In some cases where the RIAA discontinued the case, the defendant has sought attorneys fees. In Priority Records v. Chan and Elektra v. Perez the defendant's motion was denied. In Capitol Records v. Foster, the motion was granted. As of this writing the amount of attorneys fees to be awarded Ms. Foster has not yet been determined, but the initial amount sought was approximately $55,000, and the judge has ruled that Ms. Foster may supplement her application to include subsequent fees. The judge has ruled that the RIAA may have 60 days of discovery on the reasonableness of the fees, and that Ms. Foster can supplement her request for fees after discovery ends. The RIAA has moved for "reconsideration" of the attorneys fees motion. It has also asked the judge to amend his scheduling order so that Ms. Foster could not supplement her fee request after the close of discovery, presumably to avoid the judge's awarding attorneys fees for Ms. Foster's attorney's work in connection with 'discovery'. The judge denied that request. Although it was the RIAA which sought "discovery" on the attorneys fees issue, it has refused to comply with Ms. Foster's attorney's request for production of the RIAA's attorneys' billing records, a request that has been outstanding since March, 2006. (We cannot help but note that the judge in Capitol v. Foster appears to have bent over backwards to accommodate the RIAA, allowing its very unusual request for "discovery" on the reasonableness of the fees; these matters are usually resolved by submitting copies of the itemized bills. The judge's graciousness to the RIAA appears not to have been repaid in kind, as the RIAA (a) is asking the judge to reverse his ruling altogether, (b) asked the judge to change his scheduling order so that Ms. Foster would be incapable of being reimbursed for her fees in this new 'discovery' phase, and (c) is acting with ill grace in demanding discovery at the same time that it is refusing to permit Ms. Foster to have discovery.) In any event, the Court ordered the RIAA to turn over all its own attorneys' billing records, and to provide expert witness disclosures, and an expert witness deposition, prior to the close of the 60-day discovery cutoff.

*Reprinted with permission of Ray Beckerman from http://info.riaalawsuits.us/howriaa.html updated March 31, 2007.


Article from Ars Technica in response to Capitol Records v. Debbie Foster

Update: May 4, 2007
The judge in Capitol Records v Foster has denied the RIAA request to reconsider the award of attorney's fees. Additionally, the RIAA was forced to turn over their own billing records to Foster's attorneys. However, in an attempt to not let public knowledge of billing records affect other RIAA cases, the judge agreed to place the documents on a confidential protective order. See Ars Technica.