Amazon Gets Attorney Fees for Sanctions in Annie Oakley Mark Row

Amazon.com Inc. will get about $54,000 in attorneys’ fees for work incurred relating to a motion for sanctions over discovery failures in Annie Oakley Enterprises Inc.'s trademark lawsuit, a federal judge in Indiana has ruled.

Essential oil company Annie Oakley Enterprises sued Amazon in 2019, alleging it was wrongfully selling products using the “Rise ‘N Shine” trademark specifically for perfumes, body oils, room fragrances, and essential oils for personal use. Amazon responded with a series of discovery requests, including one in which Amazon sought the plaintiff’s revenues for its products.

Annie Oakley failed to provide a satisfactory response to that request, and Magistrate Judge Mark Dinsmore of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana granted a motion to compel. When an adequate response still wasn’t filed, the court granted a motion for sanctions.

Amazon sought $102,848 in attorneys’ fees for work in connection with the motion for sanctions, litigating a fee objection, and filing and briefing an instant motion for fees.

Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson granted those requests, saying the argument that Amazon didn’t prevail on its motion for sanctions and therefore shouldn’t recover fees “borders on nonsense.” Amazon sought dismissal of the case as a sanction, but the court’s relief meant Amazon was successful, according to the judge.

Magnus-Stinson reduced the amount requested to a total of $54,444 in attorneys’ fees based on the degree of success obtained, and ordered the funds be paid directly from Annie Oakley’s counsel, Overhauser Law Offices LLC. The payment must be made within 180 days, according to the court’s Tuesday order.

Amazon is represented by Klarquist Sparkman LLP.

The case is Annie Oakley Enters. Inc. v. Amazon.com Inc., S.D. Ind., No. 1:19-cv-01732, 2/15/22.