File sharer appeals $1.9 million verdict

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 8 Jul 2009 at 09:13

Jammie Thomas, the file sharer hit with a record $1.92 million fine for downloading 24 songs, has confirmed she will be appealing the verdict.

Thomas was last month found guilty of downloading 24 songs over Kazaa, and fined $80,000 for each song. Thomas describes the verdict as "excessive, shocking, and monstrous" and pledges to appeal it.

At the heart of the appeal is an argument by Thomas's lawyers that the verdict was intended to make an example of their client, rather than to mete out justice.

"The plaintiffs did not even attempt to offer evidence of their actual injuries, seeking, instead, an award of statutory damages entirely for the purposes of punishment and deterrence," the appeal filing states.

"An award of statutory damages of $1.92m for 24 songs assessed as punishment, not compensation, shocks the conscience and must be set aside," it continues.

The legal team is asking that either a new trial be convened to reassess the damages, or the fine be summarily lowered to the $18,000 minimum.

"Mrs Thomas was a single mother who, at worst, downloaded and shared some music on Kazaa, music for which she had already lawfully purchased the CDs, without any hint at all of a commercial motive," the filing argues.

"Her wrongdoing is a far cry from that which normally results in a $1.92 million verdict. Even if this Court rejects Mrs Thomas's constitutional arguments, it should exercise its discretion to reduce the award of statutory damages to the statutory minimum."