BLOG: Huge Legal-Victory For HHSE In "Getting-Grac
Post# of 7290
Monday, September 7, 2020
Federal Court issues Order - Huge legal victory for HHSE in "Getting Grace" lawsuit
Greetings HHSE Friends & Followers:
Hannover House was pretty shocked in February of 2019 to discover that the international sales that were being made for GETTING GRACE at the Berlinale' / European Film Market were usurped by Daniel Roebuck / Getting Grace having previously breached the agreements 8-months earlier by HIRING a different international distributor (and then "forgetting" to notify HHSE). We viewed this as an extreme breach of honesty, an abuse of a long-standing relationship and as a clearly fraudulent action of interference and malicious intent by the Getting Grace team.
So, a month or so later when Hannover House was then SUED by Getting Grace - under the preposterous claim that we had not honored the agreement - we were especially dumbfounded. Our confusion was compounded by the Getting Grace attorneys (one of which is an investor in the film and a conspirator in the breach), filing the lawsuit in PENNSYLVANIA instead of in ARKANSAS where the contract clearly stated that any and all disputes were to be heard.
In response to the lawsuit, HHSE hired attorneys in Pennsylvania to file a "Motion to Dismiss" or to otherwise move the lawsuit to Arkansas. The HHSE attorneys in Pennsylvania were so distracted with responding to the Getting Grace dump of filings of discovery that the obvious first-step instructions that we requested kept getting stalled. FINALLY, this spring (2020), HHSE C.E.O. sent an email demand to the Pennsylvania attorney's representing Hannover House to file the motion to dismiss or move the case. We could not justify continuing to pay them legal fees to respond to the Getting Grace actions in Pennsylvania, when Arkansas was specified in the agreement to be the proper venue.
SO - the Laputka Law Firm finally filed the motion we requested 18-months ago, and we PREVAILED! The case is being moved immediately to Arkansas where our local attorneys will cost us much less, and where we can bombard THEM with the discovery and document requests to prove to the court that Getting Grace, LLC / Daniel Roebuck HIRED another distributor (Premiere Releasing) in the Fall of 2018, months before the Hannover House contract was to have expired.
The facts are on HHSE's side, and the local courts in Arkansas have shown a great reluctance to tolerate disingenuous claims such as those postulated in the Getting Grace lawsuit. Our motions will include a demand for financial DAMAGES and will name ALL of the individual parties in Getting Grace, LLC (as they had taken the course in their Pennsylvania suit to name HHSE officers, plus a FORMER officer who left years before "Gettting Grace" and a fourth individual who had never been an officer, director or shareholder of HHSE).
HHSE worked hard for over six months to market and release "GETTING GRACE," and we were not paid our earned fees for theatrical, home video, streaming or television. Instead, the Getting Grace partners sabotaged hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars of international sales, filed a factually erroneous lawsuit and publicly besmirched the company in the local newspapers. This is NOT the behavior of "Christian Filmmakers" as Mr. Roebuck likes to perceive himself to be.
So, now the Arkansas courts can look at the matter and rule on "just the facts, ma'am." This is a HUGE victory for Hannover House, and enables us to make another positive update to our Form 10 narrative.
ONWARD!!
http://hannoverhousemovies.blogspot.com/2020/...legal.html
HHSE