Judge rebukes Freeman lawyers in Crave copyright fees fight
A federal judge says she will not be “jerked around” by author Lynne Freeman and her lawyers in the dispute over Tracy Wolff’s bestselling Crave series.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, who presides over the case in the Southern District of New York, made the remark in an order reported on 25 September 2026 Publishers Marketplace. The language was blunt.
“I do not believe that Ms. Freeman’s counsel is acting in good faith and I will not stand for being jerked around—and I am indeed being jerked around—in this manner by any lawyer who practices before me,” McMahon wrote.
The judge said Freeman and her attorneys had tried to lengthen the proceedings. She pointed to their behaviour across months of filings about whether Freeman can pay the defence legal costs, meaning the lawyers’ bills run up by the other side during the case.
The case, listed as Freeman v. Deebs-Elkenaney et al, No. 1:2022cv02435, was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. It began when Freeman sued Wolff Publishers Marketplace. Freeman claimed Wolff had copied her work. Wolff denied the claim.
On 16 March 2026, the court found that Wolff did not plagiarise the Crave series Publishers Marketplace. That ruling settled the copyright question at trial level. It did not end the case.
The fight then shifted to money. Under federal copyright law, a winning side can ask the court to order the losing side to pay its attorneys’ fees and costs. The court entered a Decision and Order granting that request to the defendants. A docket entry on 17 June 2026 recorded the order on the motion for fees and costs under the federal procedural rules and Section 505 of the U.S. copyright statute.
In July, McMahon ruled that Freeman must pay all attorney fees for Entangled, one of the defence parties. The defendants were awarded about US$3.4 million in legal fees in total. Freeman was also ordered to post a US$150,000 bond, money set aside to cover the defendants’ costs while her appeal moves forward Publishers Marketplace. An appeal is a request for a higher court to review the lower court’s ruling.
What makes this stand out is the tone. Judges often manage fee disputes with short procedural orders. McMahon addressed the delay directly.
For readers following the books, the position is now split. The plagiarism claim has been rejected. The appeal and the argument over payment continue.
