Prenda
A closer look at troll Goodhue’s response to Order to Show Cause
Yesterday we took a look at the newest filing from AF Holding’s v David Harris (AZD 2:12-cv-02144) where Prenda’s lackey Steven Goodhue attempts to dismiss the fact that Cooper’s identity was stolen and downplay the events in Honorable Judge Wright’s courtroom. Hopefully, I was not alone in immediately identifying several “holes” in the story he presented related to Cooper’s now alleged involvement at the outset of this debacle. Here’s a more in depth look at the Response as well as the inconsistencies presented.
Goodhue starts with the same song and dance that we have seen since the start of Coopergate, namely it doesn’t matter who signed the assignment, AF Holdings still has standing to file suit against infringers. This argument didn’t work before, however I’m not surprised that it is still an integral part of their defensive strategy. It will be interesting to see how the Honorable Judge responds to this…
Next, Goodhue embarks on an extensive explanation into Cooper’s involvement in the copyright scheme. He leads through a heartwarming tale of Cooper and Steele being best of friends after they entered into their arrangement with Cooper as live-in caretaker of Steel’s property:
Steele visited his vacation property regularly between 2005 and mid-2011 and became close friends with Cooper. Steele and Cooper spent substantial time together, including, for example, boating on Lake Mille Lacs, riding all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiling, and attending estate auctions. Steele and Cooper would regularly collaborate on various handyman projects, including building a porch addition to and reroofing the guest cabin. Cooper and Steele regularly attended county fairs and other Northern Minnesota social events together, including the White Pine Logging and Thrashing show, Howie’s Mud Bog, the Aitkin County July 4th fair, and the Kanabec County fair. Cooper’s relationship extended to Steele’s family. Conservatively speaking, Cooper joined Steele’s family for dinner over 100 times. On several occasions he babysat Steele’s daughter. The two were such good friends that Cooper remarked on several occasions that Steele was the brother he never had.
But Cooper had a small problem, he was broke. So Mr. Steele, being the charitable man he is, introduced Cooper to Mark Lutz (CEO for AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13) as the answer to his financial woes. Cooper was involved in two copyright assignments as a “corporate representative”, even though he knew nothing about the adult industry, but soon this created too many issues with his second wife, so he soon withdrew from this status. Finally, Goodhue ends this saga with Cooper’s downhill slide, that started with his divorce coupled with Steele putting his property up for sale (which would end Cooper’s “free” residence) and ultimately drove him to a mental state where he was attacking guests, vandalizing Steels property and pilfering everything that wasn’t nailed down:
[…]Cooper used a chainsaw to remove large portions of load-bearing walls in Steele’s guest cabin, tore down nearly every interior wall in the guest cabin, stole 4 rifles, 1 shotgun and 5 pistols Steele stored on his property, threatened prospective buyers of Steele’s property, cut down significant acreage of wood and unlawfully removed it from Steele’s property, and stole hundreds of items, including tools, equipment, lumber, and virtually every item that was not bolted down in Steele’s kitchen. Cooper even stole a large trailer of Steele’s that Cooper used to haul away entire rooms of furniture from Steele’s cabin.
Hungry for revenge, Cooper was conveniently “recruited” through text by Godfread to file a lawsuit against Steele. Of course the EFF was involved, essentially asserting that they along with Cooper and Godfread collaborated together to “launch collateral attacks on Plantiff’s copyright infringements lawsuits.”
I can’t help but think of one of my favorite lines from Ace Ventura, “well fiction IS fun, but I prefer the story where”… Goodhue must have selective memory. Let’s go back to the very beginning of Coopergate and follow the events leading up to the pivotal ruling in the CACD and the recent Goodhue Response. Way back in November, when Cooper initially retained Godfread, his goal was clearly stated, “My client would like certainty that his identity is not being used without his knowledge and against his will as the would be CEO of AF Holdings, LLC or as a manager of Ingenuity 13, LLC.” It wasn’t until several months later, after Prenda and Duffy dodged their question, including flat out stating that they refused to answer, that Cooper was forced to file suit (January 22nd to be precise).
During this same time, Attorney Morgan Pietz, defending Does in California, engaged in several emails requesting that Prenda’s Brett Gibbs answer two simple questions. First, identify if there was another Alan Cooper that was being held out as the Principal of AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13. There was a mess of childish behavior including the now famous line, “I’m sure there are hundreds of other Alan Coopers in this world”. Secondly, when Gibbs purportedly had to ask his client for the original assignment, Pietz requested to know who “the client” was. As events unfolded, Gibbs threw “tantrum” after “tantrum” to avoid answering these two simple questions. Shortly thereafter, Nick Ranallo and Morgan Pietz asked Judge Wright to allow discovery on these two issues and a few more pointed questions to get to the heart of the Alan Cooper issue. And they got it. Gibbs response? “I think I’ll try to disqualify the Honorable Judge Wright for abhoring Plantiffs who try to protect their pornography copyrights.” When that didn’t work, Gibbs tried the cut and run, dismissing the case. Duffy substituted in for all the Gibbs cases and then stated dismissing them one by one.
All of this history begs the answer to a couple of questions relating back to Goodhue’s response. If Alan Cooper was truly involved in from the beginning as “a Corporate Representative” for AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13 and signed the original copyright assignment, why would Gibbs et al go through such great lengths to avoid answering that Alan Cooper from Minnesota signed it? When asked to provide the identity of his “client”, why would he not simply identify Mark Lutz as the client? Mr. Goodhue, the facts clearly show that Cooper’s intent was not to file suit as was stated, but to clear his name. When this failed, he had no option but to file a lawsuit. Further, Mark Lutz was not identified as the CEO of the off-shore companies until the February Deposition of Paul Hansmeier, which is why Gibbs was unable to identify him before that date. But Goodhue doesn’t bother to mention any of these discrepancies.
Goodhue also attempts to incorrectly reference the transcript of the March 11th hearing to prove that Godfread sent a text message to Cooper to recruit him to his cause. However, Cooper never stated under oath that it was Godfread that sent him the text, simply that someone alerted him to the situation and told him to contact Godfread. He also conveniently skips the part where Cooper, still under oath, states that it was not his signature on the documents in question, that he uses a middle initial in his signature. And let’s not forget that the fairy tale woven by Goodhue comes from the Affidavit of John Steele, who was not under oath. Should we trust the words of a man who “suffers from a form of moral turpitude unbecoming of an officer of the court?” Let’s hope that the Honorable Judge does his research and is able to quickly dismiss Goodhue’s Fable.
Followup
Update
5/28/2013
Yesterday, 5/27/2013, defendant David Harris filed his response.
Fight © Trolls 
Just my misinformed opinion, but…
This appears to be a major blessing. Arizona counsel has now placed Steele directly in the line of fire. I see two possible outcomes:
1) Steele is now fair game as a witness in the AZ hearing. If I were counsel for Defendant, I would subpoena Steele and we would have a nice long conversation about the facts as alleged in his affidavit. I would also have Cooper there – and I would also scramble to come up with evidence regarding his claims.
2) If Steele refuses to be cross-examined on the facts of his affidavit, this is going to backfire in a big way for Prenda. If Steele claims that the affidavit was used without his consent, this is a huge problem in many ways.
Quite simply… Steele should have kept his mouth shut. He didn’t. He authored an affidavit (at least we think – until it shows up on Pacer…) PLEASE, of PLEASE, I hope that defense counsel takes advantage of Steele’s blunder.
This seems to be a win-win proposition for the defendant.
One other comment: (Keep in mind, I have no idea what is true and what is not true. This is mere speculation.) If certain facts as to Cooper are indeed not true, it could be that the underlying fact is nonetheless true. For example, trees being cut. People cut trees on their property all of the time. Especially people who like money – and especially people who know they are going to sell their land. It is possible that the trees were cut, although not by Cooper. One way or the other, this should be quite easy to investigate – although there could have been oral agreements which are problematic from a proof perspective.
Wow, I applaud your memory and analytic skills. You’ve essentially eviscerated Goodhue’s response. I hope the right people are reading this because his story is so elaborate and detailed that you might believe it if you didn’t know the truth.
To paraphrase what I have said elsewhere…
this ‘business model’ (read SCAM IMHO) has caught the attention of a set of people with very unique skills. I’m sure glad I don’t have the internet pissed off at me.
This is what makes the community better, is people contributing where they can and making a difference.
Bigger question… did Goodpoo answer anything in his rambling, irrelevant diatribe? Assuming for a brief moment that he’s not simply lying, he never explained why Cooper signed on behalf of AF holdings, never offered the allegedly notarized documents with Cooper’s signature, and created a bigger problem than he hoped to solve — why was Mark Lutz holding himself out as a know-nothing paralegal in the Sunlust case in FL while he was, in fact, the beneficial holder of the Salt Marsh trust. Oh, and where are the exhibits? I coudn’t find them on PACER. Another innocent mistake? It seems like these guys have a lot of innocent mistakes and excuses. The lawyers I know rarely make mistakes of any import when appearing before and filing with the courts.
One other note.. Goodpoo claims that the assignee’s signature is not required on the copyright transfer. I tend to agree with this, however it does not address the question of submitting a forged or unauthorized signature on a document. In other words, had Alan Cooper’s “signature” not appeared on the assignment, Goodpoo might be right. Placing a forged or unauthorized signature on the document, however, may violate Rule 11, since the the “owner” of the copyright would knowingly be submitting false information to the court.
I don’t know if this is right. If I try to give you something but you won’t accept it or refuse to acknowledge you’ve accepted it, how do you prove you own it?
So, during discovery, let’s see the police reports for the stolen guns. Might shed some light on the credibility of the rest of the claims that will be fairly hard to prove.
Nobody has guns stolen, especially handguns, without reporting them stolen. Too much liability risk, serial numbers, etc. Certainly a lawyer (even one as shitty as Steele) would cover their asses in such a situation.
All the more reason why Mr. Godfread should appeal Judge Alton’s ruling refusing to award damages to Mr. Cooper.
i know in some states (not necessarily Minnesota i am too lazy to check) not reporting the theft of a firearm is a crime in and of it’s self. so i am sure that there is some police record to back this wonderful story up.
I would think with all the damages they are claiming and of couse the guns missing, there would be a police report about this. Assuming that someone just destroyed my house ex friend or not the police would have been called.
what a dumbass story….
also, when did Steel put up his cabin for sale ? the date sames wrong to me…
anyone want to post that address?
ok i looked it up and according to http://smartgunlaws.org/reporting-lost-or-stolen-firearms-policy-summary/ Minnesota does not have a mandatory reporting law, but still that much damage any sane person would file a police report, friend or not. only a complete moron would let the person who f#$%#$d up your stuff and robbed you blind turn around and sue you on top of all that without mentioning ANY of this.
lol @ footnote 1 basically says “even though alan cooper said he never signed it, he never states that a third party was not allowed to use his name and sign”
also notice how he only served copies directly to harris and the judge. not to anyone @ the kelly law firm…
Yep, SaM, I know you never stated that a third party (me) was not allowed to enter your place and steal your stuff. Hence, if I do something like this, it will be effectively with your permission.
They are really trying hard to discredit Cooper. How this is supposed to avert the conclusion that his name was being used for a shell or rather shill company, I have no idea. This goes in the “oh, he is a total crook, so he was a perfect match for our operation” direction. It seems that they are banking on making the judge’s stomach turn so that he throws everybody out of court and never wants to see any of them again.
-In Goodhue’s response to the OSC it states:
“In September 2012, due to this worsening behavior, Steele asked Cooper to leave his property. Steele Aff. ¶ 18. Cooper was extremely upset and embarked on an extensive campaign of revenge.”
But per Brent Berry (Steele’s Real Estate Agent), there was to be an open house to view the property on Sept 15 & 22, 2012. The house was to be auctioned off on Sept 29, 2012 this video was posted to YouTube on Aug 20, 2012. It would seem to me that the reason that Cooper was “kicked out” was due to the fact they would be showing and auctioning off the property in Sept 2012, which they knew in Aug 2012. So I just don’t buy that it was due to Cooper’s behavior that he had to leave.
-It is also my opinion that the damage described in Goodhue’s response by Steele done to the property by Cooper in early September 2012 would have taken quite some time to fix, thus the property would not have been ready to show by Sept 15, 2012.
– Posted on Aug 20 2012
MN LOG HOME AUCTION TO BE SOLD TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER OVER $390K
“Open House & Inspection Dates”
Sept 15th & 22nd at 1pm
Auction on Sept 29th 2012
Does Brent Berry have permission to use the twangy music that is featured in that Youtube video?
But if you are going to compare Goodhue’s response to Berry’s declaration, isn’t the most glaring inconsistency that Berry never mentioned any of this?
Berry stated that he has known Cooper since 2006 and considers himself Cooper’s close confidant who has helped Cooper with various personal matters for years…
And yet, when Berry is tapped by Steele to make a declaration for the express purpose of undermining Cooper’s credibility, none of that drama came to mind? Not only did Berry forget, but Steele didn’t bother to jog his memory? Really? The real estate agent overlooked the chainsawing of the cabins he was selling?
Plus, Berry was able to provide copies of text message conversations that could maybe sort of make Cooper look bad with the right spin, but none corroborate Steele’s new claims?
Then, when Steele had to retain counsel for himself, and all of his brainchild shell companies for the purpose of explaining Cooper’s claims, among other things, he didn’t share any of this with his attorneys or his friends’ and colleagues’ attorneys?
I think the reason for the inconsistency is because Berry’s declaration represents the farthest that a reasonably decent and honest person was willing to stretch the truth for a friend, maybe under a little pressure, but someone who at least understands that actions have consequences. Steele’s wild tales, on the other hand, are the ravings of a sociopath who has been declared a liar and a fraud by the federal district court system and who is in line to be investigated by multiple federal agencies and state bar associations.
Really John, this is pathetic. Who is supposed to believe your bullshit? And even if someone believes your bullshit, is this supposed to make Prenda’s clients sound more legit? Because right now, this is making them sound even less legit.
Well the Berry declaration that is mentioned in this filing (AF V. Harris) as Exhibit C was not attached to the response to the order to show cause filed by Goodhue. *Per the response ” Cooper met Mr. Steele in 2006 through a mutual friend, Brent Berry. Berry Aff. ¶¶ 4-5 (attached hereto as Exhibit C)”. None of the exhibits mentioned in the response were attached and are not on Pacer in true Prenda fashion.I think you are referring to the Berry declaration in the I13 v. Doe case in California in which they were recently sanctioned.
I believe the Berry declaration referenced in Goodhue’s filing is the same one filed in CACD (Wright OSC). The paragraph numbers referenced match the previously filed Berry declaration.
Additionally, the new portions of the story with the chainsaws and firearms do not cite a Berry declaration, only the Steele declaration. I did not see any new information attributed to Berry.
I think Berry already stuck his neck out as far as he was willing and now Steele is trying to fill in the blanks with his bullshit, but is still using the existing Berry declaration to give the appearance that someone else is corroborating his new claims.
Thank you for dissecting it. My BS-o-meter was reading so high it broke and my head hurt for just reading it.
P.S. a very logical approach btw.
As usual, egotistical Prenda has overplayed their hand.
Alan Cooper is holding a royal flush. His options are: A) sue for defamation and after winning, purchase the Minnesota property, live in the main house and rent out the cabin to Johnnie. (just for fun) or B) Write a tell all book (leading to a movie) with a ghost writer about the meteoric rise and fall of a group of morally bankrupt lawyers, becoming the first U.S. zillionaire. (The cover of the book could be a picture of the U.S.S. Internets blowing up the Borg or something)
So Steele sues Cooper and his lawyer for defamation, but doesn’t sue for the damage to his place.
Yea, That makes sense.
Here’s the listing for the property: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/21251-220Th-St_Mcgrath_MN_56350_M73215-56083
The guest cabin looks to be in pretty good shape in the photos FWIW.
Yes.
Stay tuned for another guest post discussing more discrepancies and raising more questions — tonight.
Steele claimed his property was at 21067 220th St. in http://ia701200.us.archive.org/19/items/gov.uscourts.azd.732217/gov.uscourts.azd.732217.59.4.pdf Which is a bit confusing, since the driveway at 21067 leads into two tear drop driveways that seem littered with rolled up grass bales, metal sheds, etc. The driveway around 21051 (on other side of street, so 21050?) leads to two abodes that seem closer to the Main cabin and guest/groundskeeper cabin.
The address looks accurate to me from everything I can see on the various map sites. The link to the listing for the property a couple of comments above has the wrong address, but the same pictures as several other listings using the address that Steele gave. There is also another listing for the 21251 address that shows a cabin with only 1-1/2 baths instead of 3 and less square footage. Think Realtor.com got their listings mixed up. Bing has a more detailed arial than Google. It looks like their is a firewood business across the street. When I looked at Google I though it was a subdivision going in, but after looking at Bing it looks like stacks of wood.
SJD HOW COULD YOU!!!!
Now everyone will know what I look like!
*giggle*
i wonder if he disclosed this So called damaged at time of sale. In this state if damages to load bearing walls has existed (bugs or water ect ect…) and has been fixed those repairs must be disclosed by the seller and a state licensed contractor would have to certify his work.
I believe the country would also have to inspect
something to look into
these guys make it too easy