Atlanta Bus. Video LLC v. FanTrace LLC

It is a fundamental principle of Georgia law that counsel has a duty to stay informed as to the progress of the cases he or she handles in a particular court.

Thank you for sharing!

Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

In Georgia, a plaintiff who fails to appear for a scheduled calendar call risks having its civil action involuntarily dismissed without prejudice by the trial court for want of prosecution. And that is exactly what happened to Atlanta Business Video’s “ABV” lawsuit against FanTrace and its agent, Fereidoun Khalilian, when ABV’s counsel failed to appear at the trial court’s April 2012 “No Service/Default Calendar.” ABV appeals, arguing that the trial court’s dismissal of FanTrace was improper because it diligently pursued its claims against that entity.1 For the reasons noted infra, we affirm.

The record shows that in January 2011, Khalilian approached ABV about performing certain audio and video editing services for a new website called “FanTrace.” In doing so, Khalilian represented to ABV that he was the CEO of FanTrace, which was owned by hip-hop recording artist Aliaune Thiam, who is more widely known as “Akon.” Khalilian advised ABV that FanTrace was in the process of launching a web-based service in which customers could purchase “customized audio and video recordings of various celebrities to be used via a special Facebook application, which in turn could be synched and utilized with the customer’s cell phone, laptop, iPad, and other hardware.” He also explained that FanTrace was behind schedule because all of the employees of the production company it had previously contracted with to complete the project had been involved in a tragic car accident. As such, Khalilian emphasized the need for work to resume on this project immediately. And shortly thereafter, FanTrace and ABV agreed that ABV would perform the necessary work at the rate of $125 per hour. But after several weeks of working together, the relationship between FanTrace and ABV deteriorated, ultimately resulting in this lawsuit.

Atlanta Bus. Video LLC v. FanTrace LLC

It is a fundamental principle of Georgia law that counsel has a duty to stay informed as to the progress of the cases he or she handles in a particular court.

Share with Email

Thank you for sharing!

Trending Stories

More From ALM

Subscribe to Daily Report