Guava LLC, Arte de Oaxaca, LW Holdings and other Prenda’s bogus corporations
Guava LLC v. Skylar Case (Cook county IL)
Case No: 12-L-7363
Attorney for Plaintiff: Paul Duffy
Attorney for Defendant: Adam Urbanzcyk
Judge: Sanjay Taylor
Cook County court docket
Overview
By Raul
Allow me to preface this overview with a personal disclaimer: I do not like writing about anything of which the facts cannot be verified. So little is presently known about this lawsuit, that much of the following is pure speculation which may prove to be false.
Rotten Guava
The plaintiff in this lawsuit is a mystery; it seems as if the plaintiff’s attorney is being purposely vague in this regard. If you Google “Guava, LLC” you will discover a handful of USA corporations, none of which appear to be this plaintiff. Likewise a Google search reveals no password protected websites. Accordingly I am guessing that Guava, LLC is a an offshore corporation which is the assignee of the rights to certain pornographic works of Prenda Law’s current client base of pornographic content producers/distributors. Plaintiff’s attorney, Paul A. Duffy, is the “founding partner” of Prenda Law, Inc., f/k/a Steele Hansmeier, LLC. If you are not familiar with either law firm please search this blog and dietrolldie.com as well as the internet to get up to date, I promise it will be an eye opening experience.
Basically this is a computer hacking lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims Skyler Case and unnamed “co-conspirators” hacked into its systems and wrongfully obtained its “valuable information”. I am guessing that Prenda’s clients have pornographic pay sites which are password protected which were allegedly hacked into with compromised passwords. The complaint alleges four causes of action: violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), trespass to chattels, breach of contract and civil conspiracy. Rather than get into the lack of legal merit of these claims you should know that Prenda has previously filed lawsuits on behalf of Lightspeed Media Corp., which have been analyzed at length on this blog. In particular you should read SJD’s post regarding a motion to dismiss filed by Jason Booth, Esq., which exposes the weakness of similar claims in this lawsuit. Laura Long, Esq., has filed a similar motion after getting the state lawsuit removed to federal court (ILSD).
Prenda was able to get discovery of thousands upon thousands of the personal identifying information of the “co-conspirators” by reason of an Agreed Order, dated 7/30/2012 between Duffy and Skyler Case’s attorney, Adam Urbanczyk (signed on 7/11/2012 — less than two weeks after the complaint). We do not know what, if any, consideration the named defendant received in exchange for this agreement but Duffy received discovery and the foreclosure that this lawsuit will be removed to federal court by any of the “co-conspirators”. We think the number of alleged “co-conspirators” could well be in the five digit neighborhood judging by the list of ISPs attached to the Agreed Order.
Documents
- 06/29/2012 Complaint
- 07/10/2012 Motion for Authorizing Order
- 07/13/2012 Order
- 07/18/2012 Answer
- 07/30/2012 Agreed Order — agreement between defendant’s and plaintiff’s attorneys (Paul Duffy and Adam Urbanczyk) to allow impending blackmail of thousands of Does who did not have a chance (by design) to oppose. The list of ISPs is astounding and hints at 5-figure number of defendants.
- 08/21/2012 Motion to Quash
- 09/17/2012 Emergency Motion for Protective Order
- 09/17/2012 Motion to Dismiss
- 09/17/2012 Motion to Quash and for Protective Order
- 09/18/2012 Order
- 09/19/2012 Opposition to Motion to Quash and for Protective Order
- 09/22/2012 Motion to Quash
- 09/25/2012 Motion to Quash and for Protective Order
- 09/25/2012 Motion to Dismiss
- 09/25/2012 Orders
- 09/27/2012 Petition for Temporary Restraining Order
- 09/27/2012 Motion to Quash and for Protective Order
- 09/28/2012 Agreed Order
- 09/28/2012 Motion to Quash and for Protective Order
- 09/28/2012 Motion to Quash and for Protective Order
- 10/01/2012 Motion to Quash
- 10/03/2012 Motion for Temporary Restraining Order
- 10/03/2012 Defendant Discovery Requests
- 10/04/2012 Motion to Strike Improper Pleadings — John Steele at his best: a perfect tantrum.
- 10/04/2012 Order
- 10/08/2012 Motion to Quash
- 10/09/2012 Notice of Withdrawal
- 10/25/2012 Order
- 11/02/2012 Plaintiff Omnibus Response to Motions to Quash
- 11/05/2012 Notice of Withdrawal of IP Addresses
- 11/05/2012 Notice of 206(A)(1) Deposition
- 11/05/2012 Orders
- 12/12/2012 Case Management Order
- 1/16/2013 Order
- Miscellaneous:
- 08/04/2012 Neustar’s notification letter to an RCN customer — beside outrageously wrong advice to contact the troll, please note that Neustar claims it received the subpoena from Duffy on 07/10/2012, a day prior to the agreement between Plaintiff’s and Defendant’s attorneys, and two weeks prior to the judge’s approval. According to a lawyer I talked to, this is not technically illegal, although IMO this is still a valuable information. Also, these robots have been sitting on the information for 25 days and gave subscribers only 15 days to react.
- 09/18/2012 Demand letter.
Arte de Oaxaca v. Stacey Mullen (Cook county IL)
Case No: 12-L-9034
Attorney for Plaintiff: Paul Duffy
Attorney for Defendant: Adam Urbanzcyk
Judge: Lynn M. Egan
Dismissed: 03/13/2013
Documents
- 08/10/2012 Complaint
- 08/13/2012 Notice of Emergency Order
- 08/14/2012 Order
- 10/03/2012 Motion to Vacate
- 10/04/2012 Affidavit in Opposition to Motion to Vacate
- 10/04/2012 Order
- 11/02/2012 Motion to Quash
- 11/06/2012 Order
- 11/08/2012 Answer and Affirmative Defenses
- 11/09/2012 Il Rule 213, 214, And 216 Written Discovery Requests
- 12/12/2012 Order
- 01/29/2013 Order
- 01/31/2013 Emergency motion to quash (Wesley Johnson)
- 02/01/2013 Order to stay COX subpoena
- 02/01/2013 Motion to Quash (Jeffrey Antonelly) | Exhibit A-1 | Exhibit A-2 | Exhibit B-1
- 02/08/2013 Response to motions to quash (Duffy)
- 02/15/2013 Reply in support of MTQ (Jeffrey Antonelly) | Exhibits
- 02/19/2013 Order
- 02/19/2013 Reply in support of MTQ (Wesley Johnson)
- 03/13/2013 Order to dismiss
Guava LLC v. Spencer Merkel (Hennepin county MN)
Case No: 27-CV-12-20976
Attorney for Plaintiff: Michael Dugas
Attorney for Defendant: Trina Morrison
Judge: Tanya Bransford
Documents
- 10/17/2012 Complaint
- 01/22/2013 ISPs’ reply in support of motion to quash
- 01/24/2013 Spencer Merkel’s Affidavit
- 03/01/2013 Stipulation of dismissal with prejudice
Guava LLC (petitioner) v Comcast Cable Communications LLC (respondent) (St. Clair county IL)
Case No: 12-MR-417
Attorneys for Petitioner: Paul Duffy, Kevin Hoerner
Attorney for Respondent:
Judge: Andrew J. Gleeson
Documents
- 11/20/2012 Petition
- 12/12/2012 Order Granting Petition
- 01/24/2013 Motion to quash (17 Does) | Exhibits
- 3/1/2013 Appellate Order to stay subpoenas
- Miscellaneous:
- 1/30/2013 Demand letter (on “Guava” letterhead, signed by Brett Gibbs)
LW Systems v. Christopher Hubbard (St. Clair County IL)
Case No: 13-L-0015
Attorneys for Plaintiff: Paul Duffy, Kevin Hoerner
Attorney for Defendant: Adam Urbanzcyk
Judge: Andrew J. Gleeson
Documents
- 01/09/2013 Complaint (Duffy / Hoerner)
- 03/06/2013 Notice of appearance (Urbanczyk)
- 01/22/2013 Agreed discovery order (Duffy / Urbanczyk) — with subpoena issued from Cook county. In my opinion, this order alone is a sufficient ground to seriously discipline Adam Urbanczyk.
- 01/22/2013 Agreed discovery order (Duffy / Urbanczyk) — with a huge ISP list
- 03/06/2013 Motion to quash (Baghat/Beasley)
- 03/06/2013 Motion to quash (Johnson)
- 03/11/2013 Answer (Urbanczyk)
- 03/13/2013 Motion to quash (Beasley)
- 03/22/2013 Motion to quash (Backlidge)
- 03/25/2013 Motion to quash (Burke)
- 03/28/2013 Motion to quash (Beasley)
- 03/28/2013 Motion to quash (Beasley)
- 03/28/2013 Motion to quash (Beasley)
- 04/01/2013 Order
- 04/02/2013 Motion to quash (Phillips)
Other resources
- Morgan Pietz created a page dedicated to this case. He is accepting defendants, and based on his performance in California, to say that I recommend him is a huge understatement.
LW Systems v. Juan Leonard (Maricopa County AZ)
Attorneys who defend Does
- (IL) Adam E. Urbanczyk — attorney for the only named defendant, Skyler Case. I do not recommend using his services: Adam is almost certainly “in bed” with Prenda — scaring and pushing people to settle. Don’t let the fact that Adam U is listed on the EFF site deceive you: attorneys on the “Subpoena Defense” page are self-listed, and being on this list does not imply EFF’s endorsement.
- (IL) Erin Russell — IMO she is good. She keeps us informed about this case in the comments to this page. Don’t miss her comments.
- (IL — St. Clair county) Morgan E. Pietz, a California attorney, one of the best: no introduction necessary in case you read this blog regularly. If not, check the “Coopergate” post series.
- (IL) Jeffrey Antonelli: an attorney from Chicago.
- (MN) Paul Godfread.
- (MN) Mark Santi of Thompson Hall Santi Cerny & Dooley.
- (MN) Scott M. Flaherty of Briggs and Morgan.
Relevant posts
- 09/26/2012 “Guava” and “Arte de Oaxaca” scams hit Cook County court.
- 11/26/2012 Long overdue update on Guava v. Skyler Case (Prenda’s Cook County lawsuit).
- 12/17/2012 First powerful defense (Booth Sweet) in Prenda/Guava individual federal case.
- 01/23/2013 How do you call a lovemaking act without a partner?
- 01/23/2013 Prenda’s fraudulent activity continues unabated: new harassing calls, ransom letters etc.
- 01/25/2013 A “defendant” in a Guava sham lawsuit has admitted that he was blackmailed into participating in a fraud.
- 01/28/2013 Prenda explores a loophole in Pennsylvania’s law, plagiarizes a memo.
- 01/31/2013 LiveWire Holdings: Evolution of Prenda’s Fraud: Part I and Part II.
Announcements
These cases are farcical and can be fought and defeated. There is simply no way anyone can be found liable by any jury. Pure, perfect bluff.
Do not talk to trolls. Do not succumb to fears. Do not settle. This house of cards is going to collapse soon and I hope Prenda will be pursued criminally.
Looks like SJD is updating the main article as the rats scurry after the 3/11 showdown. So two things:
1) How did the Spencer Merkel case end without an investigation into the circumstances of Spencer Merkel’s affidavit? It’s unbelievable. Subpoenas were issued and as far as I know returned. Peoples’ privacy was violated for something that might have been fraudulent.
2) Why do lots of Illinois local court documents allow of hand-scrawled illegible shit? Arte de Oaxaca was talking about over $100,000 in damages and ends with something a 9th grade high school teacher might mark off for being illegible.
Glad you brought it up was looking at this case on the Minnasota web site. Seems that in addition to the above information there was a order for judgement on 3/ 8/13, some sort of notice and then OSC hearing scheduled for 4/28/13. I cannot figure out how to access the doc’s so no more info. from me.
These jerks had my name as one of the Does in Arte de Oaxaca. We have received 2 letters, 3 threatening phone messages and countless phone hang-ups. They wanted $4k. They have the nerve to leave messages and use my first name like we are friends; that is a 100% jacka$$. I wish we could have a face to face in an alley. They claimed to evidence to show we somehow profited from their property. They don’t name the property or where it was located. (Does anyone know what website there people are talking about?) They mention a peer-to-peer system. I have no idea what that is. We have nothing of theirs and we definitely haven’t received any monies. There may be someone out there doing wrong but it wasn’t my family. I am hopeful no one fell for their lies. They could have asked for $100 and we still would rather pay money to fight them and then sue for any costs we endure, deformation of character and damages. We will hire that one lawyer thats suing people like them. I hope this is the end of Arte de Oaxaca or whoever they are. Someone should donate an old typewriter to that Cook County Court.
This is the main case I have been following and trying to learn more about because I got a letter about this case threatening me and my family. I am glad to see this gone but wish that I had more resources to fight this because I would love to see these people burn. I can only hope that Judge Wright nails them to the stake on the 2nd since they didn’t show up on the 11th.
@SJD what do you think will happen with the other Guava/LW Systems case if I’m correct the list of IPs in the Comcast one was from the Skyler case and after reading Erin’s MTQ all they did was file a separate case to get those IPs because the Judge wouldn’t let them continue in Cook County? That’s what i got from reading Erin’s MTQ and reading all the other load of comments its kinda hard to keep up with the case though i haven’t seen any other documents from the case has there been anything happening?
Guys, I don’t possess a crystal ball, I do not know what will happen. Prenda are, while being in deepshit, still an inventive bunch, and who knows what is their next move… Yet, to me Prenda looks like a duo of chess players drawn into a complex game while a hurricane is approaching. We may discuss their next moves… or wait until they are blown off the place where decent folks dwell…
Today I received an email from my lawyer in the Comcast v Guava case and my lawyer said that not only did St. Clair County deny our motions…then they also denied letting us appeal. Comcast then said they would release our info to Prenda at 5pm that day. So my lawyer and my lawyer’s local counsels put together an emergency stay-pending-appeal request with the Court Of Appeals. The Court Of Appeals granted the stay-pending-appeal at 4pm (an hour before Comcast was going to release our info). My lawyer has now said that this appeal will take months but is pretty much a slam dunk now that it’s out of St. Clair County.
Annnnnnd now I understand what my lawyer’s told me all along…that St. Clair County’s crooked reputation precedes itself for a reason. Seriously though…blindly awarding the case to the plaintiff and then denying the ability to appeal? Doesn’t sound like their ways are changing any time soon.
Does anyone know with the appeal courts taking a look at this if it will effect the people who’s info got released?
Just wondering, has anyone contacted the Illinois Attorney General’s office about all this?
I sent in the Arte de Oaxaca to the AG in my state and they want to wait and see if there are others. They dont represent personal cases. Pretty much wait and see.
I check the case today 3/23/13 at st clair county 13-l-0015 and there are no records. does this mean I am off the hook?
No there system is Down on weekends
Interesting – the docket for the LW Systems vs Hubbard was previously listed under the civil records search under ‘CHRISTOPHER HUBBARD’ – all the docket items are now listed under ‘CHRIST HUBBARD’ – I wonder why that would change?? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
http://www.circuitclerk.co.st-clair.il.us/courts/Pages/icj.aspx
Judgement day in St. Clair county?
Though, they seem to have missed my bi-weekly threat letter and phone call this week. Anyone else expecting a call and didn’t get one?
Still not able to look the 13-L-0015 case up … anyone know anything??
I just searched it and found it perfect
So I get letters from a law firm and calls from a supposed copyright holder saying they will file a complaint to a law firm in regards to a case that was dismissed. How am I suppose to take this seriously?!
Added bunch of documents to the LW Systems v. Hubbard list — all but one from the Adam Urbanczyk’s site (torrentlitigation.com). Adam is seemingly ashamed of one document so he was shy to list it: a hallmark of a collusive lawsuit (in my opinion) — an agreed discovery order.
What did Adam Urbanczyk say to you to make you reply?:
“Actually, @TorrentLit I don’t have to choose words: sue me for libel — all your phony clients will be deposited: discovery is 2-way street.”
I for one am pissed that the Spencer Merkel affidavit resulted in no investigation of plaintiff or its counsel…
He did not say anything: I just read the agreed order in the Hubbard case and got upset. No self-respecting lawyer can ever pull this shit. This order is a carte blanche to subpoena any ISP for any IP address that want.
As for the Merkel’s counsel, her situation is different: she was not aware of the collusion at the time of appearance for Merkel. When she learned, it took some time to make the right decision, she was torn: she was taught to do what is the best for the client. Don’t judge her strongly: I know she punished herself already… unlike the calculating scumbags, she has a soul. She never negotiated settlements for $500 claiming that “Steele will get you one way or another,” as a matter of fact she had not received a cent: it was a pro bono representation, a naive hope for a great court experience.
So I received the subpoena and did nothing and now received a letter demanding me to pay. Should I ignore the letter and wait or should I contact a lawyer? All help would be appreciated!
and it starts …. (not legal advice) but if I get one I will send a copy of the letter and a “richard pryor” like response to the court and the lawyer (certified mail) stating all correspondace should be done by mail, any phone calls will be recorded (need to inform other party of recording in Illinois), and a vigorious defense of the false allegations will be persued in court if necessary. WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK OF THIS RESPONSE??
Do you guys expect letters and calls to continue in open cases after yesterday’s events? I was considering paying for a shield service to avoid them bothering me but am now wondering if that is even necessary.
My husband received a letter from our ISP today regarding the LW Systems LLC vs Christopher Hubbard case. From reading through it, my husband is being accused of hacking. I don’t understand what is going on here.
I have, on the advice of an attorney, ignored all letters completely. Luckily for me, the phone number on my ISP account is the phone line that I had to have to get DSL, I do not even have a phone on that line. The attorney also said to keep every letter/E-mail etc, he did not mention recording calls, but I had not received any either.
In the same vein as any Troll, if you respond at all, you lose. In my opinion. They probably see any response as an indication of some sort of weakness. (I also have no reputation to uphold, so even motions designed to keep me anonymous were unnecessary. If I did have a reputation, I would hope that either a: no publicity is bad publicity, or b: anyone that mattered would see the Trolls for what they are.)
Got a call and a left voicemail today from the LW Systems case. This is the 2nd call, but the last one there was no voicemail left.
Lutz was pretty funny as he said he was calling “from LW Systems” and then stumbled through the voicemail.
I was tempted to pickup and plead the 5th, but I refrained.
Why would anyone even jokingly plead the fifth?! It would be a civil trial where inferences could be made against you. You know they’re recording these calls. Don’t give them ANY fuel. I understand it’s a joke, but they would jump at the chance to say that one of the Does pleaded the fifth.
I was being sarcastic, making light of what Prenda did in their trial. Believe me, I’m not picking up a call from those clowns.
I find it surprising that none of these plaintiffs (Arte de Oaxaca, LW Systems, Guava LLC, etc.) have not filed notice of notices filed to users detailing the purported security breaches. These are required in a number of states in the US. Why they haven’t shown them (or are simply not visible to me) is unbeknownst to me.
I wonder if they’re aware that these calls and dunning letters might constitute intentional infliction of emotional distress. Continuing these calls just makes a potential class of action even larger. I wonder if Paul Hansmeier would take the case (lol, I kid).
Was there ever an IP list for LW v Hubbard?
To the best of my knowledge, no. That makes this lawsuit the most egregious of all the Prenda endeavors. The agreed order, a result of Urbanczyk’s decision to sell his soul to the devil and the utter unprofessionalism of St. Clair’s judges, is basically a carte blanche: Prenda can subpoena any IP address they want from the list of 300+ ISPs.
It is a terrible, terrible thing when an ISP advises their customers to contact plaintiff while notifying that customer about a subpoena.
It came to my attention that a douchebaggery, previously attributed only to Neustar, is now being practiced by Windstream. I hope it is rather a sloppy thinking than a malice. Some people (including attorneys) have already contacted the legal department to notify them about the perils of such a terrible “advice.”
Just wondering how to find updated documents (viewable) with the L W Systems vs Christopher Hubbard Case. I can see the documents on the St. Clair County Circuit Court webpage but knot view them.
I now have letters from Duffy on three separate letterheads. Prenda, Anti-Piracy Law Group, and now Duffy Law Group. The most recent one, from Duffy Law Group appears to be related to ‘Arte’ It is adking for 2,400 instead of the 4k that the others have asked for, but does not have the ‘take money out of my account’ permission thing to send in to send in to them.
I find it humorous that they say not to ignore this matter, that it will not go away. The Attorney that I talked to in my state advised me to do just that, ignore them but keep everything they send. They have a phone number that doesn’t have a phone attached. My Attorney also sent the 40 pages of Bullshit that I sent him regarding this to the state Attorney General, who sent a letter back to them. They forwarded the letter from the Attorney General to me. It pretty much said that while there was an actually Court case in Illinois, it looked like a sham. That Prenda, the only name I had at the time, had a number of complaints against them. It also said that they suggested telling the client to ignore the letters if my Attorney had not already done so.
Were the other letters “non-Arte”? I find it interesting that letters are still going out, with all these fronts opened up.
As I stated before: If the letters keep going out regardless of the dog and pony shows about calling them on the carpet, then you must consider the possibility that they are being protected.
What do you mean by protected?
[...] compared to a huge vessel, which is LW Systems LLC v. Christopher Hubbard (St Clair County, IL: 13-L-15) — a Titanic that have been covered by mist since January, and was not really noticed by the [...]
what could Prenda do if people stopped paying settlements?
Replaced a scanned, barely readable, 04/01 order in the Hubbard case with a legible copy.
your honor, I submit for your consideration….
http://www.theonion.com/articles/the-onions-tips-on-how-to-prevent-your-major-media,32325/
Just got another call from Troll Lutz (How the number is named in my phone) from Prenda … oh … I mean “Duffy Law Group” … or is it LW Systems or LW Holdings or AF Holdings or should I go on?? … i didn’t answer but believe that it wasn’t to tell me they are dropping the Hubbard case in Illinios!
P.S. the next hearing has moved up to May16th at 10am room 404 from the June 27th date … hmmm …. wierd.
Finally. Mainstream press that tells it like it is.
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/08/business/la-fi-prenda-porn-sanctions-20130508