RIAA Sues Homeless Man 245
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In a Manhattan case, Warner v. Berry, the RIAA sued a man who lives in a homeless shelter, leaving a copy of the summons and complaint not at the homeless shelter, but at an apartment the man had occupied in better times, and had long since vacated. The RIAA's lawyers were threatened with sanctions by the Magistrate Judge in the case, for making misleading representations to the Court which the Magistrate felt were intentional. The District Judge, however, disagreed with imposing sanctions, giving the RIAA's lawyers 'as officers of the Court the benefit of the doubt,' and instead concluded — in his 6-page opinion (PDF) — that the RIAA's lawyers were just being 'sloppy' and had not made the misstatements for an improper purpose.'"
Re:And again... (Score:5, Informative)
Link in parent is malicious. Do not click.
Re:I don't know... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Explanations? (Score:0, Informative)
Re:Filesharing at the time of not being homeless? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Trawling (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Wrong, wrong, wrong! (Score:5, Informative)
(1) Malpractice: if a lawyer is 'sloppy' in his representation of a client, the client can sue the lawyer ofr malpractice, as well as make a complaint to the applicable state bar association. This can result in the lawyer paying large amounts of money to the client, reprimands being placed in the lawyer's file from the state bar, and even the lawyer having his license to practice law revoked.
(2) FRCP Rule 11 Sanctions Unbeknownst to many oustide the legal profession, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (and most state rules) allow for the court to impose sanctions/award costs for frivolous filings. Extreme sloppiness sometimes falls into this category.
(3) Court's discretion In its own discretion, the Court can sanction an attorney for sloppiness or other misconduct that wastes the court's time. This can result in a case being dismissed with prejudice (meaning the attorney cannot refile the case, and will likely get pegged by the client for malpractice).
Re:Trawling (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Because his boss says not too (Score:4, Informative)
The Problem is until these sorts of things become significantly political they never get air time. Even the current battle between the iPlayer and ISP's hasn't made the current news.
Re:Explanations? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.matasano.com/log/1032/this-new-vulnerability-dowds-inhuman-flash-exploit/ [matasano.com]
Re:WTF!?!?!? (Score:4, Informative)