Alan Cooper, Paul Godfread Call Prenda Law's Bluff On Defamation Lawsuit

Defamation

from the this-won't-go-well-for-prenda dept

Fri, Mar 22nd 2013 6:34pm — Mike Masnick

We were somewhat surprised by Prenda Law, John Steele and Paul Duffy choosing to sue various critics for defamation, and specifically charging Alan Cooper and Paul Godfread with defamation. Cooper, of course, was the home caretaker for some John Steele Properties who discovered that his name was somehow involved in Prenda Law's shell games with (at least) AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13. He eventually sued Prenda claiming that his identity was used without his permission. Following this, as we heard at the big Prenda hearing, Steele started leaving a bunch of voicemails for Cooper, potentially violating ethics rules about directly contacting parties on the other side in a lawsuit. Also, from the voicemails, it seemed clear that the intention was to intimidate Cooper.

As we noted at the time, it would seem that filing these lawsuits would open them all up for significant discovery, which they probably would not like very much. The Prenda and Duffy lawsuits were filed in Illinois, and as we noted, Illinois has a relatively broad anti-SLAPP law. The Steele lawsuit was filed in Florida, though it was quickly dismissed. The two Illinois cases are ongoing, and the two named people sued -- Alan Cooper and his lawyer Paul Godfread -- have now filed their answers to the lawsuit. As is required in such cases, they go through each statement in the original suit, and confirm or deny (mostly deny) the various allegations made. Specifically, they deny making the vast majority of the random comments made on various blog comment systems that the lawsuits accuse them of being a part of.

Following this, they present their defenses, which again all appear to be fairly standard. They don't believe they've done anything illegal, any statements made were true, and thus not defamatory, information about their own lawsuit against Prenda are protected by legal privilege and they argue that it is a SLAPP suit.

They also bring up a whole bunch of counterclaims, and as part of that reveal that the "intimidation" campaign wasn't just limited to Steele calling Cooper, but included Peter Hansmeier's emails with Godfread as well, with the following email revealed to the court, which really highlights Hansmeier's pure hubris.

Dear Mr. Godfread:

My firm has been retained by Livewire Holdings LLC to pursue claims in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota against you and your coconspirators arising from defamation, civil conspiracy and related acts. The alleged acts occurred in e-mail communications and blog posts describing my client as a criminal enterprise. As you know, such statements constitute defamation per se and are, quite frankly, wildly inappropriate. Less-egregious claims have resulted in multi-million dollar judgments, as I trust this one will. The facts of the underlying case are essentially a law school exam hypothetical of every possible variation of libel. Perhaps you can forward my client's complaint to your former professors at William Mitchell. My client is well-aware that you are a major contributor to these blog sites.

The purpose of this e-mail is to inform you of impending litigation so that you preserve all relevant evidence in your possession including, but not limited to, communications between yourself and David Camaratto, Morgan Pietz, Nicholas Ranallo and any other individuals associated directly or indirectly with the sites fightcopyrighttrolls and dietrolldie. Further, any and all other evidence that might be relevant to this matter must, of course, be preserved.

I suspect that you aligned yourself with these defamatory efforts as a marketing strategy. I don't know if these efforts paid off, but I can assure you that making baseless accusations of criminal conduct is not a wise move for a licensed attorney. All of that being said, my client knows that you didn't work alone in these wrongful efforts. If you think we are missing out on more serious actors in your enterprise my client would be willing to consider decreasing your liability in exchange for information about these individuals. Of course, that interest will disappear if someone else comes forward first. Think it over and let me know. If you're willing to take the fall for whole group then you are decidedly a "true believer."

Welcome to the big leagues.

Paul

That sign off line is quite a piece of work, and I'm sure it will go over well in federal court, where it's likely that the judge will have a chance to learn about the case in front of Judge Otis Wright in California. Furthermore, as Ken White points out, that email is most telling for what's not in there:

...please take note of the dog that did not bark in the night. That is, note what the letter does not say. Consider the context. Godfread, on behalf of Cooper, is telling courts that Prenda Law has stolen Cooper's identity, and has filed a lawsuit on that basis. What would you expect in response, if Prenda Law had an answer for that? If I were representing Prenda Law, and had an answer, there is no doubt in my mind I would articulate it. I would say, "As you and Mr. Cooper know, and witnesses will attest, Mr. Cooper was a willing participant in AF Holdings LLC and fully consented to being an officer." Or I might say "You have recklessly and without adequate basis suggested that your client is the Alan Cooper who is an officer of AF Holdings, when even the briefest inquiry would show that AF Holdings is led by the distinguished Alan Cooper of Nevis and St. Kitts." I would say something articulating why Cooper's and Godfread's assertions are false. As I so often say, vagueness in legal threats is the hallmark of thuggery. But Hansmeier says nothing of the sort. He has only adolescent puffed-up threats and insults. What do you think that signifies?

There is one seeming oddity in the response. As we noted Illinois has a decent, though not wonderful, anti-SLAPP law. But rather than rely on that, Cooper and Godfread, instead claim Minnesota's anti-SLAPP law protect them. They're both based in Minnesota, but it's still a little odd. Minnesota's anti-SLAPP law is definitely stronger than Illinois and as White notes, provides "immunity" from such lawsuits.

More importantly, by filing a bunch of counterclaims, Duffy and Prenda cannot easily walk away from this lawsuit, which is probably not the situation that Duffy, Hansmeier, Steele and others really want to be in right now. They've been playing a bullying bluster game all along, and suddenly their bluff is getting called, repeatedly, and they seem to think that if they just keep bullying and bluffing maybe it'll work out in the end. Of course, by the time Judge Wright is done with these guys, these cases in Illinois might not even matter very much...

131724573 Gov Uscourts Ilnd 280638 6 0 (PDF)131724573 Gov Uscourts Ilnd 280638 6 0 (Text)

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Filed Under: alan cooper, anti-slapp, defamation, illinois, john steele, minnesota, paul duffy, paul godfread, paul hansmeier
Companies: prenda, prenda law

29 Comments

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out_of_the_blue, 22 Mar 2013 @ 6:46pm

HA! IT'S TOO RICH! MORE PRENDA!
THIS is your last post of the week, just when I was taking a last look? You just topped off my week! I still giggle when reading your quote below. -- And now, till Montag, ciao!

Take a loopy tour of Techdirt.com! You always end up same place!
http://techdirt.com/
ZOMG! Yet another item on Prenda Law! A staple in the soporific "At The Bench" series. Mike sez (short version): "Wow. Wow. Wow. ... The story is gripping."
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130303/23353022182/prenda-law-sues-critics-defamation .shtml
14:44:19[p-937-1]
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2013 @ 6:51pm

Re: HA! IT'S TOO RICH! MORE PRENDA!
Please have the decency to clean up after yourself when you shit from your mouth.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2013 @ 6:53pm

Re: HA! IT'S TOO RICH! MORE PRENDA!
OOTB Translation: RAWR! You smell bad and you should feel bad!
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That One Guy (profile), 22 Mar 2013 @ 6:58pm

Re: HA! IT'S TOO RICH! MORE PRENDA!
Ignore and report people, anything else is just giving him the attention he's after.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2013 @ 7:18pm

Re: Re: HA! IT'S TOO RICH! MORE PRENDA!
You know, sometimes I wonder if OOTB is actually the secret troll identity of one of the Techdirt or Floor64 bigwigs.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2013 @ 7:30pm

More shenanigans from the heroes of average_joe, out_of_the_blue, bob and hurricane head. There's a surprise!
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2013 @ 7:40pm

Re: Re: Re: HA! IT'S TOO RICH! MORE PRENDA!
At the risk of getting sued, AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FO DAT
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 22 Mar 2013 @ 7:41pm

I am not Spartacus...
Nor am I Alan Cooper or Paul Godfread.
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k-h, 22 Mar 2013 @ 7:51pm

Prenda is italian for "take"
Just saying...
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OldGeezer (profile), 22 Mar 2013 @ 8:19pm

Re: Prenda is italian for "take"
Very observant; you are right. Google confirms that. How appropriate. That's all these scumbag bottom feeders want to do is take.
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Scote, 22 Mar 2013 @ 8:40pm

Piercing the Corporate Veil
Cooper and Godfread argue in detail that the "corporations", including Prenda Law, are nothing but a paper thin scam and that Steele, et al should all be held directly responsible.

Also, Cooper and Godfread claim that none of the alleged defamation in the suit is even by them, and that the only "defamation" Steele and company can come up with is from the lawsuit against Prenda, which has immunity from defamation.

What the hell where they thinking when they filed this? I guess Steele and friends thought the three simultaneous lawsuits would make Cooper and Godfread go away or something. Instead it will be discovery time for Prenda and the rest of the shells.

Don't know why Steele cancelled the Florida lawsuit. Perhaps his affidavit to not practice law there affected him? Not that he couldn't represent himself, but perhaps he would have to admit to doing all of that law stuff he's been doing as part of claiming Florida as jurisdiction, which could be bad since he swears he doesn't practice law in Florida?
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2013 @ 8:41pm

Re: Re: HA! IT'S TOO RICH! MORE PRENDA!
I'm pretty sure that's cum in the mouth of out_of_the_blew_George_Foreman_for_a_grill.
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G Thompson (profile), 22 Mar 2013 @ 9:34pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: HA! IT'S TOO RICH! MORE PRENDA!
Fuck you very much!!! you owe me a new keyboard and a cup of coffee I spewed out all over it!
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G Thompson (profile), 22 Mar 2013 @ 9:35pm

Re: I am not Spartacus...
Batman?
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 22 Mar 2013 @ 11:14pm

Re: Piercing the Corporate Veil
When you sign off and say you won't try to play lawyer in FL any longer, it does look funny when you ask for lawyer fees in your filing.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 22 Mar 2013 @ 11:29pm

Re: Re: I am not Spartacus...
Just TAC actually.

As far as I know I am not part of any conspiracies, and the things I post are from my own research and my opinions of those facts as I see them.

And in my opinion Prenda et al made a huge miscalculation to piss off the most vocal members they could spot. I do think I am more offended they dared to list me as a John Doe when I post consistently using 1 name.
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Justin Olbrantz (Quantam), 23 Mar 2013 @ 12:22am

Re: HA! IT'S TOO RICH! MORE PRENDA!
My, my. OOTB was so eager to reply to a Prenda story he didn't even wait to see whether this was really Mike's last post before pouncing on the reply button. He tries to pretend he doesn't care, but in reality OOTB is watching this Prenda epic unfold like a half-starved hawk.
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G Thompson (profile), 23 Mar 2013 @ 1:34am

Re: Re: Re: I am not Spartacus...
Well they can't call you "TAC" because that is not your legal name (as far as they ascertain through your own postings) though be happy they didn't call you Jane Roe. Though that is exactly whom they should of referred to as the owner of FCT

As for conspiracies.. didn't you get the memo? damnation... here this explains Cliques of Normals Secretly Performing Insidious Rituals Aimed at Controlling You (C.O.N.P.I.R.A.C.Y)
[Look down the page for the heading that says "FUNKSHUNEL ILLITERIT"]
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 23 Mar 2013 @ 2:32am

Re: Re: Re: Re: I am not Spartacus...
The very easily could have identified me the John Doe using the name TAC.

And no... when I see that name I can't do it... my head hurts to much.

On the upside I've made a bunch of new friends from all of this, and things I suspected are being proven...
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Mar 2013 @ 4:44am

Re: Prenda is italian for "take"
Depending on the language(i.e. Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) it can also mean.

Treat, seize and arrest.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 23 Mar 2013 @ 7:03am

Re: Re: Prenda is italian for "take"
So we are hoping that Judge Wright takes their freedom?
Because it would be a treat to see them arrested.
And the cherry on top would be seeing their property seized.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Mar 2013 @ 9:10am

Re: HA! IT'S TOO RICH! MORE PRENDA!
OotB is truly desperate.
His corporate masters must have upped his quota of posts for payment.
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Dan Browning, 23 Mar 2013 @ 2:47pm

FYI, error
In you blog item you say the letter to Godfread is from Peter Hansmeier, when its actually from Paul.
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Abara, 23 Mar 2013 @ 8:33pm

Can't stop laughing!
"but I can assure you that making baseless accusations of criminal conduct is not a wise move for a licensed attorney"
You gotta love the irony
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snertking, 24 Mar 2013 @ 1:51am

How much you wanna bet the whole firm has fled us jurisdiction by the 2nd?
How much you wanna bet the whole firm has fled US jurisdiction by the 2nd?

They MUST know they are in for some jail time real soon now if they don't.
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Marc John Randazza (profile), 24 Mar 2013 @ 9:23am

Illinois Anti-SLAPP law
FYI - Illinois does not have a real anti-slapp law. Sandholm v. Kuecker effectively gutted it and rendered it useless.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 24 Mar 2013 @ 11:35am

Re: Illinois Anti-SLAPP law
Ohai Mr. Randazza!
*passes over the bowl of popcorn*

Are you enjoying the show?
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 25 Mar 2013 @ 4:45am

Re: What about eco style?
spam spam spammity spam spam
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Englebert the Immensely Well Endowed In Trouser Sn, 27 Mar 2013 @ 4:36am

I am not Alan Cooper
However, I am Spartacus.
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