Textbroker International, LLC v. Skupnick
- P. Castel
- 1:19-cv-05608
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Textbroker International v. Skupnick, Judge Castel entered a $214,500 default judgment after Skupnick failed to appear.
Textbroker International, LLC received a $214,500 judgment against Chloe Skupnick. The action was closed as to the unserved John Doe defendants.
What happened
Textbroker International, LLC v. Skupnick involved allegations that Chloe Skupnick, a Textbroker author, contacted customers outside Textbroker’s online platform and performed freelance writing work for them. Textbroker’s terms prohibited this conduct to prevent avoidance of its fees.
Skupnick did not appear or oppose Textbroker’s request for a judgment based on her failure to respond. Textbroker submitted evidence that Skupnick wrote 377 articles totaling about 375,000 words, and calculated damages under its terms at $214,500.
Judge P. Kevin Castel granted Textbroker’s motion for default judgment and directed the Clerk to enter judgment against Skupnick for $214,500. The court also directed the Clerk to close the action because the John Doe defendants had not been served within the permitted 90-day period.
The detailed version
- Textbroker International, LLC v. Skupnick · No. 1:19-cv-05608
- P. Castel
- Jan. 6, 2020
Background
Textbroker operates an online platform connecting freelance writers with customers seeking written content. The company alleged that Chloe Skupnick, a Textbroker author, violated its Terms of Service by contacting customers outside the platform and performing freelance writing services for them. The complaint also named David and Nicole Thelin and John Does 1–4. The Thelins were voluntarily dismissed from the action.
The Terms of Service prohibited authors and customers from contacting each other outside the platform to avoid Textbroker’s fees. The terms provided that an author who violated this provision would owe Textbroker its 5-star OpenOrder client rate for each word written, plus a $500 administrative fee per article and certain collection costs.
Default and Damages
Textbroker unsuccessfully attempted to serve Skupnick at addresses in Pennsylvania and Washington. The court then permitted service by email and certified mail. Textbroker filed an affidavit of service, but Skupnick never appeared, communicated with the court, or opposed the motion. The Clerk entered a certificate of default, and Textbroker moved for default judgment.
On a motion for default judgment, the court accepted the complaint’s factual allegations as true, except allegations concerning damages. Textbroker submitted declarations and supporting materials, including copies of articles and Reddit posts. The evidence indicated that Skupnick wrote two articles in November 2017 and an additional 375 articles between December 2017 and May 2019 for the Thelins’ website. Textbroker estimated that the articles totaled 375,000 words.
Textbroker calculated $27,000 in word-based damages using a rate of 7.2 cents per word, and $187,500 in administrative fees based on 375 articles at $500 per article. The court found that Textbroker established its damages with reasonable certainty and claimed a total of $214,500.
Ruling
The court GRANTED Textbroker’s motion for entry of default judgment. The Clerk was directed to enter judgment for Textbroker against Skupnick in the amount of $214,500. Because no John Doe defendant had been served within the 90-day period allowed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m), the Clerk was also directed to close the action.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.