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For anyone curious how it played out: Teller won in a default judgement for copyright infringement; Bakardy "did not participate in pretrial procedures and ref

For anyone curious how it played out: Teller won in a default judgement for copyright infringement; Bakardy "did not participate in pretrial procedures and refused to attend the trial in person". The judgement included $15k in damages, $30k for costs, and $500k in attorney's fees. Teller had asked for $989,568 in attorney's fees, so it sounds like the only real winner here was the lawyer. https://www.courthousenews.com/teller-gets-545000-in-magic-fight/ https://www.courthousenews.com/teller-gets-545000-in-magic-f...

ss108 4y ago
Jesus, $1m in attorneys fees for $15k in damages. But how did he rack up 1m when it was a default judgment...
- zdragnar 4y ago
  He had to be served the papers in person, but went completely off the grid. They spent so long trying to track him down (and re-visiting his listed address) that they finally got permission from the court to "serve" the notice by both email and notices in local newspapers running for a month straight. I'm assuming that Teller didn't do any of that himself and had his lawyers organize it all. This "default judgment" was many months in the making because the guy stayed hidden.
  - ss108 4y ago
    I'm kind of a novice/baby lawyer, so I don't want to oversell my experience or expertise, but that's a lot even if there was a service issue like that.
    - zdragnar 4y ago
      I have no idea of the actual amount of effort that they went through, but you have to remember that Penn and Teller have a massive show in Vegas, plus television shows, books, speaking engagements, appearances on other TV shows, music videos, movies, video games in the 90's, and more. So, they're engaged with a ton of different industries, not to mention as stage performers who interact with audience members, they're frequently exposed to the public in risky ways. They almost certainly have a large and very expensive team of lawyers. What a large team of expensive lawyers would reasonably charge to chase down a defendant across multiple nation's borders over several months, I wouldn't dare to guess.

ss108 4y ago

Jesus, $1m in attorneys fees for $15k in damages. But how did he rack up 1m when it was a default judgment...

zdragnar 4y ago
He had to be served the papers in person, but went completely off the grid. They spent so long trying to track him down (and re-visiting his listed address) that they finally got permission from the court to "serve" the notice by both email and notices in local newspapers running for a month straight. I'm assuming that Teller didn't do any of that himself and had his lawyers organize it all. This "default judgment" was many months in the making because the guy stayed hidden.
- ss108 4y ago
  I'm kind of a novice/baby lawyer, so I don't want to oversell my experience or expertise, but that's a lot even if there was a service issue like that.
  - zdragnar 4y ago
    I have no idea of the actual amount of effort that they went through, but you have to remember that Penn and Teller have a massive show in Vegas, plus television shows, books, speaking engagements, appearances on other TV shows, music videos, movies, video games in the 90's, and more. So, they're engaged with a ton of different industries, not to mention as stage performers who interact with audience members, they're frequently exposed to the public in risky ways. They almost certainly have a large and very expensive team of lawyers. What a large team of expensive lawyers would reasonably charge to chase down a defendant across multiple nation's borders over several months, I wouldn't dare to guess.