Youngevity Int'l v. Smith
Youngevity Int'l v. Smith
Opinion of the Court
Presently before the Court are Plaintiffs' and Defendants' motions for summary judgment as to Plaintiffs' seventh cause of action for misappropriation of likeness. (ECF Nos. 308 ("Defs.' MSJ VII"), 324 ("Pls.' MSJ VII").) For the reasons discussed below, the Court denies both motions.
I. STANDARD
Summary judgment is appropriate under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure if the moving party demonstrates the absence of a genuine issue of material fact and entitlement to judgment as a matter of law. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett ,
On cross motions for summary judgment, a court "evaluate[s] each motion separately, giving the nonmoving party in each instance the benefit of all reasonable inferences." ACLU v. City of Las Vegas ,
*921evidence to shift the burden to the [nonmoving party] to raise genuine issues of fact as to each claim by substantial evidence.
The court must view all inferences drawn from the underlying facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp. ,
II. DISCUSSION
Plaintiffs bring a claim against Defendants Total Nutrition Team ("TNT") and Blake Graham for misappropriation of likeness in violation of California Civil Code section 3344. Plaintiffs seek both monetary damages and a permanent injunction prohibiting Defendants Graham and TNT from making any further commercial use of Dr. Joel Wallach's name and likeness. On December 1, 2016, Judge Lorenz granted Plaintiffs a preliminary injunction prohibiting Defendants from making further commercial use of Defendants' assets which include the number 1-800-WALLACH and websites www.myyoungevity.com and www.wallachonline.com, or a sale of the assets that is noncompliant with the guidance provided by the Court in its December 9, 2016 order. (ECF Nos. 58, 63.) The injunction, however, is narrower than Plaintiffs' claim as it also includes alleged uses of Dr. Wallach's likeness on yteamtools.com, signage outside the TNT office, and in a post-card that was distributed to consumers.
There is no dispute that Defendants had Plaintiffs' consent to use Dr. Wallach's and Youngevity's likeness throughout their business relationship. However, Plaintiffs revoked their consent on March 21, 2016 when Plaintiffs terminated their business relationship and demanded cessation of Defendants' use of Plaintiffs' likeness. (Pls.' MSJ VII, Ex. B, 72-74.) Defendants continued to use Dr. Wallach's likeness until the Court issued the preliminary injunction in December 2016. (Pls.' MSJ VII, Ex. D, 109:1-110:1.)
To succeed on a claim for misappropriation of likeness, a plaintiff must prove: "(1) the defendant's use of the plaintiff's identity; (2) the appropriation of plaintiff's name or likeness to defendant's advantage, commercially or otherwise; (3) lack of consent; and (4) resulting injury." Laws v. Sony Music Entm't, Inc. ,
A. Defendants' MSJ
Defendants move for summary judgment as to Plaintiffs' seventh cause of action arguing that Plaintiffs' claim fails as a matter of law.
1. Single Publication Rule
First, Defendants renew their argument that Plaintiffs' claim is barred by California's single publication rule as codified in Civil Code section 3425.3
Defendants first raised this argument before Judge Lorenz in their opposition to Plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. (ECF No. 51, 16.) Judge Lorenz found the argument unpersuasive because "Defendants' position would require a plaintiff to bring a claim before having a legal basis to do so." (ECF No. 58, 4.) The Court agrees with Judge Lorenz's conclusion, as the cause of action did not accrue until March 21, 2016 when Plaintiffs revoked their consent to Defendants' use of Dr. Wallach's likeness. See Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Ass'n v. City of La Habra ,
2. Misappropriation of the 1-800 Number
Second, Defendants argue that Plaintiffs cannot claim misappropriation of likeness arising from Defendants' use of the "1-800-925-5524" number because they have ceased referring to the number as "1-800-WALLACH," and only advertise the number by its digits. Defendants have not cited to any case holding that a plaintiff cannot premise his/her claim of misappropriation on the alleged use of a business telephone number. The Court's independent research has also not revealed such a case. Instead, Defendants rely on Los Defensores, Inc. v. Gomez ,
In Los Defensores , the respondent brought a claim against appellants under the common law for unfair competition for their use of telephone numbers that closely resembled respondent's toll-free number. Id. at 383,
The Court finds the case instructive. Though Plaintiffs' claim here is one for misappropriation of likeness, and not unfair competition, the aim is similar-"to prevent others from misappropriating the economic value generated ... through merchandising of the 'name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness of the [publicity holder].' " Timed Out, LLC v. Youabian, Inc. ,
3. Damages
Lastly, Defendants argue that Plaintiffs' claim fails as a matter of law because they cannot demonstrate any injury resulting from the alleged misappropriation of Dr. Wallach's name and likeness.
California Civil Code § 3344 provides that a party in violation of the statute "shall be liable to the injured party or parties in an amount equal to the greater of [$750] or the actual damages suffered by him or her as a result of the unauthorized use," and shall disgorge "any profits from the unauthorized use that are attributable to the use and are not taken into account in computing the actual damages."
At a minimum, Plaintiffs have demonstrated that Dr. Wallach suffered harm which § 3344(a)'s minimum statutory damages were intended to remedy. See Miller v. Collectors Universe, Inc. ,
Accordingly, Defendants' motion for summary judgment is denied.
B. Plaintiffs' MSJ
Plaintiffs also move for summary judgment on this claim seeking to permanently *924enjoin TNT from using Dr. Wallach's name or likeness in commerce and for damages resulting from the misappropriation. Plaintiffs argue that they have provided enough evidence as to each element that no reasonable juror would find for Defendants.
1. Use of Dr. Wallach's Name or Likeness
As to the first element, Plaintiffs argue that up until December 2016, Defendants were making commercial use of Dr. Wallach's name on wallachonline.com, yteamtools.com, myyoungevity.com, on signage outside the TNT office building, in a post-card, and through the phone number 1-800-WALLACH. (Pls.' MSJ VII, Ex. B, F, H, 351). However, there are genuine issues of fact that exist as to these alleged uses. As noted above, there is a dispute as to whether the 1-800-925-5224 number, without any reference to Dr. Wallach's name, has acquired "secondary meaning" so as to constitute a "use" of his name or likeness. Thus, at least as to the 1-800 number, the court cannot conclude as a matter of law that a jury would not find for Defendants.
2. Lack of Consent
With regard to whether Defendants lacked consent to use Dr. Wallach's likeness, as already discussed by the Court, Defendants' argument that the single publication rule bars this claim is unpersuasive. Defendants' flawed argument would permit them to perpetually use Dr. Wallach's name and likeness even though Plaintiffs have unequivocally revoked their consent. The undisputed facts show that as of March 21, 2016, Defendants lacked consent to use Dr. Wallach's name or likeness. (Pls.' MSJ VII, Ex. B, 72-74.) Nevertheless, there is a genuine issue of fact at least as to the post-cards. Particularly because it is unclear when Defendants published those postcards. Defendants argue that those postcards were created during a time when they had consent to use Dr. Wallach's likeness. (Def.s' MSJ VII, Ex. A, ¶ 41.) Plaintiffs argue that Defendants distributed the post-card in late March, but do not specify whether this was before or after they revoked their consent. Therefore, genuine issues of fact exist as to whether Defendants lacked consent to use Dr. Wallach's likeness on the post-cards.
3. Damages
As discussed above, Defendants challenge Plaintiffs' proof of commercial damages. Plaintiffs rely on Mr. Bergmark's report to argue that because Youngevity failed to meet its projected revenue during the time in which Defendants misappropriated Dr. Wallach's name or likeness, they have met their burden to prove commercial damages. However, at this stage, the Court must view the facts in the light most favorable to Defendants. Therefore, based on Mr. Bergmark's report, the Court cannot find that no reasonable juror would find for Defendants.
Therefore, given the numerous genuine issues of fact, the Court denies Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, as these issues should be left to a jury.
III. CONCLUSION
For the reasons discussed above, the Court denies both Defendants' motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 308) and Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 324).
IT IS SO ORDERED .
California Civil Code section 3425.3 states: "No person shall have more than one cause of action for damages for ... invasion of privacy ... founded upon any single publication or exhibition or utterance, such as one issue of a newspaper or book or magazine or any one presentation to an audience or any one broadcast over radio or television or any one exhibition of a motion picture. Recovery in any action shall include damages for any such tort suffered by the plaintiff in all jurisdictions."
Reference
- Full Case Name
- YOUNGEVITY INTERNATIONAL v. Todd SMITH
- Status
- Published