GLENN MONROIG, et al., Plaintiffs v. RMM RECORDS & VIDEO CORP., et al., Defendants, 196 F.R.D. 214

Summary

In their motion for a new trial, defendants argued that the court committed reversible error in denying their motion for a mistrial and in permitting a plaintiff to perform a song to members of the jury and that the jury's verdict was grossly excessive. The court did not err in denying defendants' motion for a mistrial because the jury's comments regarding an excused juror's medical condition was completely unrelated to the merits of plaintiffs' copyright infringement action. Permitting a plaintiff to perform the alleged copyrighted song for the jury was not error because the actual singing of the song was relevant to whether the song was unfaithfully reproduced and defendants were not unfairly prejudiced. The jury's verdict was not grossly excessive because plaintiffs had met their burden of establishing defendants' gross receipts, defendants had not presented any specific evidence that supported deductions to the amount the jury awarded, and the court had no rational basis upon which...