senior Associate of Kaufman, Payton & Chapa, the Farmington Hills, MI based attorneys representing Fine Art Registry, said: "We are encouraged that Judge Zatkoff has ordered that the default entered against Fine Art Registry and Theresa Franks be set aside. Park West Galleries had trumpeted the default as a vindication of its business practices. That braggadocio proved premature. Park West Galleries effectively must now establish the legitimacy of its operations. Now that the default has been set aside, we look forward to vigorously representing and vindicating our clients in this matter. We firmly believe that Park West Galleries will fail in its attempt to prove any representations made by the Fine Art Registry and/or Ms. Franks were untrue or inaccurate."
And Jonathan H. Schwartz, Associate of Kaufman, Payton & Chapa, said: "By its very nature, the default prevented our clients Fine Art Registry and Theresa Franks from properly waging a defense against the spurious allegations made against them by Plaintiff Park West Galleries, Inc. A default, once entered, generally deprives Defendants of a defense to the charges made against them. With the default set aside, the Fine Art Registry and Teri Franks may now present their defense to the fantastic allegations made by Park West Galleries. Fine Art Registry and Franks have an absolute defense to all the causes of action made against them - namely that any written or verbal statements they may have made were true. Fortunately, in the interests of fairness and justice, the Honorable Judge Zatkoff made the correct decision by setting aside the default, which allows our clients to wage a proper, and, ultimately successful, defense."
"We are delighted that the judge saw through Park West Galleries' attorneys' thinly veiled attempt to gain a victory by subterfuge and abuse of the judicial system,” said Fine Art Registry CEO, Theresa Franks. "We are willing and able to defend ourselves in court since the truth is the strongest defense in a defamation claim and we have not written or published a single word about Park West Galleries that we did not honestly believe to be true."
ABOUT FINE ART REGISTRY:
Fine Art Registry® is today's only high tech solution to the age old problems that have existed in the art world since before the Ancient Greeks: How to establish provenance, prove authenticity and ownership, prevent forgery and fakery, deter theft and, basically, make it possible to create, buy and sell works of art with the security of knowing that they are what they claim to be. Full information on FAR® and how the system of tagging and registering art is available at www.FineArtRegistry.com.
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