Back in November 2004 in one of RIAA's rounds of lawsuits, one of those targeted was Deborah Foster, where the RIAA claimed it had evidence that her IP address was involved in illegal file sharing. When she repetitively claimed she had no knowledge of this activity, the RIAA went decided to go after her daughter Amanda also and won a default judgment against her, since she failed to defend herself.
It was not until last July that the U.S. District Judge in Oklahoma City dismissed the RIAA's claims against Deborah. Once her case was dismissed, the EFF along with the American Association of Law Libraries, the ACLU and Public Citizen filed a brief with an Oklahoma district court urging the judge to award her attorney fees. The EFF claims the RIAA forces many innocent Americans through the expensive emotionally draining process to clear their names and that many falsely accused people often settle, as the RIAA carefully chooses its settlement fee to effectively bully people into settling, since it is substantially lower than the legal fees to fight the case.
In this case, the judge found her eligible for attorney fees and the RIAA called for further proceedings to determine the amount she was eligible for. She initially requested $105,680.75, but after a lengthy detailed analysis of her itemized expenses and other billing materials, she was found to be eligible for $68,685.23. Up until this, the RIAA has never been ordered to pay attorneys' fees despite the many 1,000's of lawsuits filed each year; many of whom are innocent people that gave up and just settled.
Further info can be read in this c|net story. Thanks to DamnedIfIknow for letting us know about this news, saying: FINALLY!!!
