P2P Shakedown Lawyers Apparently Still Sending Subpoenas To Get Info On Defendants Who Had Cases Dismissed
from the there's-an-ethical-issue-here dept
About a month ago, we pointed out an effort by an anonymous concerned citizen who has been tracking the massive increase in these P2P file sharing shakedown lawsuits, that are all about sending "pre-settlement" letters and getting people to pay up, rather than really taking all these people to court. So far, the courts have been pretty good about dumping many of the cases that involved thousands of defendants, noting that it makes little sense to put them all together in a single case. The person who made that epic spreadsheet is continuing to keep it updated, and it shows about 110,000 people sued:![](https://i.imgur.com/VqLH1.png)
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Filed Under: ethics, file sharing, lawyers, shakedown, subpoenas
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Cutting through the FUD, the only real issue is whether any law firm is submitting new subpoenas to ISPs related to potential defendants who have already been dismissed. Show me that and you've shown me a headline. (Like with Mr. Stone (allegedly).)
For all we know, these are subpoenas that were issued before the Doe defendants in question were dismissed, right?
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Seems like someone (techdirt like) is jumping the gun, looking for a fast slam.
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The subpoena will resolve the issue, as at that point they may actually have names to match to dates and IPs to work from.
It's nice to know that Mike thinks that the lawyers are somehow able to devine things out of thin air.
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You don't appear to understand what's going on. The 'shakedown' lawyers are being forced to drop certain Does (potential defendents) from the lawsuits, at which point they only have the IP details and haven't necessarily been contacted by anyone. Some of these Does are apparently receiving letters from their ISP that correspond to case ID's that are listed in the database of dismissed cases.
Further information, apart from the date of the subpeaona, is irrelevant. The lawyers are apparently issuing subpeaonas for cases which have been dropped or dismissed. The cases wouldn't, in all logic and common sense, be dismissed by the subscriber details (which are unknown at that point), but by the case IDs.
Please please tell me you understand now and aren't claiming the lawyers need to have special powers to read the case IDs.
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The EFF claim to have received reports from Does (potential defendents) whose cases have been dismissed. I can understand if you don't believe the EFF's claims, but otherwise I'm unsure what you're getting at.
"For all we know, these are subpoenas that were issued before the Doe defendants in question were dismissed, right?"
I believe the EFF wouldn't be bringing the issue up if that were a likely case. Again, maybe you don't trust the EFF, but there has been no serious suggestion so far that they're making the issue up.
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I believe the EFF wouldn't be bringing the issue up if that were a likely case. Again, maybe you don't trust the EFF, but there has been no serious suggestion so far that they're making the issue up.
The EFF is only claiming "that some Does are still receiving notices from their ISP�s informing them that their identities are being sought in relation to" cases where that Doe was dismissed.
The EFF is not saying that any lawyer is inappropriately submitting any new subpoenas to any ISPs after such a dismissal. The only one suggesting that is Mike. The EFF wouldn't ever stoop that low.
The fact is we don't know either way whether any lawyers are doing anything wrong here.
It seems just as likely to me--in fact more likely--that these subscribers are receiving notices pursuant to subpoenas that were issued before these Doe defendant's were dismissed. It takes time for the ISP to get the subpoena, look up the subscriber's information, and then inform the subscriber that they are the target of the subpoena.
This is just a standard Techdirt FUD piece.
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Was that an echo?
"The EFF is not saying that any lawyer is inappropriately submitting any new subpoenas to any ISPs after such a dismissal."
I guess they're just looking into the issue for fun then.
"The fact is we don't know either way whether any lawyers are doing anything wrong here."
I don't see where Mike implied that any definite wrongdoings were going on.
"It seems just as likely to me--in fact more likely--that these subscribers are receiving notices pursuant to subpoenas that were issued before these Doe defendant's were dismissed. It takes time for the ISP to get the subpoena, look up the subscriber's information, and then inform the subscriber that they are the target of the subpoena."
Why does that seem more likely? You haven't given us any new information and there is no logic I can see to support the statement.
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Uhhhmmmm, Donuts...(drools)
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Uhhhmmmmm, designing slingshots...(drools)
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Summons to appear in court. OR....
What that would mean is the lawyers are fraudulently obtaining confidential information. That of course is an abuse of judicial process and is frowned upon. A lot.
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It's only fraudulent if the subpoena is issued after the plaintiff has lost his ability to issue it. We don't know if that's the case for sure.
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lawyers..
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When done badly, bowever, they are nothing more than tapeworms on the societal cause. These guys mooch more than your average student.
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Patentable business scheme?
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