What was filed

Richard Muniz v. Mill Creek Residential Trust LLC, No. 4:26-cv-08861 (S.D. Tex., Houston Division), was filed October 8, 2026 (8 pages). The complaint describes Muniz as a photographer of commercial real estate and urban residential properties and Mill Creek as a Delaware limited liability company in the residential real estate business. Muniz demands a jury trial. (Compl. Summary of the Action; Defendant; Jury Demand.)

The works

The complaint lists twelve photographs, titled by image number, that it says Muniz registered on March 17, 2024, under Reg. No. VAu 1-530-030, and says they depict Modera Garden Oaks, a Houston property Mill Creek developed. The Copyright Office record for VAu 1-530-030 is a group registration of 36 unpublished photographs titled Modera Garden Oaks Images. (Compl. The Copyrighted Works at Issue; Infringement by Mill Creek.)

What the complaint alleges

It alleges Mill Creek signed Muniz's job proposal on February 13, 2024, that the proposal and his invoice said the images could not be assigned or transferred to third parties without the photographer's express agreement, and that Mill Creek selected 34 photographs for its own promotion of the property. It alleges that on or about December 8, 2025, Muniz found twelve of the works on the website of the broker that assisted Mill Creek with the sale of the property and learned that Mill Creek had distributed them to the broker. It also alleges he found the works on a website associated with two companies that, on information and belief, agreed with Mill Creek in late 2025 to buy the property, and that Mill Creek did not answer when asked in September 2026 whether it gave them the works. (Compl. Infringement by Mill Creek.)

Count and relief

Count I alleges that Mill Creek copied and distributed the works and made derivatives of them without authorization, in violation of 17 U.S.C. 501, and that it acted willfully. Muniz seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions, actual damages and profits or, at his election, statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. 504, fees and costs, and interest. (Compl. Count I; Prayer.)

On the docket

The court set an initial conference for January 6, 2027, by video before Magistrate Judge Richard W. Bennett. (ECF No. 5.)