Opinion ID: 772926
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Reduction of Damage Award

Text: 11 Raishevich objects to the District Court's reduction of his compensatory damage award, arguing that the District Court did not include a duplicative consideration of the Bigelow principle, see supra note 2, in its initial judgment. Following a bench trial, we will not upset a district court's factual findings unless we are left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Travellers Int'l, A.G. v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 41 F.3d 1570, 1574 (2d Cir. 1994) (internal quotation marks omitted). However, we review de novo a district court's conclusions of law. See id. at 1575. 12 Although Raishevich bore the burden of persuasion with regard to his entitlement to compensatory relief, he had no obligation to offer a mathematically precise formula as to the amount of damages. Electro-Miniatures Corp. v. Wendon Co., 771 F.2d 23, 27 (2d Cir. 1985). If the plaintiff's inability to prove an exact amount of damages arises from actions of the defendant, a factfinder has some latitude to 'make a just and reasonable estimate of damages based on relevant data.' Id. (quoting Bigelow v. RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. 327 U.S. 251, 264 (1946)). The factfinder, however, may not base its award on speculation or guesswork. See Sir Speedy, Inc. v. L & P Graphics, Inc., 957 F.2d 1033, 1038 (2d Cir. 1992). When damages are at some unascertainable amount below an upper limit and when the uncertainty arises from the defendant's wrong, the upper limit will be taken as the proper amount. Gratz v. Claughton, 187 F.2d 46, 51-52 (2d Cir. 1951). The Bigelow principle thus applies to situations in which the amount of damages, although not specifically ascertainable because of misconduct by the defendant, falls within a certain range. It provides the plaintiff with the benefit of a more liberalized standard of proof and prevents the defendant from profit[ing] by his wrongdoing at the expense of his victim. Bigelow, 327 U.S. at 264. 13 In this case, the District Court reduced its initial damage award because it concluded that it had applied the Bigelow principle twice. Although Raishevich takes issue with this conclusion, we find that the District Court did not err in reducing the award to correct its previous double counting. While the District Court did not discuss the Bigelow principle in its initial opinion, it is clear that it applied Bigelow's principles in determining Raishevich's peak publication rate of two prints per year. Raishevich provided little to no evidence indicating the uniqueness of his work, his exploitation of the market demand for cannabis photography, or the market value of one of his transparencies. 3 Raishevich I, 9 F. Supp. 2d at 418-21. Moreover, the District Court found that, during a ten-year period, Raishevich published no more than ten prints. See id. at 421. For some of these publications, Raishevich received no compensation or the compensation he allegedly received was deemed questionable by the District Court. See id. at 418-19, 421. The District Court also noted that in the two-year period immediately preceding the seizure, Raishevich failed to publish at all. See id. at 421. Thus, it is clear from the initial opinion that the District Court's selection of a rate of two uses per year was a choice to use the upper limit and therefore to apply the Bigelow principle. That principle thus directly contributed to the $12,000 damage calculation. The District Court applied Bigelow again in doubling the resulting $12,000 figure to $24,000. 14 Raishevich points to no precedent requiring a District Court to factor the Bigelow principle in each point of its analysis; to do so would be to multiply the Bigelow factor exponentially. Our precedent suggests the opposite: Bigelow provides only that the factfinder is given some latitude in making a reasonable assessment of the damages, but it does not authorize the assessment of an additional penalty beyond permitting the plaintiff a more liberalized standard of proof. Although the Bigelow principle should be applied, it should not be applied twice. Here, recognizing that Raishevich's evidence was weak, the District Court gave him the benefit of the doubt, but initially did so twice. Therefore, the District Court correctly reduced its damage award in Raishevich II because it had previously applied Bigelow twice.