Statutory Damages Under California's Right of Publicity Statute Limited to One Award Per Cause of Action

Case: Miller v. Collectors Universe, Inc., Calif. 4th App. Dist. No. G036432 (8/30/07)

The One Sentence Summary: California's Right of Publicity Statute, Civil Code § 3344, allowed only one award of statutory damages of $750 when only a single cause of action arose from the issuance of multiple certificates of authenticity bearing plaintiff's name.


What They Were Fighting About: After plaintiff left his employment at Collectors Universe, Collectors Universe continued to issue certificates of authenticity for collectors items listing plaintiff as one of a panel of authenticators. A total of 14,060 of these certificates were issued over plaintiff's objection. Plaintiff sued under California Civil Code section 3344 for unauthorized use of his name and identity, and sought an award of statutory damages of $750 for each of the 14.060 certificates for a total of $10,545,000.

California Fourth Appellate District Holdings:

• The "single publication" rule which limits a plaintiff to a single tort cause of action for multiple copies of a harmful publication did not apply here because there was no mass communication to a large audience as required by the single publication rule. Rather, each of the certificates of issue were issued to individuals at different times and bore different serial numbers.
• The issuance of the 14,060 certificates allowed only a single award of statutory damages of $750 because the certificates created only one cause of action in that they were issued for a common purpose under a common plan.
• The case should be remanded for trial to allow plaintiff to attempt to prove actual damages and punitive damages which plaintiff had elected not to pursue in light of the trial court's incorrect interpretation of the statutory damages provision.