Prenda

Judge Otis Wright orders all Prenda’s main players to appear on March 11

We all knew that March 11 sanction hearing would make history (mind the countdown calendar on the left). After Judge Write ordered Gibbs to name Prenda’s decision makers, we hoped that the judge would order the senior members of the infamous copyright troll firm to appear in person and be questioned under oath. However, this outcome would be too good to be true. Today it has turned out both good and true. The judge’s order definitely made Prenda’s masterminds forget about people saying mean things about them on the Internet: this week the trolls acquired an unprecedented headache.

 

I expect to see some hasty filings tomorrow with all imaginable and non-imaginable excuses not to appear in Wright’s courtroom. You may remember that Paul Duffy claimed in November that he could not travel by air due to his health condition. I don’t want to imply it is not true, but it is worth mentioning that the doctor, who filed the sealed affidavit, is David J. Fletcher, Paul Duffy’s friend and co-defendant in a lawsuit that Duffy’s former employer Freeborn & Peters LLP filed against them alleging breach of contract, fraud, conspiracy, and breach of fiduciary duty. If Paul cannot travel by air, there are still trains that serve millions of passengers every year, and I heard that traveling by train through the Rockies is a fantastic experience.

One motion from Brett Gibbs — via his lawyers who “primarily defend lawyers in malpractice actions” — has already hit the docket: a request for these lawyers to appear “on behalf of their client.” I do not know if “on behalf” means “instead of” in this context: if it is so, I do not expect Wright to grant it (as a matter of fact, I misinterpreted this motion due to my legal ignorance — see the update below — the motion was granted on 3/6/2013).

Update: my layperson’s (apparently incorrect) assessment prompted an attorney’s comment. Ken wrote:

I think you are misreading Gibbs’ lawyers’ application. They are asking for leave to make a special appearance. That usually means an appearance for a limited purpose, as opposed to a general appearance, which makes you that person’s attorney of record for all purposes in the case. Lawyers seek to make a special appearance to limit their exposure — to avoid being stuck as counsel of record in the case. If you become counsel of record, you’d have to move to withdraw if you wanted to get out (for instance, if your client stopped paying you), and the judge might or might not let you out. Judges can accept, or not, a special appearance.

Anyway, it is less than a week until THE hearing, and if anyone wants to attend it, I advise to come earlier to avoid standing in a doorway.

In other news

Today, for more than 12 hours, visitors of Prenda’s site wefightpiracy.com were being redirected to The Pirate Bay. According to this site’s commenters, it was a javascript redirection, embedded into the site code: apparently, “hackers” did not elect to deface the site in order to deliver a message. Of course, there is no proof, but both a lame execution of the “hack” and the astonishingly long time to fix the site, suggest an inside job: we will learn soon if our community is blamed for this “takeover.”

Update

3/9/2013

There was nothing unexpected in the yesterday’s events: those who were summoned to attend the hearing, did everything possible to weasel out. Naturally, they waited for the last moment and filed their motion outside of ECF, and, as a result it is still not on Pacer. Bad thing is that I was busy yesterday and couldn’t break the news. Good thing is that there are many who follow this saga real-time and more eloquent than me, so continue reading about this expected douchebaggery:

3/11/2013

Yesterday Morgan Pietz lodged (filed) a copy of yesterday’s investigative piece in a Minnesota’s StarTribune (by Dan Browning). The reason is an alleged (and damning) evidence of another name misappropriation by Prenda, namely using the identity of Allan Mooney in Prenda’s filings without his knowledge, even supplying a “notarized” copy of his signature. I did not cover this particular alleged fraud explicitly, but those who read Morgan Pietz’s filings referred in recent posts, know what I’m talking about.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the putative John Doe in 2:12-cv-08333-DMG-PJW by and through counsel, hereby lodges with the Court a true and correct copy of a Minneapolis StarTribune Article published Sunday March 10, 2013, a copy of which is also attached hereto as Exhibit 1. As relevant here, the headline for this article would be that Allan Mooney of Minnesota is quoted denying knowing that his name is being used in connection with federal court filings made by Prenda Law, Inc. (including in the St. Clair County Guava, LLC action). Further, Mr. Mooney also denies knowing that he was listed as the organizer for MCGIP, LLC, a plaintiff Prenda Law, Inc. has represented in numerous copyright infringement actions. The yellow highlighting to the relevant section of the article dealing with Allan Mooney’s denial of his alleged role in Prenda lawsuits was applied by undersigned counsel.

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Discussion

65 responses to ‘Judge Otis Wright orders all Prenda’s main players to appear on March 11’

  1. Love the mention of trains for Duffy (shouldn’t his eye have healed by now?), and I hope Wright requires Gibbs presence, especially since the hearing is on his conduct. I hope Wright has no compunctions about issuing bench warrants for those who don’t show.

  2. As for the other news, I agree, this looks more like an inside job than a hacking attempt. As contemptible as Prenda has made itself by its own actions, I don’t think there is a skilled hacker who would do such a lame attack that relies on JavaScript, and I don’t think any IT expert worth their salary would let such a lame “hack” stand as long. This is most likely a play for sympathy made by the lamest of lame in-house programmer(s).

    • The above Anonymous comment @11:17pm is opinion based on belief and information. Anyone who’d want to sue me is an asshole glutton for counterclaims.

  3. The only way this could get better is if Judge Wright has the hearing audio recorded. Hopefully a few spies will be in attendance and can report back.

    Karma has been manhandling Prenda this week.

    • I assume recording the hearing would be illegal. Best to let it go to the court reporter do their thing, and those who are there can just report online afterward. Let’s do everything on the up and up. Our opponents sometimes don’t, and that’s their weakness and why there’s a hearing in the first place.

      • That wasn’t to say Raul was advocating anything *not* on the up and up…

      • Federal courts in California are part of the Ninth Circuit. In Ninth Circuit appellate proceedings, cameras and recording devices are permitted at the discretion of the presiding panel of judges. To get permission, you need to file an Application for Permission to Photograph, Record, or Broadcast from the Courtroom three days in advance, although the panel can waive the advance notice requirement. Recording devices and cameras generally are prohibited in federal district courts in California.

        Reference: http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/california-recording-law

        • Usually in CDCA the proceedings are officially audio recorded.

          Tip for courtroom observers: The bailiffs know who’s going to jail. If you see a bunch of blue-jacketed United States Marshals stand behind someone, this is to keep him from bolting when the judge delivers the bad news.

  4. It’s kind of funny that the @bittorrentbetty Twitter account is still featured on wefightpiracy dot com… It’s great evidence of possible spoilation along with the deletion of @BittorrentBull. Considering social media accounts were part of Paul Godfread’s interrogatories on behalf of Alan Cooper, this will make the defamation suits fun. They can start with motions for sanctions!

    • I meant wefightpiracy dot org. (Don’t go there without VPN, Tor, and/or proxy!) I would also like to note that in their “Sample cases” page, they do not have a disclaimer saying the parties listing have not been decided as guilty of wrongdoing. This seems to me to point to defamation of a number of people. I hope they sue the shit out of the Anti-Piracy Law Group for defamation, because they clearly have a case right now as I type this comment.

  5. I think you are misreading Gibbs’ lawyers’ application. They are asking for leave to make a special appearance. That usually means an appearance for a limited purpose, as opposed to a general appearance, which makes you that person’s attorney of record for all purposes in the case. Lawyers seek to make a special appearance to limit their exposure — to avoid being stuck as counsel of record in the case. If you become counsel of record, you’d have to move to withdraw if you wanted to get out (for instance, if your client stopped paying you), and the judge might or might not let you out. Judges can accept, or not, a special appearance.

    • @Ken what does that mean? The lawyers for Gibbs are only planning to attend with Gibbs? I don’t think there is anything against Gibbs *except* a limited purpose, specifically the OSC. You sound like you know what your talking about, so please explain it to us like we’re 5 years old.

      • Though Ken is a Lawyer and I am not (assuming it is the real blogger from Popehat) I would surmise based off of his response that it means a lawyer is asking to represent Gibbs at this March 11 proceeding as a one-off deal. This lawyer is not asking to be the council of record for Gibbs permanently or to be added to the case – i.e. Gibbs (likely?) has the right to an attorney being present to guide and speak for/through him on the march 11 hearing, this attorney has agreed to do so on Gibbs behalf (read: Gibbs is paying him to appear) as a one-time-only basis. This “special appearance” requires special/specific permission from the Judge to do so, so he has applied for it.

        Ken, of course, can likely give a more accurate statement, this is only conjecture.

        • Right. “Special appearance” does not mean “appearing without the guy who has been ordered to appear.” It means “appearing for this limited purpose only, and not making a general appearance that binds me to be counsel of record in this case.”

          An example: sometimes, when you can’t be in two places at once, you might ask a colleague to make a special appearance for you in another court on a non-substantive hearing — a status conference or request for continuance or something. The “special appearance” denotes that you are not the attorney of record and are only appearing for that one purpose.

          Lawyers usually do this to limit their exposure. For instance, I have been counsel of record in federal cases in which clients have stopped paying us, we have sought to withdraw as counsel of record, and the judge has refused — meaning we have had to continue to work without pay — because trial is too close. That sucks.

  6. What’s the resale value of John’s SL550? (Which he probably doesn’t really own)

    Numbers were overlooked in the earlier reporting on Pietz’ responses, because they always just look like lawyers asking for the moon, but Pietz requested a $450,000 sanction against Prenda ($10,000 per sham lawsuit filed in CACD) plus a roughly $25,000 sanction for Gibbs for attorney’s fees (pending Pietz coming up with an accounting should it become necessary).

    With the judge placing Prenda in a predicament far beyond anyone’s realistic hopes for how far this would go, I think we can speculate that Pietz’ request may have become the best-case scenario, and we’re going to see Wright give Pietz everything he wants plus some extra special surprises, especially if Prenda put on a nice show like their performance in front of Judge Scriven (consider, we already know how foolish they will look. Go back and reread the Scriven transcript to see Lutz and Steele try to outsmart a judge, then imagine how ridiculous they are going to look on Monday when they are anticipating their destruction, in panic and damage control modes, and falling all over themselves to incriminate one another).

    Monday may see Prenda bankrupt, and if sanctions come with confirmation of the thus-far allegedly fraudulent behavior of Prenda and their clients, expect piercing the corporate veil to follow as Prenda’s victim’s lawyers scramble for a piece of the action. Remember Prenda’s stint out of good standing with the State of Illinois? Anyone who was acting on their behalf is personally liable for any of these shenanigans that took place during that time as well. This could spell financial devastation for everyone on that list except Alan Cooper of Minnesota.

  8. I know it’s already been mentioned in the related posts, but I love that Judge Wright has ORDERED both the Alan Cooper of MN and the Alan Cooper of AFH to appear. I also love that he didn’t leave the summons of the Alan Cooper of MN to Gibbs but instead wants Pietz to deliver that one. I especially love that ORDERED is in all caps, every time, all FOUR of them. Makes me giggle.

    • So what is Troll Gibbs going to say when asked how and where he served the bogus “Alan Cooper”? The only truthful answer is to admit there’s no such person

  9. I am going to gues the list of excuses will be coming in fast and furious as to why various people the judge wants to see appear are not going to be able to come to court. You can bet they will stall like crazy to prevent this from happening, but I am sure strategy of what to say has been in the stages since Gibbs was ordered to court.

    I do wonder though what Gibbs is going to do, he has said he was of counsel to prenda…But if you recall in the florida case where Judge Scrivens put prenda/sunlust lawyer under oath Jonathan Torres, when Judge Scrivens asked him who hired him he indicated it was Gibbs that contacted him about being the local council for preda/sulust in florida. When the Judge brought up Duffys letter saying Prenda had nothing to do with the case, werent authorized to speak about the case nor make any representations for sunlust about the case, it was Duffy who indicated this. Duffy is supposedly the only officer at Prenda Law. So why would they let a lawyer who is “of counsel” meaning Mr Gibbs, be contact for a craig list ad, and then dicuss the fee arrangement, and be the point of contact for the contracted florida lawyer in the prenda/sunlust case.
    Also in that Case Lutz under oath when asked about Mr Gibbs stated he was affiliated with Prenda law, but didnt know his offical title.

    If You ask me that sounds way more than of counsel, wonder if Mr. Pietz will bring that up in court. Not to mention Mr.Lutz anwsers under oath about not being an officer in any way of sunlust pictures and that he was a paid 1099 independant contractor to appear in various cases across the country for different entities that involved prenda or their various creations. The fact that he made these admissions under Oath and when Judge Scrivens asked Mr Lutz what other companies he makes apperances for as a paid represenative Lutz anwsers Harddrive productions and Guava LLC.

    Lutz also claimed that he didnt know Duffy Personally, But knew Duffy was with Prenda. Lutz also knew Duffy/Prenda were involved in various cases around the country. Now all of a sudden Lutz is an officer of some of the entities involved in these lawsuits that recently changed hands…lol

    I seriously hope that Pietz brings up the florida case and what Judge Scrivens asked Steele, Lutz and Torrres anwsers about being contacted and dealing with Gibbs in regard to the Florida appeances in those cases, I am sure that would help paint a picture for Judge Wright of just How bad the smell is coming from anyone of the Gibbs, Steele, Duffy, Lutz, Hansmeier side of the equations… and I wont even bring up the entities and who they supposedly are doing work for…This case is like an Onion, the more you peel the layers the more it smells

    But this hearing should be epic, I wonder if Stelle is going to point to an empty chair that is beside him and say that Mr Cooper of AF Holdings is in court today. ( Maybe John still has invisable frineds from his childhood, even in his adult age!

    • If someone has a solid list of cases where those attorneys have appearances in right now, it might be a good idea to monitor any motions filed today. In ND IL, some judges hear motions on Mondays, and typically require them to be filed 3 business days before it would be heard. It seems to me that these trolls would be likely to try and file a motion in another case setting hearing for the 11th. That would give them a very valid excuse as to why they don’t show up, especially if they have not yet been served. If Judge Wright were to be made aware of such continued shenanigans, I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate to call one of his fellow judges and ask to have their hearing postponed in order to allow these folks to comply with his order.

      • Sure would be great if FBI is already wiretapping them as they discuss among themselves what new lies they’re going to tell Judge Wright.

  11. I just read the piece at Popehat which SJD has kindly provided a link to here, An excellent read for those of your that have been following this saga will want to have a look see for yourself.

    I wish this hearing was going to be live streamed, it’s going to be a hoot. I see a lot of the mainstream media and even some of the blogs (Torrentfreak ) have not touched on this saga at all…. ad I am bewildred as to why??? To be honest reportes usually love a good story like this, hell you really couldnt write a better script for a movie then this. (Dick Wolf, you need to make this whole saga into a 2 part episode of Law & Order)

    It seems strange that the main stream media sites ahvent gone near this story considering how entertaining it is (maybe because it has to do with porn films and offending their readers/viewers) You would think they would like this as it has elements that you dont even see with shady politicians. I have to wonder though what Steele, Duffy, Hansmeier(s) Duffy and Lutz are thinking right now, because they must have some fear of Judge Wright reffering this to the U.S Attorneys office and the state bar.

    If the U.S. Attorney starts to investigate the whole shabang hereb there could be some Manjor Fine and Jail time involved one would have to think, I wouldnt even be suprised if the actions taken in all of the lawsuits filed in various cases in various states and with the different entities and players involved would fall under RICO. In my opinion these seem awfully close to RICO statutes as it could be construed as an ongoing criminal consipracy( well sure looks like it to my eyes anyways…only my opinion of course) and maybe in a U.S attorney office investigation that may see this as well.

    If the U.S. Attorney was looking at all of these cases lawsuits and the players and entities involved, you would think that their could be a possibility they may convene a grand jury to look at the allegations, I would think if they did do this they would look towards Gibbs and Lutz first off and then go from their.

    I wonder if this happened if Gibbs and Lutz would cut a deal to save their skin, I dont seem them wanting to go down with the shipand right now Gibbs and Lutz are in a world of hurt. Lutz is now president of some of these entities, so he is going to be under a lot of questioning from Judge Wright I am going to guess. Gibbs is still going to have to explain his “of counsel” andwhy there sem to be more there than meets the eye where Prenda is concerned.

    I am suprised that someone hasnt sent a big package to the U.S. A toorneys office or the State Atorneys office reagarding this whole sorted affair and how it been played out at various stages across the U.S.

    If the state and U.S. attorney along with the FBI got complaints from Lawyers and the public about the ongoings, wouldnt they have an obligation to look into all of it and see if in their eyes this is on the up and up

    Maybe Raul or someone could shed some light on this and form an opinion ( yeah John opinion…lol..dont sue us! ) I have to think their are people sweating about Friday, but I am betting the majority of player will be MIA ffor various excuses, but I would have to think Judge Wright will order them to Appear on another date but not too far down the road, the man wants and is entitled to anwsers

  12. Just noticed it so have not had a chance to read and digest it but wanted to get it out ASAP. Morgan Pietz filed a Notice of Lodging the Deposition of Paul Hansmeier http://www.archive.org/download/gov.uscourts.cacd.543744/gov.uscourts.cacd.543744.69.0.pdf with Deposition http://www.archive.org/download/gov.uscourts.cacd.543744/gov.uscourts.cacd.543744.69.1.pdf and Exhibits to deposition http://www.archive.org/download/gov.uscourts.cacd.543744/gov.uscourts.cacd.543744.69.2.pdf

    • Good heavens! 290 pages! No wonder I never became a lawyer. I’ll be wading through this all night.

      • Luckily the good parts are highlighted but to fully appreciate the evasiveness practiced by Gibbs and Hansmeier you need to read it line by line IMO.

        • Agreed with Raul. 1/2 through and sneering the whole way. It reeks. You get this slime feeling that hansmeier thinks he is so damn smart and perfectly in control by playing the bafoon. Well worth reading, goes quick. Gibbs and hansmeier are real pieces of shit, no honest person answers questions like this, and I doubt hansmeier was as smart as he thinks to avoid perjury.

    • Fun times.
      1. Gibbs is a real pain here. I can’t wait for him to shout “Objection” to Judge Wright.
      2. Lutz is the sole employee of AF Holdings, but is paid nothing, either monetarily or non-monitary. Really? You have to be kidding me. Pietz sticks in a good one about AFH not even paying him minimum wages. Might be used for a labor law complaint.
      3. Beautiful how Ranallo has him trapped saying that AFH was owned by a trust, AND that Salt Marsh filed on 7/20/12 as the owner. Both can’t be true simultaneously.
      4. Classic: Q. And a trust is not an actual person; is that correct? MR. GIBBS: Objection. Calls for speculation. THE WITNESS: I don’t know what the definition of a natural person is under the law. Page 80.

      Page 130 and my head’s ready to explode. I’ll read the rest tomorrow.

  13. Hey John! How are the lawsuits against individuals going? You’re still going to get everybody, right?
    How come that in the “Breaking News” section of your lame website you don’t mention that you’re about to have your ass handed to you?! I’d say that’s Breaking Fucking News! Are you still busy trying to decide the color of your Mercedes S-Class? If I were you I would be concerned with only 2 colors: white and orange, striped! And, lastly but not the least, have you figured out the difference between “it’s” and “its”? Va fa’n cullo! pezzo di merda!

  14. There has been talk and concern that MN Alan Cooper might not have the cash to afford the trip, someone mentioned if there was a way to give anonymously they would chip in.
    Has anything of this nature happened yet?
    Might be worth checking with the lawyers and seeing if this is indeed the case and if there would be any problems with that happening.

    I know none of us are rich, but there are so many of us that would be willing to brown bag lunch for a week just to make sure Mr. Cooper gets to attend the festivities. Hell $5 from everyone they ever tried to shake down and we could put him up at a 5 star hotel with limo service.

    Are we allowed to make this happen, and can we do it in time?

  15. More objections from Gibb’s attorneys in document 73, but no certificates of service showing up in PACER yet.

  16. So are lawyers that he used in each state at risk? Raphael Whitford in Kentucky? I wonder if I can file suit against him for threatening me and being the local counsel? Any ideas?

  17. Who was looking for Cooper?

    Please hang in there with me

    Searching for alan on Google I found this site
    (Sorry about the content. If you offend easily don’t follow)
    http://forum.jerkoffzone.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=517858

    Notice the date and how many posts the Mr. Bateman posted. There must be a reason he (or she) registered just to ask that question.?

    that took me to this adult producer

    This is the first post i can see under the twitter account

    Alan Cooper Alan Cooper ‏@adultproducer

    @CARMENMCCARTHYI http://twitpic.com/jv4l8 – YOU LOOK PRETTY BUT BORING TWEET

    Reply
    Retweet
    Favorite
    More

    10:21 PM – Oct 1, 2009

    …………………………. this is the last

    Alan Cooper ‏@adultproducer

    Michelle Maylene reads…. http://twitpic.com/p2vg4 via @twitpic

    Reply
    Retweet
    Favorite
    More

    TwitPic
    12:30 AM – Jun 15, 2011

    Now back to “mr Bateman’s” letter. Note the date
    #517858 – 05/05/11 06:32 PM Alan Cooper-Cabaret Productions

    I have searched Triumph Productions, Alan Cooper-Cabaret Productions with a few hits>
    Who was looking for Cooper? Is it a Troll? is it a defendant? Is it hitman?

    Is this a real guy? Funny how the just vanishes less then a month after someone was looking for him. Don’t it? When was Allan Cooper first introduced into court docs?

    • Ran that down as best I could awhile back but did not find anything significant other than the name of a wannabe porn producer.

    • Unfortunately Judge Wright can only sanction Gibbs absent an OSC directed to one or more of the other players (they would have to receive notice and an opportunity to be heard). And Steele et al. may have a point as far as the court’s jurisdiction to compel their attendance as witnesses, or as far as adequate notice/payment of travel expenses.

      The way around this problem would be for Judge Wright to persuade the US Attorney’s office to indict, and arrest, the whole bunch. The ominous silence from Judge Scriven suggests this may already be in the works.

      If I were Wright I would hold Gibbs in civil contempt and order that he be incarcerated until he produces the notarized Alan Cooper document he says he has. Gibbs would either have to cough up the document, remain in the slammer indefinitely, or admit there’s no Alan Cooper.

  22. My favorite quote since following the Prenda news:

    “The evidence clearly shows that Steele, Hansmeier, and Duffy have directed Prenda Law litigation activities in California. A federal judge has ordered them to appear here and explain those activities. By responding with a jurisdictional argument now, they have utterly eviscerated their credibility and the credibility of their enterprise permanently in every court in the United States of America.”

    http://www.popehat.com/2013/03/08/prenda-law-attorneys-ask-judge-wright-to-lift-order-requiring-them-to-appear-monday/#comments

  25. What a well-researched story! And, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding (5 dings is a Bulletin) — the Star-Tribune found and interviewed Allan Mooney!! And Mooney denies any involvement with MGCIP, LLC and Guava LLC!!

  26. TO THE TROLLS AT PRENDA LAW, INC.

    I know it’s late, but I thought some of you might be having trouble sleeping tonight.

    If you’re reading this, I would like to remind any of you who are not too chicken to appear at the hearing in 11 hours to buckle up.

    Studies have shown that regularly buckling up can lead to as much as a 30% reduction in being dropkicked into the garbage.

    Right now, some of you need all the help you can get to avoid being dropkicked into the gargbage.

  28. With all of these people denying being involved I’m still thinking Duffy might just be a mannequin they are propping up. But then I have a harsh opinion of them.

      • OR, he doesn’t show up and says “Look, the family car had a flat and we didn’t have the tool to fix it. My wife even searched online for help! So, of course I couldn’t get to court.”

      • Interesting tweet. So her trunk was broken in to and the tire changing tool was stolen. I wonder if anything else is going to show up missing/stolen. Paperwork? Files?
        Geez, I’m suspicious about the most innocent things regarding this case now!

        • “Judge! Saltmarsh, Mony and the real Alan Cooper! We have them all! They tried to evade capture, but we have them in the trunk of my wifes car!” “Honey, someone broke into our trunk!” “Damn you, circumstances!”

        • And we’ll see more charges added to the lets sue the internet case for having broken into her trunk and making her tire flat.

      • With all of the talk from some of these people is anyone else shocked to learn she is driving a 14 yr old car?

    • I am of the opinion none of them will show up. I think the reason why an order from the judge rejecting their excuses for not appearing is that Judge Wright wants to admonish them for their delaying tactics on record. I believe he might delay this hearing for two weeks or so, giving Steele and company no chance to, once again, say they can’t appear. I think the countdown timer will need to be reset again.

  29. Damn good story!

    One thing I don’t understand though. Late Friday afternoon “The Boyz” filed an Ex Parte Application asking for the order requiring them to show up today to be withdrawn. Clearly Judge Wright doesn’t work weekends (unlike Pietz). What are the ramifications if he denies their application? It seems clear that they aren’t planning on showing up this afternoon. I’m interested in hearing some theories on how this is going to play out 3 hours from now…

    • As I said above: I think the judge will give them a verbal lashing on record for last minute delay tactics, move the case to sometime in April, say they must appear and that the time he is now giving them is more than enough for them to make certain they appear, otherwise they will face bench warrants.

      You mention the weekends, but most judges worth anything (and we all look at Wright highly in this community, currently, because he seems to want to untangle this mess) do call in routinely during the weekends to see if there are any updates on important cases coming up on the docket. As this case has gotten some press (online and in print newspapers), it’s almost certain he knew about their delay tactics and decided to wait until today so that he could expound on record that he won’t stand for such a delay again.

      He wants the major players there and they most certainly will not be anywhere near that court today, so I don’t see the circus beginning today. If anything, the trolls were maybe hoping that WordPress would have handed over the IP addresses, that the judge would delay the trial at least a month so they could have time crosschecking IP addresses with infringement suits, leaning on anyone who matched and getting money out of them by threatening two lawsuits, then leaving the country if and when bench warrants were issued after not appearing the next time.

      Of course, that’s all speculation by me. So, if they ever did get IP addresses: Come at me bro, for my opinion.

  30. What Prenda Law Is Facing In Los Angeles, And How They Got There

    Judge Wright concluded as follows:

    Based on the evidence presented at the March 11, 2013 hearing, the Court will consider whether sanctions are appropriate, and if so, determine the proper punishment. This may include a monetary fine, incarceration, or other sanctions sufficient to deter future misconduct. Failure by Mr. Gibbs to appear will result in the automatic imposition of sanctions along with the immediate issuance of a bench warrant for contempt.

    http://www.popehat.com/2013/03/06/what-prenda-law-is-facing-in-los-angeles/

  31. Morgan Pietz has lodged copies of sanctions orders against Texas attorney Evan Stone ($10,000 sanction for failing to notify ISPs of orders quashing subpoenas), and against Righthaven LLC.

    Click to access gov.uscourts.cacd.543744.80.1.pdf

    Not immediately clear why Pietz lodged these orders, unless he wants Judge Wright to order Gibbs to serve copies of Wright’s eventual order on all ISPs who received subpoenas, and also all settling ISP subscribers; and if this is true Wright should also order Gibbs to serve the copies certified mail return receipt and to file proofs of service including the return receipts.

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