Prenda
An explosive mixture of emotions and reason — the future that copyright trolls will deal with
Today DirTrollDie wrote about the eight Arizona individually named cases brought by Prenda Law.
I don’t want to substitute for that informative post, I recommend reading it in its entirety. What I want is to give a bit more publicity to one particular document — an Answer and Counterclaim filed by one of the Prenda’s targets, a pro se defendant David Harris (those who follow this blog has a pleasure of meeting him, although his name was not public at that time).
Although it lists undeniably strong arguments, this document is harsh, bordering rude. But it is certainly written right from the heart, unlike trolls’ filings that come from an empty space located where normal people have a vital organ responsible for telling right from wrong.
Defendant begins:
In the instant case these parasitical mutants of society, the masters of exploitation and experts of deception, the epitome of greed has bolstered their arrogant delusions of being untouchable to the point that they have rendered themselves completely vulnerable to the very court system that they rely upon to execute leverage against their victims. Watch as the veil is pulled back exposing the bitterly ugly evil that is this Copyright Troll.
Arizona continues to amaze me: first it was Adam Sekora, who continues to confuse (and scare) extortionists by his unusually strong resolution to fight to the end and win. And now we have David with his Answer. Oh, I almost forgot about Arizona’s Attorney General calling trolls’ MO “extortion” on camera.
I hope that the judge will be lenient to layman’s ways of defending his dignity and will concentrate on the solid arguments in his pleadings, not only on emotions. On the other hand, Steele and his gang should not dismiss these emotions and be scary, very scary. Because when hundreds and thousands of their victims overcome their initial fear, their wrath may damage more than crooks’ insect-size karmas.
My hat tip to David: needless to say, while I wish him the best of luck and to prevail in this case, I’m not too much worried about him: this man obviously can stand for himself. So far, trolls managed to avoid disturbing this kind of people en masse, in part because too many fighters preferred to ignore the entire ordeal while being anonymous parties of mass shakedown cases. Things change when such people are confronted directly. Trolls’ “luck” with mass cases was accompanied by a fatal fatigue — a false belief that people are generally defenseless sheep and can be effortlessly fleeced. You can guess that I have no desire to de-illusion the crooks: let them find out the reality the hard way.
Updates
- On 11/05/2012 Harris asked the Court to allow to file documents electronically, but the request was denied without explanation. Harris insisted (persistence is the mother of all victories indeed), and the judge reconsidered his order, allowing Harris to file electronically.
- Case management conference is set for January 18, 2013. I hope AF Holdings will be actively investigated by FBI by then.
- On 11/21/2012 Plaintiff answered the counterclaims: nothing exciting.
- 11/28/2012. There are very-very interesting developments. DieTrollDie has the details: Hot In Arizona – Update To AF Holdings LLC., v. David Harris, 2:12-cv-02144.
- 12/5/2012. DieTrollDie: Motion For Security Bond In AF Holdings LLC., v. David Harris, 2:12-cv-02144 (AZ).
- 12/12/2012. DieTrollDie: Prenda Law Responds To Mr. Harris’ Motion For Security Bond – AF Holdings LLC., v. David Harris, 2:12-cv-02144 (AZ).
- 1/4/2013. DieTrollDie: AF Holdings LLC (Theft By Extortion) – 2:12-cv-02144 (AZ) Harris Update.
- 1/7/2013. DieTrollDie: AF Holdings LLC (Theft By Extortion) – 2:12-cv-02144 (AZ) Harris Update – Motion To Stay Discovery.
Fight © Trolls 
Good luck Mr. Harris!
Sorry, but this is a classic example of why you write something, let it sit a day, and then read it again. I share his emotions but they need to be kept in check for documents like this. This is something we expect from Steele, not a Doe trying to defend himself.
Yes I would have toned it down, but everyone is different. The judge may not care for the tone, but he cannot get away from the facts of the case. I expect the judge may talk to Mr. Harris, but it Will work out.
DTD 🙂
I don’t think so. I think he has every right to be pissed off and the “polite” speech of the law does not cut it one bit. It is time that a Judge actually understand what these claims do to the targets, and how angry they are when the system fails to prevent abuse of the process.
They have lied on the record multiple times in this filing alone.
They have attempted fraud on the court.
They don’t have a case and should never have filed one.
He didn’t come right out with a stream of obscenities, so I think he kept it together pretty well.
Is there a template available for other Does to file a defense? Can you ask for compensation for defending yourself as a counter claim? Or what would the limits be for lible and/or damages?
There are many troll defendants whose answers have been RECAPPED. If you point me to the particular plaintiff maybe I can point you to a template. For example here is a decent Malibu Media answer that could be easily modified. http://ia600807.us.archive.org/26/items/gov.uscourts.paed.461508/gov.uscourts.paed.461508.34.0.pdf
Since judges have a tendency to give pro se defendants a whole lot more latitutude than a licensed attorney, I doubt the raw emotion in the filing will be a problem for Harris. Many of his affirmative defenses are, at best, pretty shaky with a few exceptions. The judge just shot down his motion to file via CM/ECF w/o counsel, no explanation. Duffy filed a declaration in the case stating that he is “national counsel for AF Holdings” or some load of horse manure, gave me a good laugh.
There are very-very interesting developments. DieTrollDie has the details:
Moron has gone and gotten himself into a shitstorm with no overcoat. He’s already facing sanctions. Leave lawyering to the professionals, boy.
By now the boys at Prenda must have advanced degrees in shitstorm meteorology so I will respect your opinion. Funny how Goodhue is expending all these hours on this lawsuit and he will probably never see a nickel for his efforts.
i cannot tell if this comment is about how retarded goodhue/prenda are and thus is saying they are in a shitstorm and are unprofessional, or if fo shiz thinks that harris is in a shitstorm. both sides are facing possible sanctions depending on how the motions roll, and honestly prenda is in a bigger shitstorm than harris ever was, esp if you look at the cases nationally. and harris has logic on his side, not that american tort law has ever boasted being logical.
I understand the logic of your comment, and it has a merit to some extent. What I don’t understand is the negativity, I would even say hatred, attached to it. Why?
Doesn’t seem to be going all that well for him, most of the defenses he tried to raise that had been used with success were moot or non applicable since he isn’t an attorney (motion for bond, etc). Hopefully his luck turns around a bit, but I’ve long felt he was too heavy on being brash and emotional as compared to logical. Refusing to go to the meet and confer, even though the judge ordered him to, was a pretty bad error in judgement.
He really needs to make the judge aware of recent filings about Alan cooper, Gibbs future date with the pokey, etc and discredit AF Holdings.