Eva's Photography sues Nashville Media Partners, which runs Rated Red, over Alec Baldwin photographs

The complaint

Eva's Photography, Inc. v. Nashville Media Partners LLC d/b/a Rated Red, No. 3:26-cv-01780 (M.D. Tenn.), is an eight-page complaint filed November 6, 2026, with a jury demand. Judge Waverly David Crenshaw, Jr., is assigned. A telephone initial case management conference is set for March 16, 2027, before a magistrate judge. Eva's Photography is a New York corporation with a principal place of business in Queens County, New York. The complaint alleges, upon information and belief, that Nashville Media Partners LLC is a Tennessee limited liability company with a principal place of business in Nashville, in Davidson County, Tennessee. It says the company is a news and media company that owns and operates a Facebook account known as Rated Red and an Instagram account known as realratedred, and that it uses those accounts to publish news stories and to drive traffic to and advertise its website.

The photographs

The complaint concerns two photographs created by photographer Elder Ordonez: one of actor Alec Baldwin standing with his hands in his pockets, and one of Baldwin standing behind a tree and talking on a phone next to a white Range Rover that has crashed front-first into the tree trunk. It says Eva's Photography owns the rights and licenses the photographs, and that it acquired those rights by a written transfer agreement. It says both photographs were first published on October 13, 2025, and were registered on November 12, 2025 under Registration No. VA 2-480-851. The Copyright Office record for VA0002480851 is a group registration of published photographs for Eva's Photography, Inc., covering 750 photographs published from September 27, 2025 to November 5, 2025, with a registration date of November 12, 2025. It names Elder Ordonez as author and Eva's Photography, Inc. as claimant, by written agreement. The title list includes files named for Alec Baldwin and dated October 13, 2025.

The alleged use

The complaint alleges that on or about October 13, 2025, without permission, the defendant copied and displayed the photographs in an online post on the Facebook account and in an online post on the Instagram account. It says Eva's Photography first observed the uses on October 24, 2025. It alleges, upon information and belief, that the photographs were copied and displayed without a license, that the defendant willfully posted them, and that the uses increased traffic to the accounts and business revenues. It says Eva's Photography, through counsel, sent a letter on February 20, 2026 and a follow-up letter on March 23, 2026, and that the parties did not resolve the matter.

The claim and the prayer

The First Count pleads direct copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 501. The complaint asks the court to find that the defendant infringed Eva's Photography's copyright interest in the photographs by copying and displaying them without a license; to award actual damages and disgorgement of profits under 17 U.S.C. § 504(b) or, at the plaintiff's election, statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c) for each infringement, whichever is larger; to enjoin infringing use of any of the plaintiff's works under 17 U.S.C. § 502(a); to award costs of litigation and reasonable attorney's fees under 17 U.S.C. § 505; and to award pre-judgment interest and other just relief.