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Attorney Fees

Lawyer who filed 'multiplicity of suits' over use of his skyline photo is ordered to pay $22K

An Indiana lawyer who filed copyright infringement suits against hundreds of people for using his photos of the Indianapolis skyline has been ordered to pay $22,000 in attorney fees for suing a wrong defendant.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of Indianapolis ordered lawyer Richard Bell of McCordsville to pay the fees last week, the Indiana Lawyer reports.

Pratt issued the order (PDF) after the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reduced the original award of nearly $34,000 in attorney fees, saying fees should have been calculated at a rate of $250 an hour rather than $410 an hour.

Bell is a practicing lawyer and professional photographer.

Pratt had awarded attorney fees in a June 2015 opinion (PDF) that said Bell never had any evidence to support his copyright claim against Charles Lantz.

“When looking to Mr. Bell’s motivation for filing this action, the court finds that Mr. Bell’s motivation is questionable,” Pratt wrote in June 2015. “Mr. Bell has filed a multiplicity of suits in this court, each involving the same or similar infringement allegations. In many of these copyright infringement suits, Mr. Bell has improperly joined several defendants, thereby saving him extensive filing fees.

“In this case alone, Mr. Bell sued 47 defendants and then quickly offered settlements to defendants who were unwilling to pay for a legal defense. … The court is persuaded by Mr. Lantz’s argument that the motivation of Mr. Bell in filing this action appears to be an attempt to extract quick, small settlements from many defendants instead of using the judicial process to protect his copyright against legitimate infringing actors.”