Attorney Fees Update

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled that record label plaintiffs were entitled to attorney fees under Sec. 505 of the Copyright Act against defaulting defendants. Arista Records Inc. v. Beker Enterprises Inc., 03-14158. The labels had sued convenience store owners for copyright infringement for selling pirate CDs. The district court granted the plaintiffs' request for a final default judgment and a permanent injunction. Courts often award attorney's fees and costs for default judgments. The district court concluded that attorney fees and costs were justified in this case, “First, because Defendants ignored the three letters sent to Defendants' store, Plaintiffs were forced to file this action. … Second, an award of Plaintiffs' reasonable attorney's fees and costs is justified by the willfulness of Defendants' conduct and failure to participate in these proceedings…. Third, an award of Plaintiffs' attorney's fees and costs will serve the important functions of deterring future infringements, penalizing Defendants for their unlawful conduct, and compensating Plaintiffs for the attorney's fees and costs they were forced to incur in order to protect their copyrights.”

The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division One, decided that an individual who served jail time for kidnapping Frank Sinatra Jr. wasn't entitled to attorney fees for prevailing in a case that found unconstitutional a California statute that barred the felon from receiving income from movie rights of his story. Sinatra v. Keenan, B166119. Barry Keenan had been convicted for his involvement in a 1963 kidnapping of Sinatra. Columbia Pictures later agreed to pay Keenan $165,000 with the possibility of up to $1.5 million in additional income for the movie rights to Keenan's story. Sinatra then sued Keenan under California's Son of Sam statute, Calif. Civ. Code Sec. 2225, which placed money that criminals earned from such rights sales into a fund for crime victims. After the California Supreme Court found the statute unconstitutional, Keenan moved for attorney fees under a private attorney general theory per Calif. Code Civ. Proc. Sec. 1021.5, which allows for attorney fees in cases where “a significant benefit, whether pecuniary or nonpecuniary, has been conferred on the general public.” The trial court denied Keenan's attorney fees request. Affirming in an unpublished opinion, the court of appeal noted, “We are satisfied that the primary and overriding benefit from this litigation inures to Keenan and other felons who have committed crimes of notoriety, not to the general public or a large class of persons.”