The plaintiff-owner of a business filed suit in the Jefferson County Circuit Court against defendant-owners of another business over use of the plaintiff's trade name "First Fridays." The plaintiff filed suit against the defendants for using "Celebrity 1st Fridays" and requested a preliminary injunction against the defendants. The circuit court refused to order the preliminary injunction, but set a trial date for determining whether the plaintiff had suffered any damages. Before the trial, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment because the plaintiff had failed to provide any evidence of damages during the discovery stage before trial. The circuit court granted the motion for summary judgement.
The plaintiff then appealed the circuit court's decision to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. The basis for the appeal was that a genuine issue of material fact existed that precluded the awarding of the summary judgment; namely, that the defendants had infringed on the plaintiff's trade name. The appeals court affirmed the circuit court's opinion because the plaintiff failed to offer any evidence that she had incurred damages as a result of the defendant's using "Celebrity 1st Fridays" and had thereby failed to properly oppose the motion for summary judgment in the circuit court. See Cain v. Strachan, decided on February 18, 2011.
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