Guardaley | X-Art
The first appeal is filed in a Malibu Media case
Yesterday defense attorney Francisco Ferreiro appealed a federal court’s decision denying attorney fees in Malibu Media v. Leo Pelizzo (FLSD 12-cv-22768).
To the best of my knowledge, this is the first appeal (CA11 14-11795) of a court decision in a Guardaley-driven lawsuit. M. Keith Lipscomb and its “client” X-Art are slowly but surely following Prenda’s footsteps. Prenda’s appellate experience so far was a total disaster for its disgraced attorneys, and I hope the same fate is awaiting Keith Lipscomb, Michael Hierl, Paul Lesko et al (the list is depressingly long).
To refresh your memory, the Pelizzo case was probably the most disgusting porn troll’s assault on an innocent citizen. 100% knowing that Mr. Pelizzo had absolutely nothing to do with the alleged infringements, Lipscomb continued twisting the defendant’s arms for months.
The apogee of douchebaggery was an email to the defense counsel (again, keep in mind that at that time Lipscomb knew with absolute certainty that the defendant is innocent):
[…] you should counsel [your client] that when he loses, he will lose everything he owns and owe my clients hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mark these words, your client’s decision to reject a walk away will be the worst decision he will ever make.
The reason behind this stinky vitriol was the defense’s rather modest request for attorney fees. While making millions on selling out his compatriots to the German Mafia, Lipscomb went postal over about five thousand dollars.
Why didn’t Lipscomb cut and run earlier, as soon as he realized that he targeted a wrong person, when hostilities didn’t go that far and when it was much cheaper to buy his way out of the looming PR disaster? I have no idea. I can only speculate that he thought that admitting a mistake would endanger his future shakedown activities, or the enormously swelled ego of our insecure ostensive Christian was the actual decision maker.
Unfortunately, Judge Patricia Sietz only partially granted attorney fees to the de-facto prevailing party — defense. The defendant didn’t think it was fair, hence the appeal:
While federal judges continue buying copyright troll’s lies and closing their eyes to the obvious fraud, I want to believe that appellate judges think not only about following the letter of the law, but care about its spirit, about the negative societal impact of decisions made by the lower courts.
I wish Francesco Ferreiro and his client to prevail.
Updates
9/16/2014
On 9/15/2014 the troll filed the appellee’s brief and a motion for attorney fees (which is unusual and inexplicably douchy, IMO).
tl;dr: Lipscomb is a good guy who didn’t shake down a clearly innocent person over barely legal, illegally produced pornography. Even more, Keith went to great lengths to save defendant’s money (furthering the purposes of the Copyright Act in the process)! On the other hand, Leo Pelizzo and his counsel Francisco Ferreiro are bad guys who have been trying to shake down our paragons of ethics by frivolously multiplying proceedings. Well… Hypocrisy is a bottomless pit.
10/9/2014
Today Francisco Ferreiro filed defendant’s response in opposition to Appelee’s motion for attorney’s fees and costs.
10/8/2015
The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the lower court ruling and declined to hear the case de novo.
Fight © Trolls 
Even the slightest risk that an appellate court could brand a Malibu Media lawsuit as frivolous should give even the greediest troll pause. I’d be very surprised if this doesn’t settle soon.
Raul, you may be right, but Lipscomb failed to get out of this gracefully every time he had the opportunity.
I would think that if a reasonable person just read all the case law that Ferriero sited, he would realize he would be better off saving the money spent defending the appeal, and just pay up and settle, but then again if you’re suing someone that early on had provided documentation he was out of the country at the time the act occurred, a reasonable person would drop the case then. Lipscomb has never once given any indication he is reasonable.
I really hope Raul is wrong…..I hope that Lipscomb fights this all the way.
I can’t see how Lipscomb can do anything but pay up….both in terms of added work and to have the flawed judgment seriously increased to fully and properly compensate the defendant. I really would prefer to have an appellate level court go at this extortion scheme, expose it further for what it is, and publish a judgment at a higher justice system level.
Alternatively, if Lipscomb does propose settlement, I hope and strongly encourage the defendant and counsel to refuse any and all confidentiality clause in the agreement. We should all see, and continue to publicize, the increased settlement amount right alongside the all-too-apparent troll extortion scheme. The defendant has him….BIG…..and the appeals court will see it. Make it hurt, and make it public.
I also continue to stand firm with those that think RICO can and should come into play at some point soon regarding these trolls…..ANY U.S. ATTORNEY LISTENING ?!
PS
[[ Keith Lipscomb – Time to pull up your already soiled little-girl panties and get to work…..time to stand by your methods and practices in a real court session (unlike the unfortunate farce that the bellweather became)!! Come on and show us what you’re made of. Or will you just continue to skulk in the shadows, back alleys, and cesspools that you and your German puppetmasters inhabit, and continue to pretend your extortion racquet is just and that your sullied co-conspirators have any real conclusive evidence? ]]
It certainly is difficult to see why the judges would not make a falsely accused defendant whole. No people shouldn’t need to spend $10K to prove they are falsely accused and innocent. They Plaintiff should foot the bill. It appears the judges still pretend the defendant is guilty and don’t question in the least that the Plaintiff’s evidence may be fabricated or inaccurate. Even the Plaintiff admitted this be dismissing the case! They also fail to understand that the IP address was dynamic and probably was assigned to someone else.
The real problem with these troll cases are the incompetent judges are broken legal system.
would love to see douchbags Lipscum and Steel sharing the same cell.
Where is the kickstarts to start a fun to get rid of those internet trolls ?