Jammie Thomas Moves To Strike RIAA $1.92M Verdict

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Jammie Thomas-Rasset has made a motion for a new trial, seeking to vacate the $1.92 million judgment entered against her for infringement of 24 MP3 files, in Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset. Her attorneys' brief (PDF) argues, among other things, that the 'monstrous' sized verdict violates the Due Process Clause, consistent with 100 years of SCOTUS jurisprudence, since it is grossly disproportionate to any actual damages sustained. It further argues that, since the RIAA elected to offer no evidence of actual damages, either as an alternative to statutory damages, or to buttress the fairness of a statutory damages award, the verdict, if it is to be reduced, must be reduced to zero."

Re:Some people should realize that...

[fractoid]

"A force that tends to oppose or retard motion."

I think that very well describes the motion in question; it opposes a retarded motion. ;)

Turned Around

[PaSTE]

I would like to see this turned around: because the RIAA's case did not offer any information about the damages done by download these 24 songs in the trial, the court should enforce that the RIAA sell all its tracks at the value assigned to each song by the jury (~$81,000). The court might even take pity of the poor industry and lower that to $40,000 if it assumes some reasonable amount of the fine (50%) was awarded for statutory damages. That way, if the RIAA accepts the ruling, they would immediately go out of business as every CD they sell would be marked up to $500,000. Why isn't there a Draconian party running for government anywhere?

Re:Can't pay the fine?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't do the rhyme
If you're retarded

Re:Can't pay the fine?

[narfspoon]

Three dead travelers worth less than one song apparently.

Jammie Thomas' Playlist:

• "Welcome to the Jungle"; "November Rain" By Guns ’N Roses
• "Let’s What Awhile" By Janet Jackson
• "Iris" By Goo Goo Dolls
• "Save the Best for Last" By Vanessa Williams
• "Cryin" By Aerosmith
• "Here We Are"; "Coming Out of the Heart"; "Rhythm is Gonna Get You" By Gloria Estefan
• "Basket Case" by Green Day
• "Faithfully"; "Don’t Stop Believing" By Journey
• "Bills, Bills, Bills" By Destiny’s Child
• "Possession"; "Building a Mystery" By Sara McLachlan
• "Now and Forever" By Richard Marx
• "One Step Closer" By Linkin Park
• "Run Baby Run" By Sheryl Crow
• "Pour Some Sugar on Me" By Def Leppard
• "Bathwater"; "Hella Good"; "Different People" By No Doubt
• "One Honest Heart" By Reba McEntire
• "Somebody" By Bryan Adams

You have to realize that figure was averaged per song. Three dead travelers don't even come close to the value of "Welcome to the Jungle". They might be worth a Goo Goo Dolls song however.

Below Zero

[Nom du Keyboard]

I think the verdict should be reduced to below zero - entitling Jamie Thomas to a refund from those bastards.

Re:Statutory Damages

[cliffski]

No I wouldn't, if I was clearly and obviously guilty. I've been given a speeding fine before. I was speeding. There were a ton of mitigating factors, but at the end of the day, I was speeding, so I paid the fine. I could have wasted a year of my life arguing in court, but I have a life to get on with, and I knew I'd broken the law.
Somehow jammie believes her own hype and somehow convinced herself she is innocent.

Re:Statutory Damages

[Fallus Shempus]

You got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them.

That'll be $750 thanks for infringing on poor o'l Kenny Rogers

Pedant looks up who actual wrote the song in 3... 2...

Re:Can't pay the fine?

[rossz]

They're lucky Air France didn't treat them like the RIAA members treat the artists. In that case the families would have been charged extra for the special effects used to promote the flight.

Re:Can't pay the fine?

[Opportunist]

So when God fucks up it's less of a problem than when I do? Great, he's first of all much more powerful to avoid it than I am and he's also an effing lot richer.

I knew it all the time. If you have money and power, you won't get blamed for anything.

Re:Can't pay the fine?

[DamienNightbane]

This is one of the reasons that I think that people that get hit by drunk drivers should be held responsible for the accident. The driver is drunk, so he can't be held responsible for poor motor control and reaction times. The "victims" are most often completely sober and have no such excuse for getting into an accident.

Re:Statutory Damages

[cliffski]

Indeed. but her fine was $1,500 as I recall, and she refused to settle for it.
That was her mistake.

Re:Can't pay the fine?

[somersault]

# "Bills, Bills, Bills" By Destinyâ(TM)s Child
# "Possession" By Sara McLachlan
# "Run Baby Run" By Sheryl Crow
# "One Honest Heart" By Reba McEntire

Priceless :)

Re:Some people should realize that...

[Anonymous Coward]

You're completely right. The American People really need to understand what governmental checks and balances are really all about. The checks are what the government gets from China and the balances are those pages and pages of huge, red numbers.