Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc. v. Boxill

Background

Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc. and Comerica Bank & Trust, N.A., acting as personal representative of the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson, sued George Ian Boxill, Rogue Music Alliance, LLC, Deliverance, LLC, David Staley, Gabriel Solomon Wilson, and Sidebar Legal, PC. The dispute involved previously unreleased recordings of Prince. Plaintiffs asserted breach-of-contract, conversion, and copyright claims. They submitted the breach-of-contract and conversion claims—Counts 2 and 3 of the Third Amended Complaint—to arbitration.

The arbitrator issued an interim award in Plaintiffs’ favor and determined that the Prince Estate was entitled to damages and the return of the disputed recordings. The arbitrator’s final award, issued August 31, 2018, also awarded reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.

Motions to Vacate and Confirm

Boxill moved to vacate, or set aside, the arbitration award. Plaintiffs moved to confirm the award and enter final judgment. The court explained that federal law permits vacating an arbitration award only on specified grounds, including corruption or fraud, evident arbitrator partiality, certain serious procedural misconduct, or the arbitrator’s exceeding of the authority granted by the parties. The court also explained that an arbitrator’s mistake of law or fact generally is not enough.

Boxill argued that the arbitrator had manifestly disregarded copyright law. The court rejected that argument because this is not a legally available ground for vacating an arbitration award in the Eighth Circuit. Boxill alternatively argued that the arbitrator committed misconduct or exceeded her authority, but the court found that these arguments rested only on his disagreement with the arbitrator’s conclusion that copyright law did not preempt the contract and conversion claims. The court found no basis under the governing statute to vacate the award.

Because the court found no basis to vacate or modify the award, it confirmed the August 31, 2018 final award.

Final Judgment

The court considered whether to enter judgment on Counts 2 and 3 even though other claims remained in the case. It found that the award was a final disposition of the claims against Boxill and that there was no just reason to delay judgment. The court noted that the arbitration award could be appealed immediately and that delaying judgment would not reduce the risk of separate appeals. It also found that the remaining claims were sufficiently distinct, that the possible counterclaim did not require delaying judgment, and that prompt entry of judgment would facilitate distribution of the monetary award.

The court directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment for Plaintiffs against Boxill on Counts 2 and 3. It ordered Boxill to pay Plaintiffs $3,960,287.65 and return all materials obtained through his work for Prince. The court also modified its May 22, 2017 order by dissolving paragraph 4 as to Boxill; paragraph 4 remained in effect for Rogue Music Alliance, LLC, Deliverance, LLC, and others acting in concert with them.

Interest, Attorneys’ Fees, and Disposition

The court granted Plaintiffs post-award, prejudgment interest at a daily rate of $821.92 from August 31, 2018, the date of the final arbitration award, until judgment was entered. It did not award interest from the date of the interim award because Plaintiffs provided no supporting legal authority for that starting date.

The court also determined that Plaintiffs were entitled to reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in obtaining confirmation of the arbitration award and defending against Boxill’s motion to vacate. The court did not set the amount at this stage; it directed Plaintiffs to file a motion and supporting documentation within 14 days.

The order granted Plaintiffs’ motion to confirm the arbitration award and enter judgment, denied Boxill’s motion to vacate, confirmed the final award, entered judgment on Counts 2 and 3 against Boxill, modified the earlier order as to Boxill, and awarded interest and the right to seek reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.