Over $600,000 In Attorneys' Fees Sought In LED ZEPPELIN Case
July 8, 2016, 7 years ago
According to the Courthouse News Service, Warner/Chappell Music asked for $613,000 in attorneys' fees Thursday, for defending Led Zeppelin against "Stairway to Heaven" plagiarism claims and accused the attorney who filed the case of "gross misconduct."
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant won a six-day trial on June 23rd, when a jury found they did not lift a guitar riff for "Stairway to Heaven" from a 1960s song called "Taurus," by Los Angeles-based band Spirit.
On Thursday, publisher Warner/Chappell Music asked the Federal Court for $613,471 in attorneys' fees, citing "extensive and ongoing litigation misconduct," taking direct aim at Francis Malofiy, who represented plaintiff Michael Skidmore (the trustee for the late Randy Craig Wolfe who wrote the Spirit song) in his case against Page and Plant.
Warner/Chappell claims, among other things, that Malofiy began by filing the complaint in the wrong court, in Pennsylvania, and that his misconduct continued throughout the trial in Los Angeles.
