LOS ANGELES — A beauty product manufacturer has been granted, in part, a motion for default judgment in a breach of contract lawsuit.
On Feb. 15, U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted Sutra Beauty motion for entry of default judgment against Carlos Santino Sanchez Duran. Sutra, a manufacturer and distributor of beauty products, sued Duran after the latter began selling its products online, a breach of the licensing agreement the pair had entered into.
The court also denied Sutra's request for liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees.
Judge Wright wrote that "the liquidated damages provision is disproportionate and bears no reasonable relationship to anticipated damages," denying the plaintiff's request for $100,000 in liquidated damages.
Sutra sued Duran in May 2018 for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, statutory and common law unfair competition and business practices, negligent interference with an economic relation, and fraudulent misrepresentation.
In January 2018, the two companies entered into a licensing agreement to allow Duran to sell the products at his place of business. Under the agreement, Duran was prohibited from selling products online. The agreement also included a liquidation damages clause awarding Sutra $100,000 in the event of a breach of contract. According to court filings, in April 2018, Sutra discovered that Duran was allegedly selling its products online, through Amazon.com, Squareup.com, and Facebook.com.