A US federal judge has ordered Lynne Freeman to pay roughly US$3.4 million in legal fees to the defendants she sued for copyright infringement over Tracy Wolff's bestselling Crave series, after finding the claim "objectively unreasonable" and brought in bad faith. (Publishers Marketplace)

Judge Colleen McMahon of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued the fees ruling on July 29, 2026, according to reporting by Katy Hershberger for Publishers Marketplace. The defendants who will receive the reimbursement are Wolff, the author of the Crave books; her agent, Emily Sylvan Kim; and Entangled, the publisher behind the series. Freeman must also post a US$150,000 bond to cover the defendants' legal costs for her pending appeal.

The case began when Freeman alleged that Wolff's Crave series — a set of young adult vampire novels that includes Crave, Crush, Covet and Court, among others — infringed the copyright of Freeman's own unpublished novels. Freeman's allegations specifically targeted the fifth and sixth books in the series. The docket, filed as 1:22-cv-02435 (Freeman v. Deebs-Elkenaney), has been working through the federal courts since 2022. (CourtListener)

On or about March 18, 2026, Judge McMahon granted summary judgment in favour of the defendants — a ruling that resolves a case without a trial when the judge decides no genuine factual dispute remains. In reaching that decision, the court reviewed approximately 6,000 pages of material. (Law360; Vital Law)

The fees order goes further than simply deciding who won. Judge McMahon wrote that the case was brought in bad faith, a finding that opens the door to requiring the losing party to cover the winners' legal costs — something US courts do not automatically do in copyright cases. The defendants are required to produce receipts for their fee reimbursement, meaning the US$3.4 million figure could be adjusted based on documented expenses.

Freeman is appealing the summary judgment ruling, which is why the court set the US$150,000 bond: it ensures the defendants have funds to cover appeal-related legal costs if Freeman's appeal is ultimately unsuccessful.

For readers unfamiliar with the Crave series, the books follow a teenager who enrols at a remote Alaska boarding school populated by vampires and other supernatural beings. The series has been a commercial success for Entangled, an independent romance and young adult publisher. Wolff is represented by Emily Sylvan Kim, whose agency handled the Crave deal.

Copyright suits over popular book series are not uncommon in US publishing, but a bad-faith finding with a multi-million-dollar fee award is rare. Most infringement claims settle or are dismissed without a judicial assessment of the plaintiff's motives.