Update: Park West vs Fine Art Registry

Park West's suit against the Fine Art Registry (and counter suit by the Fine Art Registry) is now in progress.  The Fine Art Registry just published a press release stating the Plaintiff has finished its portion of the case and now the defense will commence.  To read the Fine Art Registry press release click HERE (keep in mind it is a press release by the Fine Art Registry). Hopefully the case will be deliberated by the jury within a few more days.

Crain's Detroit Business has additional information on the suit by Park West against the Fine Art Registry and also mentions a group of consumer suits against Park West seeking damages of $22 million which will soon follow the defamation suit against the Fine Art Registry. According to the report many of these consumer cases against Park West have been merged into a single suit which will be heard next year in a federal court in Seattle.

I find the interesting point in the Crain article and a positive for Park West being that defamation and libel suits carry a very heavy burden of proof.  Many court cases for libel and defamation are thrown out prior to going to court for immediately not meeting the expected or perceived minimum for burden of poof. This case has gotten to the courts and a jury trial as well as surviving a motion for dismissal. Some experts believe that Park West might have a strong case against the Fine Art Registry because it has been able to survive and continue with the case.  Also, some experts beleive by winning this case it will put Park West in a better position to defend against the other complaints.  But if Park West does not win the case, some experts believe it could also hurt them with the consumer cases.

It will be interesting to see how the jury views the evidence and witnesses.

Crain's Detriot Businesss reports

“Because libel and defamation generally carry a tough burden of proof, the fact that it is in trial now and that it survived a motion to dismiss before trial is significant,” said Robert Sedler, professor of constitutional law at Wayne State University.

Zatkoff denied a pretrial motion by the defense Feb. 26.

“So it's win-win for Park West at this point,” Sedler said, “because if it can prevail in this case, it suggests the facts that allowed it to win also present a strong defense against fraud. And if it loses, that may be due to the First Amendment and case law in this field. It might not shed as much light on other cases ... though I'm sure the attorneys will look into that.”

Fred Gibson, president of Clinton Township-based The F.L. Gibson Group P.C., who practices defamation and libel law, agreed that a win for Park West would give the company momentum and suggest a strong defense in the other cases. He added that losing on defamation can have a reverse effect and make a business reconsider how aggressively it defends other lawsuits.

“I'd be concerned (if the defamation case failed),” Gibson said. “If the cases all arise from the same basic allegations about a business's practices, they'd go hand in hand. All sides are going to pay very close attention to this outcome.”

To read the Crain's article, click HERE.