Righthaven Fails To Show Up In Court As Ordered... When Confronted Says It Got Confused Over The Date

from the a-study-in-incompetence dept

Fri, Jan 6th 2012 4:02am — Mike Masnick

As you may recall, when the federal district court in Nevada granted Marc Randazza's request to turn Righthaven's assets over to a receiver, for the sake of using them to satisfy the court ordered attorneys' fees in the Hoehn case, the court also ordered -- pretty damn clearly -- that Righthaven's principles, Steve Gibson and Raisha "Drizzle" Y. Gibson, appear in court on January 5th. Already, we knew that Righthaven had failed -- as required by the court -- to produce certain documents a week prior to this hearing (for which Randazza has asked the court to declare Righthaven in contempt). You may notice that the date on the calendar is now January 6th.

It's one thing to ignore opposing counsel. It's another to ignore multiple direct court orders, including one to appear in court. But... neither Gibson showed up in court yesterday. Nor did Righthaven's main lawyer: Shawn Mangano. According to Randazza, the judge then called Mangano who claimed that he "thought it was tomorrow" (but did not explain the failure to deliver the required documents).

This is pretty amazing. We've had people in our comments repeatedly asking about the January 5th deadline. If a bunch of our commenters can keep the date straight, can't the lawyer for the company being dragged into court? As I said, Righthaven's ability to do exactly the wrong thing at nearly every opportunity is stunning. And every time we think we can't be surprised any more, something like this happens. This is the most amazing study in incompetence we've ever seen. This is a company that failed to properly secure the copyrights it was suing over, chose not to use the DMCA's takedown procedures, often targeted questionable cases of infringement, sued people over clear fair use situations, used a completely bogus demand for domain names in the lawsuits it filed, has been accused of theunauthorized practice of law in multiple states, failed to list Stephens Media as an interested party as required by Nevada law (for which it was sanctioned), failed to file many documents on time, missed deadlines for certain important filings, failed to pay attorneys' fees owed, lost cases due not just to the failure to secure copyright properly but also to missing deadlines, had an appeal thrown out for failing to follow proper procedure... and, has been sued by their own process server for failure to pay its bills. And now this (and I'm probably missing some stuff!).

The judge has set a new hearing date for Monday, January 9th at 9am. I can't imagine that the Gibsons and Mangano could possibly think they can get away with missing that one, too -- but if you had asked, I never would have believed most of the things that Righthaven has done so far would ever happen in real life.

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Filed Under: court, drizzle, marc randazza, raisha gibson, receivership, shawn mangano, showing up, steve gibson
Companies: righthaven

64 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 4:07am

Given that judges have thrown people in jail for contempt for the enormous crime of forgetting to put their cellphones on silent, the generosity of the judge towards these people is staggering as they demonstrate nothing but contempt for the law, his court and himself.
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- abc gum, 6 Jan 2012 @ 4:29am
  
  Re:
  "the generosity of the judge towards these people is staggering"
  
  This must be that High Court I keep hearing about.
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- Michael Kohne, 6 Jan 2012 @ 4:54am
  
  Re: disrespect
  I have to say, after all that Righthaven has done, I'm a little surprised that the Judge hasn't called them in contempt. I think that a contempt charge (and perhaps a day or so in jail for all concerned) might get them to start obeying orders.
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  - abc gum, 6 Jan 2012 @ 5:03am
    
    Re: Re: disrespect
    Righthaven - the lindsay lohan of IP holding
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  - btr1701 (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 1:56pm
    
    Re: Re: disrespect
    > I have to say, after all that Righthaven has
    > done, I'm a little surprised that the Judge
    > hasn't called them in contempt.
    
    If I was that judge, I'd have issued a bench warrant to the sheriff for the arrest of the Righthaven CEO/president and the company's chief counsel.
    
    Let them cool their heels in the county jail over the weekend and see if their memory for court dates starts to improve.
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- Mike C. (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 5:50am
  
  Re:
  But don't you see... the judge is just helping out by providing guidance to the lawyers. Issuing a contempt citation wouldn't be proper guidance so that's why he's not doing it....
  
  /throw the buggers in jail
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- DannyB (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:06am
  
  Re:
  Don't think the judge is being generous.
  
  He is just trying to be fair. Maybe they really were confused. He's now giving them enough rope to hang themselves.
  
  What do you think will happen if they miss their next court date? He will probably throw away the key.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:12am
    
    Re: Re:
    He's way past being fair and they've already been handed enough rope to hang themselves multiple times and indeed have done so.
    
    This judge is being like a doting uncle with a reputation for sternness but desperately trying to avoid actually being stern with pizzle,drizzle and mango.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:15am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Hopefully, he will realise on Monday that hoping for that crew to get a clue is a waste of time unless he is actually willing to use the cluebat on them.
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- Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:47am
  
  Re:
  "A man who carries a cat by its tail learns something he can learn in no other way." (attribution unknown).
  
  I hope the judge hands them a passel or two of cats.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 4:40am

Bet they dont turn up on the 9th either
and bet the judge still does nothing. Afterall lawyers are involved.
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Violated (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 4:49am

Schedule
All I can say is that when Andrew Crossley of ACS:Law was going down at least he was nice/wise enough to keep to the scheduled appointments.

I don't know what the people behind Righthaven are thinking when this lack of an organized schedule not only got them into this mess in the first place but this policy will not win them any favours when it comes to sorting out their finances.

He should also keep in mind that the Judge has many other options should he be found to be uncooperative. I expect currently the Judge just thinks he is an idiot and needs a push down the right path.
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Spaceboy (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 4:55am

Righthaven - Providing Guidance to the courts since 2010.
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- DannyB (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:08am
  
  Re:
  It's the other way around.
  
  Righthaven said that the courts are providing guidance to others who would use Righthaven's business model of suing.
  
  In this case, I think it will end up being guidance on how to stay out of jail.
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anonymous, 6 Jan 2012 @ 4:57am

Righthaven were ok whilst they were able to extort money out of people using threats of court action and massive fines. now they are on the receiving end of court actions, which they (and many other law firms etc) richly deserve, they dont seem to have a clue how to deal with it. hopefully, this whole escapade will end extremely badly for them and their associates!
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- Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:26am
  
  Re:
  Righthaven were ok whilst they were able to extort money out of people using threats of court action and massive fines.
  
  And yet...
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Ima Fish (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 5:17am

"Confused Over The Date"

Bad argument. I would have told the judge, "Your honor, some pirate stole my Corvette and I couldn't find another ride to court."
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- frosty840, 6 Jan 2012 @ 5:22am
  
  Re:
  You mean "some pirate downloaded my Corvette" I think...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Ima Fish (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 5:33am
    
    Re: Re:
    Yeah, that'd work.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:25am
    
    Re: Re:
    No, they downloaded and hence stole the court date after it leaked via wikileaks!!
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 5:23am

It was just a simple mistake! They thought the court date was January 5th, 3012.

On a totally unrelated note, Righthaven is also totally confused why people keep on saying it's 2012 rather than 3012.
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- abc gum, 6 Jan 2012 @ 5:30am
  
  Re:
  Or ... they figured the world would end anyways.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 5:40am
    
    Re: Re:
    Well, if a severe enough beating is administered to them, the world might actually end, at least for them.
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  - Call me Al, 6 Jan 2012 @ 5:40am
    
    Re: Re:
    Hows that for a business plan. Getting agreements to delay payment of fines, costs etc until 22 December 2012 on the basis the world ends the day before.
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Pixelation, 6 Jan 2012 @ 5:40am

An app for that...
Let's see, they can't remember when their court date is. Oh, right, "There's an app for that".
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DannyB (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:04am

Amazing study in incompetence
> This is the most amazing study in incompetence we've ever seen.

I beg to diff.

For those of us who have been watching SCO for nearly nine years now (anniversary on March 6, 2012), Righthaven doesn't hold a candle to SCO's nor SCO's lawyers' incompetence.

Never attribute to incompetence what can be adequately explained by malice -- when intellectual property is involved.

While I admire Righthaven's attempts at incompetence, please don't suggest it is more amazing than SCO's incompetence.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:10am

The reason they didn't show up is simple...
2012 is a leap year - so there's an extra day, which means that everything happens a day later!
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- DH's Love Child (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 8:29am
  
  Re: The reason they didn't show up is simple...
  But not until after Feb 28. ;)
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:38am

Timeline?
Would someone put this story into one of those pretty timeline graphics? My theory is you will be able to spot the point their spirit broke and the downward spiral began.
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- A Guy (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:44am
  
  Re: Timeline?
  If I had to guess, I'd bet it is right at the point where they were not allowed to acquire the copyrights properly and resume the cases.
  
  It was all downhill from there.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
ken (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:47am

Miscarriage of Justice
Righthaven has consistently missed deadlines and always has basically the same lame excuse. If they miss Monday's deadline and Judge Pro does nothing it will be a severe miscarriage of justice on his part.
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V (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:48am

Time to put them down...
Hasn't this saga gone on long enough? Why aren't the lawyers in this firm held in contempt and put into jail? If they were in a nice, warm jail cell and then summmoned to court by officers on their trial date, I'm quite sure they would be there.

They've already made a mockery of the justice system with their gross misinterpretations of the law, their bypassing of existing law and their cloak and dagger tactics of hiding important facts from the judges.

Think of all of the people's lives and businesses that have been ruined because of them.... and now... they beg for mercy.... for... understanding?

Ironic.
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- DannyB (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 8:03am
  
  Re: Time to put them down...
  > Hasn't this saga gone on long enough?
  > Why aren't the lawyers in this firm held in contempt and put into jail?
  > They've already made a mockery of the justice system . . .
  > Think of all of the people's lives and businesses that have been ruined because of them . . .
  
  Those of us following SCO were asking the same questions and making the same comments years ago. SCO has truly been an education in how broken the US court system really is. And if you think that is bad, you haven't seen the bankruptcy court system yet. SCO has been in bankruptcy "reorganization" since Sept 2007. The whole thing reeks to high heaven.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 11:16am
  
  Re: Time to put them down...
  I think the issue is that the court wants a buncha documents too, my guess is Righthaven missed the deadline because the paper shredder broke down or summin.
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  - Rikuo (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 11:53am
    
    Re: Re: Time to put them down...
    If the paper shredder broke down...wouldn't that mean they would HAVE the documents? Perhaps you meant to type "printer" instead of shredder.
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Smion, 6 Jan 2012 @ 6:56am

Dale Cendali?
Is Dale Cendali still involved with these clowns, or did she realise that the ship was sinking long ago and cut loose?
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CD (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:04am

LLC
Good thing Righthaven is an LLC and not a Corporation. Otherwise, since the Gov thinks corporations are people, the court could issue a WARRANT for Righthaven.

Then all we have to do is wait for Righthaven to be caught speeding. Or maybe they'd use Dog Chapman for bail bond since they cannot pay fees ordered by court and we see them running scared on A&E.
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- CD (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:05am
  
  Re: LLC
  Well I did put in a URL but it's not showing underlined....
  
  pay fees ordered by court links to:
  http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110927/22251216119/righthaven-desperately-trying-to-avoid-pa ying-legal-fees.shtml
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- ChronoFish (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:54am
  
  Re: LLC
  LLC IS a Corporation (Limited Liability Corporation).
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - CD (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 10:38am
    
    Re: Re: LLC
    I always thought it was Company, but your post made me second guess myself. So I googled "LLC". I don't know which is more credible... Wikipedia or a Government run agency, so I put both. They both say the same thing.
    
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability_company
    
    http://www.irs.gov/businesses/sm all/article/0,,id=98277,00.html
    
    I even googled Limited Liability Corporation and all the links were pointing to Limited Liability Company.
    
    However, your comment pointed me to the similarities between the two, so I'm sure it could be overlooked and then treated as a Corporation anyway.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - John Fenderson (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 2:00pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: LLC
      In the US, anyway, a "company" and a "corporation" are legally the same thing.
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ken (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:17am

Being a day late or not showing up at all is the norm with Righthaven not the exception. They always have the same lame excuses. Just like they abused copyright law they are now abusing the deference that Judges tend to give lawyers.

If they do not show up again someone may want to check to make sure Steve and "Drizzle" Gibson have not skipped town or the country.
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- Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 9:33am
  
  Re:
  They are just counting down the days until the Mayan calendar ends in hopes that they can stall until the end of time.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Adam Wasserman (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:17am

FUDBuster
Is FUDBuster still around?

Do you still feel that your prior (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110423/01033814013/another-judge-slams-righthaven-chilling-effec ts-that-do-nothing-to-advance-copyright-acts-purpose.shtml) interpretation of the law is the valid one in light of the fact that federal judges disagree with you?
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- PRMan, 6 Jan 2012 @ 9:21am
  
  Re: FUDBuster
  He forgot to show up here too.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- MrWilson, 6 Jan 2012 @ 9:26am
  
  Re: FUDBuster
  This is why I came for the comments. I wanted to see how silent the trolls were in regards to their earlier criticism of Mike's coverage of the cases.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Mike Masnick (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 10:15am
  
  Re: FUDBuster
  Is FUDBuster still around?
  
  Pretty sure that FUDBuster = average_joe
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 11:19am
    
    Re: Re: FUDBuster
    I think that IP + same old schtick is more evidence than 'pretty sure'...
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:19pm
    
    Re: Re: FUDBuster
    These days joe is past the "criticise TD articles phase", now he's spiralled into a complete "act like a thoroughly deranged loon" phase.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:52pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: FUDBuster
      Uh oh, he better watch out then. OotB might sue him for persona infringement.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - btrussell (profile), 7 Jan 2012 @ 2:35am
    
    Re: Re: FUDBuster
    I was fairly certain of this.
    
    He was proud as a peacock at his new word/acronym "fud."
    
    Now he is a key Ctrl freak.
    
    I don't think he goes to law school but rather lawn school. A daycare. Hence his mothers' (he calls her girlfriend or wife) choice of colour for the bathroom.
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- ltlw0lf (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 11:23am
  
  Re: FUDBuster
  Is FUDBuster still around?
  
  I kinda figured FUDBuster was Steve Gibson. He seemed to know a lot more about what the Righthaven guys were thinking than the rest of us. Then again, he was always very articulate, punctual, and not at all crazy so it probably wasn't Gibson after all.
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Blaine (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:45am

Chilling thought
Think about this for a second....

Righthaven with the power of SOPA.....
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ChronoFish (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 7:51am

It's not incompetence
I disagree that it's incompetence. I think they fully know the law and know how to stall. In theory they could have been held in contempt of court....but they haven't been.

This is like watching a dance between the White House and Congress. From the outside it's bewildering. From the inside it's a well orchestrated chess match.

Clearly RightHaven is not going to win, but at this point they are playing not to loose. So all they have left is their king. They'll be moving that sucker all over the board hoping for a stale-mate.

Maybe they would rather go to jail than hand over documents or pay monies. Don't be surprised to find documents "accidentally" destroyed.

-CF
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- hmm (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 8:04am
  
  Re: It's not incompetence
  The judge needs to make an order expressing forbidding the destruction of any and all data related to righthaven by any party to prevent this.
  
  That way its direct contempt of court if anything goes missing "accidentally".
  
  It's possible for a judge to issue such an order retroactively btw to cover all records since this began.
  
  BTW I now own the copyright/patent/other stupid IP method for "The Righthaven Show".
  
  Its a sitcom about 3 lawyers who don't have a fucking clue what they're doing and they get into all sorts of hilarious shennanigans whilst being given "guidance" from the big boss above.....
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  - Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2012 @ 9:13am
    
    Re: Re: It's not incompetence
    ...I'd watch it.
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  - DC, 6 Jan 2012 @ 2:28pm
    
    Re: Re: It's not incompetence
    An order to produce implies an order to not destroy. If in fact the lawyers destroyed any relevant documents during the course of the proceedings, I'm pretty sure that would be a felony.
    
    Correct me I'm wrong anyone.
    
    Comments AJ?
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- Atkray (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 8:29am
  
  Re: It's not incompetence
  What are these "documents" you speak of?
  
  We do have a note here from our nephew Chip explaining why he had to replace all of our hard drives because of a power surge we had.
  
  We think he may have set the date wrong on our computers too that's why we keep missing deadlines.
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- Pitabred (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 8:37am
  
  Re: It's not incompetence
  I dunno... all of the absolutely stupid errors here seem like they're first year student type errors, and the mistakes of someone who's scared and doesn't know what to do so they're just ignoring things and hoping they'll go away.
  
  I don't think it's malicious, but I do think it's a case of Righthaven being in way over their head and not knowing what to do.
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  - Free Capitalist (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 9:55am
    
    Re: Re: It's not incompetence
    I don't think it's malicious
    
    I agree, to me these (in)actions come off as being palpably more indignant than malicious.
    
    Can someone make a criminal complaint and have it fixed so they are tried as adults?
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    - Pitabred (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 12:43pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: It's not incompetence
      I'm not even sure it's indignant. I think they're just scared as hell and don't know what to do.
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Conscientiouspirate (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 10:49am

Excuses
I think I recognize this sort of behavior. The story on Monday will be about this note:

"To my judge.
This is Shawn's mom. Shawn can't come to court today because he has the flu. He mailed the paper he was supposed to send you, but I saw that the neighbors dog attacked the mailman and ate the homework, and now I'm too sick to do it again.
(sign)
My mom."
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- Rikuo (profile), 6 Jan 2012 @ 11:56am
  
  Re: Excuses
  LOL. They more than likely would be stupid it enough to sign it "My Mom", with the way they've been acting.
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hmm (profile), 7 Jan 2012 @ 4:55pm

at this point
The only thing thats going to get produced in court is a fake suicide note from everyone at Righthaven as they try to flee the country...........

And the worst part? the fact the note turns out to be fake.....
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