PER CURIAM.
Janet Wallace may find hollow Prince's refrain that he "never meant to cause . . . any sorrow" or "pain."
For present purposes we review the record and draw all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to Wallace.
In May 2012 Worthen heard from someone in the entertainment industry that Cousins could help Wallace book Prince for the trade show. So Worthen and Wallace met with Cousins later that month to discuss details. After the meeting Wallace signed a written agreement between Bronner Bros. and Cousins, purporting to do so as Bronner Bros.' authorized representative.
The agreement specified that "Cousins is willing and able to facilitate Prince's performance at Bronner Bros.'" Atlanta trade show. The agreement also specified that Bonner Bros. would pay Cousins a "[g]ood faith payment" of $75,000 "upon signing of th[e] [a]greement." The next day Wallace wired $75,000 from her bank account to Cousins.
After receiving the $75,000 Cousins promptly emailed to one of Prince's representatives the agreement, which documented the amount of money that Prince stood to earn by performing at Bronner Bros.' Atlanta trade show, and a note stating that "[t]his is what [Bronner Bros.] ha[s] agreed to." The representative responded: "Received with thanks. Prince is out of town and we wont [sic] be speaking with him till [he returns] so I hope to have feedback after that." Hope was not enough; feedback was not forthcoming. Three weeks later Cousins sent an email to another Prince representative asking whether she could "please give [Cousins] an answer." Cousins explained that time was of the essence because the date of the trade show was approaching. He told the representative that Bronner Bros. "ha[s] to move on and get someone else . . . if Prince does not say yes" before morning's end.
The representative responded by email that Prince had received "the offer" but "hasn't had much time to think about it. [Prince] was discussing it . . . last night, but didn't let [the representative] know if he came to a conclusion." The representative concluded her email by stating that the offer was "something [Prince] was considering, he just hasn't really had a moment to think about it."
Hours passed. Then weeks. With the trade show less than three weeks away, Wallace finally pulled the plug on the Prince plan. She sent Cousins a letter requesting that he return the $75,000 that she had wired him. Cousins refused.
In October 2014 Wallace filed this lawsuit against Cousins and his law firm in federal court, bringing two claims under Georgia law: breach of contract and fraud. The first claim is that Cousins breached the June 2012 agreement because he failed to secure Prince's performance at the trade show. The second claim is that Cousins committed fraud by stating in the agreement that he was "willing and able to facilitate Prince's performance at" the trade show.
Cousins moved for summary judgment on Wallace's fraud claim, contending that there was no genuine dispute about the truthfulness of his statement that he was willing and able to facilitate Prince's performance at the trade show. The district court agreed with Cousins and granted him summary judgment. This is Wallace's appeal.
We review
Wallace contends that the district court erred in granting summary judgment to Cousins on her fraud claim. "Under Georgia law, which applies in this diversity action, the tort of fraud consists of five elements: (1) false representation by defendant; (2) scienter; (3) intent to induce the plaintiff to act or refrain from acting; (4) justifiable reliance by the plaintiff; and (5) damage to the plaintiff."
Wallace has not carried her burden of setting forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine dispute about whether Cousins' statement that he was willing and able to facilitate Prince's performance at the trade show was false. Wallace sought to carry that burden by submitting with her response to Cousins' summary judgment motion both an affidavit in which she swore that Cousins did not have the ability to facilitate Prince's performance and some of the emails between Cousins and Prince's camp. But the facts in the affidavit are not specific. And the facts in the emails, though specific, do not show that there is a genuine dispute for trial.
The affidavit contains "little more than a brief, conclusory assertion."
We are mindful, of course, that the "self-serving statements" that a litigant sets forth in an affidavit "can defeat summary judgment."
That leaves the emails, which, to their credit, do "set forth specific facts."
Because Wallace failed to set forth specific facts that could lead a rational trier of fact to conclude that Cousins' representation that he was willing and able to facilitate Prince's performance at the trade show, the fraud claim fails. The district court did not err in granting summary judgment to Cousins.