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Beastie Boys' three-year lawsuit against Monster Energy has finally come to an end. The band has received a second payout from the amped beverage company, who used several of their songs in a 2012 ad without permission, including Z-Trip remixes of "Sabotage," "So Watcha Want," and "Make Some Noise." They can now add $668,000 to the $1.7 million they were awarded last year. While that seems like a hefty sum, it's short of the band's motion filed in January that asked for an additional payment of $2.4 million for their legal costs. “It was the Beastie boys’ prerogative to commission or approve such staffing,” wrote U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, according to Billboard. “But the issue for this court is whether it is reasonable to shift the resulting fees to Monster, their adversary. And there is ample authority … for reducing a fee award where the legal hours recorded by plaintiffs’ counsel fell unusually heavily on partners with high hourly rates.” The judge also broke down his stance with a car analogy, calling the ruling a “Honda Civic” of an award, rather than the “Cadillac Escalade” reimbursement the group was seeking.
