Attorney in a Fix For Filing Frivolous Copyright Claim

Title 28, Section 1927 of the U.S. Code provides that an attorney “who so multiplies the proceedings in any case unreasonably and vexatiously may be required by the court to satisfy personally the excess costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees reasonably incurred because of such conduct.” On June 7, 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals cited that provision, together with the inherent power of the court, to uphold a sanctions award of more than a quarter of a million dollars against a plaintiff's attorney for his five-year bad faith pursuit of a frivolous copyright infringement claim.

The district court had issued sanctions against the attorney in the amount of $247,397.28 in attorneys’ fees together with $10,808.76 in costs. On appeal, the attorney argued that the sanctions were unwarranted and excessive. He also argued that no single instance of misconduct that the district court had cited justified the imposition of sanctions, and that the district court had abused its discretion by sanctioning him for knowingly and recklessly pursuing a frivolous copyright infringement claim and litigating it in bad faith.

The Ninth Circuit disagreed. It explained that the district court’s finding of bad faith was based on the cumulative effect of the attorney's litigation conduct for more than five years. Examples included his mischaracterization of a document in a court filing. He also attempted to cause the district court judge’s recusal by retaining the judge’s former law firm to defend the attorney after the sanctions motion was filed against him - which the district court concluded was done in order to have the case assigned to a new judge who would be unfamiliar with the protracted history of this litigation.

Moreover, the copyright claims were based on the composition of a song for an Indian movie. The parties agreed that Indian law controlled the copyright issues. However, under Indian law was clear that the plaintiff did not own the copyright in the song to begin with. The court found that the record supported the district court’s findings and imposition of sanctions.

The Ninth Circuit's decision, in Lahiri v. Universal Music and Video, is available here.