A recent American Lawyer story, “An Expensive Victory for the Beastie Boys,” reports that the Beastie Boys had the right to hire a “Cadillac” legal team at Sheppard Mullin to push copyright claims against the makers of Monster energy drink.  But in the wake of their victory, Monster is only required to pay “Honda Civic”-level court-awarded attorney fees.

That's the conclusion that U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan reached in a ruling ordering Monster Energy Co. to pay attorney fees to the Beastie Boys.  The ruling follows a jury's finding that Monster used the group's songs in promotional videos without permission.  However, the judge declined to award the nearly 
$2.4 million that the Beastie Boys requested, granting instead about $668,000, a reduction of 72 percent.

The ruling marks a postscript to a lawsuit that started in 2012, when the Beastie Boys accused Monster of copyright infringement and false endorsement under the Lanham (Trademark) Act.  The contested Monster promotional videos used several Beastie Boys songs, including hits such as "Sabotage" and "So What'cha Want," according to the 2012 complaint.  Monster had conceded infringement before trial, so the trial that started in May 2014 focused on copyright damages and the Lanham Act claims.  The following June a jury sided with the Beastie Boys, awarding $1.7 million in damages.

The hip-hop group's legal team was led by Sheppard Mullin's Paul Garrity and Kevin Puvalowski.  In opposing the Beastie Boys' request for $2.4 million in legal fees, Monster's lawyers argued that Sheppard Mullin engaged in unnecessary work and staffed the case too heavily with partners.  Monster's legal team is led by Reid Kahn and Gerard Schiano-Strain of Kane Kessler.

The judge agreed that the Beastie Boys' request was too high, noting that Sheppard Mullin billed for several projects that didn't appear to have a major impact on the proceedings.  "The court's review of Sheppard Mullin's bills suggests that the Beastie Boys opted to pay for, and received, the Cadillac Escalade, not the Honda Civic," wrote Engelmayer.  "It was the Beastie Boys' prerogative to commission or approve such staffing.  But the issue for this court is whether it is reasonable to shift the resulting fees to Monster. … Here, plaintiffs' case could similarly have been pursued with leaner, less-partner-heavy staffing."