Exonerated P2P defendant Tanya Andersen should be awarded $107,834 in court costs and attorney fees, a federal magistrate judge ruled yesterday. It's the largest attorneys' fees award to date against the RIAA, but a far cry from both the $298,995 sought by her attorney and the RIAA's reckoning of just under $30,000. Of course, all the RIAA needs is for 27 college kids to settle at $4,000 a pop and it's got the award covered.

The RIAA dropped its case against Andersen in June 2007 after over two years of litigation. Not long after, the judge ruled that, as the prevailing party, Andersen was entitled to attorneys' fees. Just how high that award should be quickly became a point of contention. Andersen's attorney Lory Lybeck argued that he was entitled to a multiplier of double the fee amount because of his "high-risk, successful" defense.

The RIAA argued that the nearly $300,000 sought by Andersen was "excessive" in numerous respects. The case was merely a "straightforward copyright infringement claim," argued the labels in a brief filed in March.

Fairly early on in the case, Andersen filed the counterclaims that ultimately became the basis for her malicious prosecution. Lybeck's work related to the counterclaims is not eligible for reimbursement, ruled Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta. "After carefully reviewing the record here, the court concludes that Andersen's counterclaims involved the same conduct and were sufficiently related to her defense of the copyright infringement case," wrote Acosta. He also ruled that some of Lybeck's billing entries covering 28.2 hours of work on the case were vague and "too generalized" to be allowed.

The judge also cut Lybeck's hourly rate, but not as steeply as the RIAA would have liked. Instead of the $375 Lybeck sought, he got $325. The RIAA also lost on the issues of multiple attorneys and compensation for travel. The labels argued that there was no need for Andersen to have more than one attorney present at most hearings and depositions—despite having as many as six attorneys of their own in court on occasion.

Both Andersen and the RIAA have until May 27 to file any objections to the award. Given the back-and-forth in Capitol v. Foster, where exonerated defendant Debbie Foster was awarded over $68,000 in attorneys' fees, it's likely that there will be a few more rounds of filings before the RIAA cuts a check for Andersen's legal defense. Once the RIAA cuts a six-digit check, the book will be closed on Atlantic v. Andersen, but her malicious prosecution lawsuit against the RIAA and record labels will move ahead.

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