Amanze v. Adeyemi

Background

Stella Amanze brought a copyright-infringement action alleging that Tomi Adeyemi and Macmillan Publishing Group LLC used copyrighted material from Amanze’s fictional work, Banished: A Novel, in Adeyemi’s work, Children of Blood and Bone. Adeyemi worked with Macmillan to publish, market, and distribute her book. The caption also named Lola Shoneyin doing business as Ouida Books and John Does 1–10 as defendants.

The court had previously granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint, concluding that the two works were not substantially similar as a matter of law. In that earlier order, the court also determined that defendants were entitled to attorneys’ fees and costs under Section 505 of the Copyright Act. This order addressed the amount of that award.

Fee standard

Section 505 permits a court to award the prevailing party full costs, including a reasonable attorneys’ fee. The court explained that the starting point is the “lodestar,” calculated by multiplying a reasonable hourly rate by a reasonable number of hours. The court must also consider the circumstances of the case and may reduce hours that are excessive, redundant, or unnecessary.

The court also considered the equitable circumstances, including Amanze’s status as an individual writer who self-published her work, Macmillan’s status as one of the largest trade publishers in the world, the need for deterrence, and the absence of any indication that Amanze was a serial litigant or had otherwise abused the judicial system.

Billing challenges

Defendants sought $69,565.36 in fees incurred by Dwight Wright Tremaine LLP, which represented both defendants, and $3,016 in fees incurred by an attorney personally retained by Adeyemi. Defendants separately sought $54.36 in costs.

Amanze challenged time allegedly related to a copyright lawsuit in Nigeria. Defendants stated that they were not seeking fees for that Nigerian action, and the court’s review of the billing records confirmed that representation.

Amanze also challenged the time spent preparing a pre-motion letter. The court found that defense counsel spent approximately 12.7 hours, not 34 hours, on that work. It rejected Amanze’s arguments that the letter merely repeated an earlier letter and involved only standard legal analysis, finding that the letter included case-specific analysis of substantial similarity.

Amanze further argued that 69 hours spent on the motion to dismiss were unreasonable. The court stated that Amanze had a point but declined to conduct an hour-by-hour review. The court also declined to award any fees for the attorney personally retained by Adeyemi because that attorney had not filed a notice of appearance or directly participated in the litigation, leaving the court without a benchmark for evaluating the request.

Amount awarded

The court concluded that a 40% deduction from the total amount billed by Dwight Wright Tremaine LLP was appropriate. That reduction produced an attorneys’ fee award of $41,740. The court stated that the reduction did not mean the firm’s representation was unreasonable or excessive; rather, the fee-shifting inquiry focused on what a reasonable paying client would pay to litigate effectively and cost-effectively.

Defendants also sought $21,168.75 for fees and costs incurred in connection with the fee application. Although the court recognized that fees for litigating an initial fee application may be available, it declined to award any additional amount here.

Disposition

Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald awarded defendants a judgment of $41,794.36 against Amanze under Section 505 of the Copyright Act: $41,740 in attorneys’ fees and $54.36 in costs. The Clerk of Court was directed to enter judgment for defendants. The order did not award the additional fees requested for the fee application.