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Prenda Law shall troll no more.

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40hz:
Well, it happened. And it's enough to start a new thread for...

Today, a cast of characters employed or involved with Prenda Law (a firm we've been discussing here) faced the full wrath of a federal district judge in California over his suspicions of fradulent behavior in bringing cases alleging copyright infringement before his court.

It was a grim morning in the courtroom, in which all those ordered to appear involved invoked their Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions in order to avoid possible self-incrimination. Our good buddy attorney Ken White over at Popehat made this observation (emphasis added):

I'm a criminal defense attorney. I cherish and support the Fifth Amendment. Its invocation here was completely lawful. But its invocation will have catastrophic consequences for the Prenda Law enterprise, which cannot possibly continue. When they appeared today, John Steele, Paul Hansmeier, and Paul Duffy were not merely individuals facing the overwhelming power of the state. They were also officers of the court and, according to the testimony of Brett Gibbs, the very attorneys who directed nationwide litigation for the Prenda Law enterprise. Judge Wright ordered them to answer for the conduct of that enterprise in his court, as he had the right and power to do. Their invocation of their Fifth Amendment rights in the face of that order is utterly unprecedented in my experience as a lawyer. In effect, the responsible lawyers for a law firm conducting litigation before a court have refused to explain that litigation to the court on the grounds that doing so could expose them to criminal prosecution.
--- End quote ---



There's a lot more of interest in Ken's post - so be sure to read his full article here.

Also the usual excellent capsule summary over at TechDirt here:

Well that happened much faster than expected. While Judge Otis Wright apparently had cleared his entire schedule today for the Prenda hearing, the actual hearing lasted all of 12 (count 'em) minutes, with Judge Wright declaring "we're done" before storming out. We'll have a more detailed writeup from Ken White, who was in the courtroom, shortly, but here's a quick summary of what happened. Unlike last time, everyone actually showed up (well, except for the imaginary Alan Cooper of AF Holdings who does not appear to exist) and promptly pleaded the fifth.
--- End quote ---

It will be interesting to see what the final chapter in this sorry story will be. But one thing is certain - Prenda Law is no more.

To which I say:



      (Vertigo/Sandman fans will know exactly what I'm saying here.)

TaoPhoenix:

This is that point when in the normal world we all say "Bad Trolls. Go Away".

However there is a small LED flashlight/torch on in the Basement where we wonder "Was it really that easy?!" You know, silly lawyers doing mean things on an epic scale and expecting ... what? Look at the chart in one the links. Those guys are young. Did they really throw an entire law career away on this just like that? That fast?

Tinman57:
  True justice would be disbarring those lawyers involved in this scam, fining the hell out of them, and putting all their asses in jail.

TaoPhoenix:
  True justice would be disbarring those lawyers involved in this scam, fining the hell out of them, and putting all their asses in jail.
-Tinman57 (April 02, 2013, 07:26 PM)
--- End quote ---

I'd like to see one more - some judicial advisory precedent to future courts so that they or their proteges can't just bubble back up and do it all over again in similar circumstances.

Tinman57:
  True justice would be disbarring those lawyers involved in this scam, fining the hell out of them, and putting all their asses in jail.
-Tinman57 (April 02, 2013, 07:26 PM)
--- End quote ---

I'd like to see one more - some judicial advisory precedent to future courts so that they or their proteges can't just bubble back up and do it all over again in similar circumstances.
-TaoPhoenix (April 02, 2013, 10:57 PM)
--- End quote ---

  Yeah, that too!   :D

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