Corbello v. DeVito

Filing 830

ORDER Denying 825 Plaintiff's Motion for Re-Taxation of Costs. Signed by Chief Judge Robert C. Jones on 04/25/2013. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - AC)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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DISTRICT OF NEVADA

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DONNA CORBELLO,
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Plaintiff,
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vs.
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THOMAS GAETANO DEVITO et al.,
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Defendants.
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2:08-cv-00867-RCJ-PAL
ORDER

This case arises out of alleged copyright infringement. Pending before the Court is a

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Motion for Re-Taxation of Costs (ECF No. 825). For the reasons given herein, the Court denies

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the motion.

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I.

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FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Plaintiff Donna Corbello is the widow and heir of Rex Woodard, who assisted Defendant

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Thomas Gaetano “Tommy” DeVito in writing his unpublished autobiography (the “Work”).

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Plaintiff alleges that DeVito and others wrongfully appropriated the Work to develop the

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screenplay for Jersey Boys, a hit musical based on the band The Four Seasons that has played in

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the United States, Canada, England, and Australia.

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In December 2007, Plaintiff sued DeVito in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern

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District of Texas on three causes of action: (1) declaratory judgment; (2) equitable accounting;

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and (3) breach of contract. That court transferred the case to this District in 2008 pursuant to 28

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U.S.C. § 1404(a), without deciding whether it had personal jurisdiction over DeVito, and it

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denied Plaintiff’s motion to reconsider. The Third Amended Complaint, filed in March 2011,

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lists fourteen Defendants and twenty causes of action. The Court has issued two summary

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judgment orders, and the facts of the case are recounted more closely therein. During the first

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round of summary judgment motions, the Court ruled that DeVito and Plaintiff were 50% joint

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owners of the Work, that DeVito had granted Defendants Frankie Valli and Robert “Bob”

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Gaudio a selectively exclusive license to exploit and further license the Work, i.e., a license that

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was exclusive as against DeVito but nonexclusive as against Plaintiff, and that Valli and Gaudio

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had in turn granted a nonexclusive sublicense to Defendant DSHT, Inc. The Court also ruled that

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only DeVito was potentially liable for a direct accounting to Plaintiff. During the second round

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of summary judgment motions, the Court granted summary judgment to all Defendants except

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DeVito, who remains potentially liable on the second through eleventh claims, and Michael

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David, who had moved against the sixteenth and seventeenth claims against him based only upon

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an alleged lack of personal jurisdiction. The Court later granted summary judgment to David and

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denied a motion for fees and costs under § 505 of the Copyright Act, as well as for fees under 28

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U.S.C. § 1927.

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Based upon this ruling, the Clerk taxed costs in the amount of $0. Defendants asked the

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Court to re-tax costs, which motion the Court granted. Plaintiff has now asked the Court to retax

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costs again.

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II.

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DISCUSSION
Plaintiff asks the Court to subtract $47,019.08 in costs related to the production of native

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files. The Court will not retax costs again. The Court previously considered and rejected

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Plaintiff’s arguments that costs should be taxed at $0 in response to Defendants’ previous motion

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to retax costs.

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CONCLUSION
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Motion for Re-Taxation of Costs (ECF No. 825) is
DENIED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

5 Dated this 9th day of of April, 2013.
Dated this 25th day April, 2013.
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_____________________________________
ROBERT C. JONES
United States District Judge

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