Anti-Spammers Won't Let Spammers' Frivolous Lawsuit Die
from the good-for-them dept
Back in April we had the story of how a group of spammers actually had the nerve to sue anti-spam organizations for damages due to all the business they "lost" from people not getting their spam. At the time, I wondered if this would actually be a good thing. There was clearly no way the spammers would win - but it would allow the anti-spam groups to possibly counter-sue. Now, realizing that they made a huge mistake, the spammers are trying to back out of the lawsuit and have filed a motion to "voluntarily dismiss" the case. The anti-spam groups that were sued, though, are saying no. They want the case to go on, to have the case decided on the merits (which are clearly in their favor) and to make the spammers pay legal costs for filing a frivolous lawsuit. They say that it's a violation of federal law for the plaintiff to try to "voluntarily dismiss" a lawsuit after the defendant has filed a response. Meanwhile, the lawyer for the anti-spam groups is now saying he's going to start going after each of the spammers associated with this case directly.
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No, it's perfectly legit to TRY to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit. The plaintiff can automatically dismiss a lawsuit any time before the defendent has filed an answer. After that it's up to the judge. In most cases (unlike this one)everyone involved is happy to just let it go.
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