Opinion ID: 613803
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: District Court Damages Proceedings

Text: We provide a more detailed review of the relevant district court proceedings. After the jury verdict awarding Sony $22,500 per infringement, Tenenbaum filed a motion for a new trial or remittitur pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59. Absent a grant of a new trial, he sought remittitur to the statutory minimum. Tenenbaum argued the court should use the standard that remittitur is appropriate where the result of the award is grossly excessive, inordinate, shocking to the conscience of the court, or so high that it would be a denial of justice to permit it to stand. Correa v. Hosp. S.F., 69 F.3d 1184, 1197 (1st Cir.1995) (quoting Segal v. Gilbert Color Sys., Inc., 746 F.2d 78, 81 (1st Cir.1984)) (internal quotation marks omitted). Tenenbaum separately argued the award was unconstitutionally excessive under the standard for reviewing punitive damage awards articulated in Gore. Sony opposed, arguing there was no factual basis for a remittitur given both the evidence and that the evidence had to be taken in the light most favorable to the prevailing party. See E. Mountain Platform Tennis, Inc. v. Sherwin-Williams Co., 40 F.3d 492, 502 (1st Cir.1994). It also argued that the district court lacked authority to displace a jury verdict which was in the statutory range set by Congress and that to hold otherwise would violate the Seventh Amendment. With regard to Tenenbaum's due process arguments, Sony argued that Williams set forth the proper standard, and not Gore. Sony also argued that under either the Williams or Gore standards, the award was not unconstitutionally excessive. The United States took a different approach. It took no position on whether Tenenbaum had met the standard for remittitur (or a new trial). Rather, the United States stated that the canon of constitutional avoidance required the district court to first consider the question of common law remittitur, regardless of whether the award merited remittitur or not. If the court did address the constitutional question, the United States argued that the standard set forth in Williams was appropriate and that the court should reject the Gore guideposts for assessing punitive damages because punitive damages are a distinct remedy from statutory damages. The United States also took the position that an award within the Copyright Act's statutory damage range comported with due process. At the hearing on Tenenbaum's motion, the court asked counsel for plaintiffs to hypothesize as to what his clients' position would be if the court were to order a reduction or remittitur of the award. Understandably, plaintiffs' counsel did not take a firm position; he said his clients would have to consider the amount and other factors but thought it unlikely such a remittitur would be acceptable. If there were a remittitur, then, he said, the court could not reach the due process question of an excessive award because to do so would deprive plaintiffs of their Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. Plaintiffs also argued that on the evidence, there was no basis for remittitur. At that hearing, the United States repeated its position that the court was required to decide the remittitur question first in order to avoid any constitutional issues and that if plaintiffs rejected remittitur, the remedy was a new trial; the court could not go on to decide a constitutional due process issue as to the award. If the court did decide a constitutional due process issue as to the excessiveness of the award, the government argued, it was required to apply Williams, which had not been overruled. Rejecting the position of the United States, the court bypassed remittitur, reached a constitutional due process issue, and ruled the award excessive under Gore. It reduced the award from $675,000 to $67,500 and did not give plaintiffs the option of a new trial. The court stated its reason for bypassing the decision on common law remittitur. It treated plaintiffs' statements at the hearing as foreclosing any possibility of plaintiffs accepting remittitur, regardless of what amount the court might set for the award and despite plaintiffs' stated and careful reservations on the point. See Tenenbaum, 721 F.Supp.2d at 88. From this, the court reasoned that a new trial was inevitable; it then assumed that a jury would inevitably award a damages sum which would lead Tenenbaum to again raise a constitutional excessiveness challenge, and that the court which heard the new trial would then have to consider those and other objections again. [23] Id. From these assumptions, the court reasoned it might as well decide those issues then and there. [24] Id.