Mariah Carey to receive $92,000 over dismissed 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' lawsuit, court records show

A federal judge in California on Tuesday ordered an attorney for two songwriters who said Mariah Carey’s "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is a rip-off of their country holiday hit to pay the Long Island native more than $92,000 in legal sanctions.

Songwriters Andy Stone and Troy Powers argued in a 2023 lawsuit that Carey and her co-writer, Walter Afanasieff, used more than 50% of their country song by the same name for Carey’s 1994 smash. The lawsuit, filed in the Central District of California, said the plaintiffs’ song was recorded in 1989 by Stone’s band, Vince Vance & the Valiants, and became a seasonal fixture on the Billboard charts. The complaint sought $20 million in damages.

In March, U.S. District Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani dismissed the lawsuit and ruled that attorney Gerard P. Fox, of Los Angeles, had filed an improper motion for summary judgment in an attempt to "cause unnecessary delay and needlessly increase the cost of litigation."

The judge ordered Fox on Tuesday to pay more than $92,000 to Carey for legal fees, according to court papers, and more than $17,000 to other defendants in the lawsuit for a total of $109,983.

Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Carey’s attorneys also did not return requests for comment.

Carey, a 1987 graduate of Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, became the Queen of Christmas with her "All I Want For Christmas Is You,’’ which has sold more than 16 million copies and became a Yuletide staple.

The song recorded by Stone and Powers appeared on the Billboard Hot Country Charts in January 1994 and returned to the chart several times during the 1990s, the complaint said, peaking at No. 31. Vince Vance & the Valiants performed it at the White House in 1994. It crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart in 2002, peaking at No. 23. Kelly Clarkson recorded the tune in 2021.