The complaint
Scott Hargis, d/b/a Scott Hargis Photo v. Fairfax Publishing Company LLC and Does 1-10, No. 2:26-cv-09759 (C.D. Cal.), is a fourteen-page complaint filed September 1, 2026, ECF No. 1, with a jury demand.
The photographs
The original complaint alleges that Hargis, who lives in Oakland, took 40 photographs of five senior living communities in California, Texas, and New York. The complaint lists three registrations covering them: VA 2-174-022 (September 12, 2019), VA 2-140-916 (February 20, 2019), and VA 2-193-490 (January 27, 2020), with Hargis as author and claimant.
What it alleges
Fairfax is described as a Virginia company based in Sterling, Virginia that owns and operates seniorlivingguide.com, which the complaint alleges, on information and belief, is a lead generation website for senior housing. It alleges that Fairfax reproduced, modified, and displayed the photographs on that website without permission to market the five communities and to generate leads, referral fees, and advertising revenue, and that Fairfax cannot rely on the DMCA safe harbor because it had not properly designated an agent with the Copyright Office. The single claim pleads willful copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 501.
Hargis seeks a declaration that Fairfax willfully infringed his copyrights, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c) or, at his election, actual damages and profits under 17 U.S.C. § 504(b), an order under 17 U.S.C. § 503 for delivery of infringing copies, costs and attorneys' fees under 17 U.S.C. § 505, and pre- and post-judgment interest.
On the docket
Hargis filed amended complaints on September 22 and September 23, 2026, ECF Nos. 14 and 19, which are not available for free online. An executed waiver of service was filed on October 8, 2026.