Appellate Court Remands Flo Rida’s Case Against Celsius for a Recalculation of Damages

Two years ago, we brought you news of an $82 million judgment in favor of Flo Rida (right) against Celsius Holdings, Inc. (Celsius) a fitness energy drink company. On appeal before Florida’s District Court of Appeal for the Fourth District in Celsius Holdings, Inc. v. Strong Arm Productions, USA, Inc., the Court noted that Celsius challenged the verdict on many grounds, only one of which had merit. The damages were calculated based on the value of Celsius stock at the time of trial. Damages should have been calculated based on the value at the time of breach.

The parties entered into an endorsement deal in 2014. They entered into a second deal in 2016, and the relationship ended in 2018. Under the agreement, Mr. Rida was entitled to up to 1 million shares of company stock, assuming certain sales benchmarks were met.  When Mr. Rida demanded payment in 2021, the company claimed that the benchmarks had not been met. After trial, a jury found otherwise. The breach occurred in April 2021, but the jury was permitted to determined damages based on the value of the stock as of January 2023. That was error.

I think Mr. Rida will still be okay. Celsius stock was worth 50 cents/share when he signed the endorsement deal in 2014. By the time of breach, it was selling at $57.30/share.The appropriate time for valuation is either April 2021 or, because the stock was restricted and could not be sold right away, November, 2021. The court remanded for the trial court to determine that issue.