The Hero hit maker was sued by country artist Andy Stone, who performs under the name Vince Vance, in 2023 after he alleged her festive classic was ripped off from his own 1988 Christmas song of the same name but his copyright infringement lawsuit was dismissed in March.
According to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone, Vince must pay Mariah $US92,300 in legal fees, part of a $US109,983 total sanction imposed by the court.
The court found Mariah and co-defendants Sony Music, Kobalt Publishing, and producer Walter Afanasieff had incurred "needless expenses responding to frivolous legal arguments and unsupported factual contentions", and ordered Stone to pay out the money, which included more than $US14,000 to Sony.
Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani had ruled that Stone and his co-writer Troy Powers lacked sufficient evidence of infringement.
She also criticised the "egregious" conduct of Stone and his lawyers, Gerard Fox and Douglas M Schmidt.
The dismissal of the $US20 million lawsuit said: "Although each incident of sanctionable conduct, in isolation, may not warrant more than a stern reprimand, it is the aggregate of misconduct reflected in plaintiffs' motion that makes this an egregious situation warranting more severe sanctions."
In the latest filing, the judge noted Stone's lawyers had made no mention of Powers in their documents, though Fox had noted he "no longer had contact" with him.
She said: "Until leave to withdraw is granted, Fox and Schmidt remain under a professional duty to represent Powers' interests to the best of their ability.
"It does not appear that plaintiffs' counsel have upheld their ethical obligation to Powers."
The lawyers have until January 5 to submit their argument to explained "why their failure to comply with the California Rules of Professional Conduct and the Local Rules regarding withdrawal should not be the subject of disciplinary action".
Failure to respond could result in additional sanctions.
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