Service to "fight back" against Higbee

[prgenovese]

I've searched PACER and can't find any example of Higbee taking a case all the way to "judgment".  Does anyone know if he ever gets money at trial/summary judgment whatever?

[Matthew Chan]

That is the point I make to people.  Even with a lawsuit situation, most of these things never get very far and rarely make it to a final ruling by a judge.  Most just go away because the parties settle out. It is generally more efficient for everyone to do so.

I've searched PACER and can't find any example of Higbee taking a case all the way to "judgment".  Does anyone know if he ever gets money at trial/summary judgment whatever?

[A Lawyer]

I've searched PACER and can't find any example of Higbee taking a case all the way to "judgment".  Does anyone know if he ever gets money at trial/summary judgment whatever?

I was interested in this, so I did a little bit of research. There are lots of cases to wade through, so I am sure I missed some. For the most part, it seemed like most of the Higbee cases were eventually dismissed. I am assuming the majority of those dismissals were the results of settlement.

I also saw a fair amount of default judgments. One case that I found did stand out to me though:

Michael Grecco Productions Inc. v. Wrapmarket, LLC
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/21709013/Michael_Grecco_Productions,_Inc_v_Wrapmarket,_LLC

It looks like it went to a $60,000 default judgment and the defendant tried to challenge the judgment but was denied.  Higbee then tried to do a judgment debtors exam, which is basically a post judgment deposition, but he ended up withdrawing it. Two weeks after that, a satisfaction of judgment was filed which means that the defendant ponied up and paid off the judgment.

All that information is based off of the documents that appeared on the docket. Pacer charges you per page to download documents and I'm too cheap to pay, so I don't know the specific details. I would be interested to know why the Court denied the defendant's motion. Seems like that information could be helpful for anyone facing a default.

To answer your question, I didn't see any non default judgments, but my guess is there is little incentive for most people to take these cases very far with the risk of being on the losing end and still having to pay.

[Ethan Seven]

$60,000!  That is a big number in a default judgment.  I wonder how many images were used?

[Matthew Chan]

I agree that most of the dismissals are likely settlements.

And regarding the Michael Grecco lawsuits, a cursory look at them involves larger parties, which most of the folks here on ELI don't fit into. And most people we encounter don't deal with celebrity type photos.

I suspect that the default judgment was not overturned because the defendant was not a small party and perhaps was sizable enough to "know better" to respond to the lawsuit.

Clearly, Wrapmarket is big enough or they would not paid or settled the judgment.  We should not assume that Wrapmarket paid the entire $60K judgment. Even losing parties have some leverage because they hold the money and just because there is a judgment doesn't mean someone has to pay off the judgment quickly or easily.

It is entirely possible after the judgment was rendered, the two sides got together to settle the matter at a lower amount instead of both sides fighting on. Again, I have not seen the documents myself but a judgment doesn't always translate to a full paid off settlement.

I was interested in this, so I did a little bit of research. There are lots of cases to wade through, so I am sure I missed some. For the most part, it seemed like most of the Higbee cases were eventually dismissed. I am assuming the majority of those dismissals were the results of settlement.

I also saw a fair amount of default judgments. One case that I found did stand out to me though:

Michael Grecco Productions Inc. v. Wrapmarket, LLC
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/21709013/Michael_Grecco_Productions,_Inc_v_Wrapmarket,_LLC

It looks like it went to a $60,000 default judgment and the defendant tried to challenge the judgment but was denied.  Higbee then tried to do a judgment debtors exam, which is basically a post judgment deposition, but he ended up withdrawing it. Two weeks after that, a satisfaction of judgment was filed which means that the defendant ponied up and paid off the judgment.