Johnson v. Amazing Paint Party LLC
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:21-cv-03659
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Eric Johnson v. Stella and Bobbie LLC, Judge Caproni amended a default judgment awarding damages, interest, and attorneys’ fees.
Eric Johnson received the amended monetary award, and Stella and Bobbie LLC was subject to the default judgment, statutory damages, prejudgment interest, and attorneys’ fees and costs.
What happened
In Eric Johnson v. Stella and Bobbie LLC, the court corrected an earlier order that had awarded Johnson a default judgment and statutory damages. The earlier order incorrectly cited the federal post-judgment interest statute as the basis for calculating prejudgment interest.
The amended order awarded $105,000 in statutory damages: $100,000 for willful copyright infringement and $2,500 for each violation of Section 1202. It also awarded nine-percent prejudgment interest on the statutory damages from the filing of the action through May 18, 2022, plus $8,094 in attorneys’ fees and costs.
Judge Valerie Caproni ordered the Clerk of Court to issue a judgment reflecting the amended order and vacated the earlier order at docket entry 72.
The detailed version
- Johnson v. Amazing Paint Party LLC · No. 1:21-cv-03659
- Valerie Caproni
- Sept. 7, 2022
Background
On May 18, 2022, the Court entered an order awarding Plaintiff Eric Johnson a default judgment and statutory damages. A default judgment is a judgment entered when a defendant has not defended the case. The Court later determined that the May 18 order incorrectly cited 28 U.S.C. § 1961 as the basis for calculating prejudgment interest.
Amended Award
The Court cited decisions stating that courts in the Southern District of New York have awarded prejudgment interest using either the federal post-judgment statutory rate or New York’s nine-percent statutory rate. The Court stated that using the New York rate was common practice among courts in the Second Circuit.
The amended order awarded Johnson:
- $105,000 in statutory damages, consisting of $100,000 for willful infringement under the Copyright Act and $2,500 for each violation of Section 1202; - prejudgment interest at nine percent on the statutory damages, calculated from the date the action was filed through May 18, 2022, the date judgment was entered; and - $8,094 in attorneys’ fees and costs.
Disposition
The Court directed the Clerk of Court to issue an entry of judgment reflecting the amended order and vacated the earlier order at docket entry 72.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.