Infamous copyright attorney Richard Liebowitz saw attorneys’ fees and costs levied against him after a St. Louis federal court found he wrongfully sued a company there despite a lack of any relevant connections to the district.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri’s sanctions against Liebowitz came after the court called his filing “unreasonable” and in “reckless disregard of his duties” to the court.
Judge Catherine D. Perry also said Liebowitz has “a pattern of improperly filing copyright cases in the wrong venue to avoid additional costs imposed by the local rules of the appropriate court.”
Perry couldn’t conclude the filing against Kansas City-based KC Media LLC was innocent given his “extensive nationwide practice in copyright litigation” and “numerous admonitions issued by several other courts.”
Liebowitz has filed over a thousand copyright infringement complaints on behalf of photographers, and has been subject to sanctions and disciplinary action in multiple jurisdictions.
Judges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York have called Liebowitz a “copyright troll,” and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois has ordered him to pay $20,000 for venue-related misconduct specifically.
In this case, Liebowitz sued KC Media for allegedly using two of Ivan Belaustegui’s photos on its website without a license.
But Kansas City is in the Western District of Missouri, and the St. Louis court said Liebowitz should have filed his claims there. All of the alleged misconduct occurred in Kansas City, involved publicity for a performance in that city, and was directed only to that local market.
Belaustegui filed an amended complaint arguing it would be more convenient to hear the case in the St. Louis court. But Perry said it was unclear how that could be true, considering he lives in Florida and sued a company that only operates in Kansas City.
The court dismissed the case instead of transferring because it wouldn’t be in the “interest of justice” to “do Liebowitz’s work for him.”
It also awarded KC Media attorneys’ fees and costs because Liebowitz should have known of the improper venue, and because he “unreasonably multiplied” the proceedings by continuing to push for the court to hear his suit without any legal or factual support.
Erickson & Kernell LLC represents KC Media.
The case is Belaustegui v. KC Media LLC, E.D. Mo., No. 4:20-cv-00531, 8/17/20.
The Link LonkAugust 19, 2020 at 04:24AM
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