The complaint
Eva's Photography, Inc. v. JCK Ventures, LLC d/b/a Twist Social Club, No. 1:26-cv-02948 (N.D. Ohio), is a 13-page complaint filed November 9, 2026 in the Eastern Division, with a jury demand. District Judge Patricia A. Gaughan is assigned. Eva's Photography is a New York corporation based in Queens County that, according to the complaint, owns and licenses the work of photographer Elder Ordonez, a New York news and celebrity photographer. JCK Ventures is an Ohio company in Cleveland that, according to the complaint, operates Twist Social Club, a bar and nightclub in the Edgewater neighborhood.
The photographs
The complaint concerns seven photographs of celebrity guests at a white-attire summer party in the Hamptons on July 3, 2023, first published that day. It says Ordonez created the photographs and that Eva's Photography acquired the rights from him by a written transfer agreement. It says photographs 4 through 7 are covered by group registration VA 2-366-509, effective September 15, 2023, and photographs 1 through 3 by group registration VA 2-396-535, effective April 24, 2024. The Copyright Office records for both registrations name Elder Ordonez as author and Eva's Photography, Inc. as claimant, by written transfer.
What it alleges
The complaint alleges that on or about August 25, 2023 the club posted a reel on its Instagram account, @twistsocialclub, that displays each photograph in sequence, to promote its annual Labor Day White Party on September 2, 2023. It says the caption credited a third-party social media account rather than the plaintiff or the photographer. Eva's Photography says it first observed the reel on December 23, 2023, sent a cease and desist demand through counsel on or about July 25, 2025 and a follow-up on or about August 25, 2025, and that the reel was still displayed as of November 5, 2026.
The claims and relief
The First Cause of Action pleads direct copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. 501 and calls it willful. The Second Cause of Action pleads vicarious copyright infringement. The complaint asks for actual damages and profits under 17 U.S.C. 504(b), or statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. 504(c) for each work eligible under 17 U.S.C. 412, plus costs and fees under 17 U.S.C. 505, an injunction under 17 U.S.C. 502, and pre-judgment interest. It pleads that photographs 4 through 7 were registered within three months after their first publication, so that Eva's Photography may elect statutory damages and recover attorney's fees for each of those works under 17 U.S.C. 412(2), 504(c), and 505.