Jonathan Monsarrat Drops Ridiculous Lawsuit Against Online Commenters

from the wonder-how-that-impacts-his-new-business dept

Mon, Jun 10th 2013 10:24pm — Mike Masnick

You may recall that a few weeks ago, we wrote about a spectacularly bogus lawsuit filed by Jonathan Monsarrat against a bunch of online commenters who had discussed Monsarrat's arrest a few years earlier, along with the beautifully epic response from lawyer Dan Booth of Booth Sweet LLC (also known for its Prenda fighting accomplishments). That was a long post, because there was a lot of crazy to cover, so I suggest you go back and check it out for all of the details, but it included (among other things) bogus copyright claims (in a state court, where you can't really do that), an apparent ignorance of section 230 of the CDA, what appeared to be an attempt to rewrite history as noted in press reports directly from police reports, a questionable relationship between Monsarrat and his lawyer (possibly more of a business relationship rather than an attorney/client relationship), a suggestion that the lawsuit was an end run attempt at identifying anonymous critics as part of a marketing scheme for a new "anti-cyberbullying" service that Monsarrat was starting with his lawyer, and a variety of other things.

As we noted, that "epic response" from Booth wasn't filed in court, but rather was sent in a letter to Monsarrat's lawyer, Mark Ishman. It appears that Booth, representing one of the named defendants, Ron Newman, was getting ready to officially file his motion to dismiss with the court (unfiled documents embedded below), but right before they did so, Monsarrat and Ishman filed to dismiss the case with prejudice (meaning they can't file it again). Newman points out that there was no settlement at all, so it appears that Ishman and Monsarrat realized that this case had almost no chance of succeeding (and, perhaps, a fairly decent chance of blowing up in their faces). I wonder what this will mean for their "anti-cyberbullying" service...

Motion to Dismiss Final (PDF)Motion to Dismiss Final (Text)

Newman Memo MTD Final (PDF)Newman Memo MTD Final (Text)

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Filed Under: copyright, cyberbullying, dan booth, jonathan monsarrat, mark ishman, ron newman

12 Comments

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apauld (profile), 10 Jun 2013 @ 10:45pm

The little devil in me is kinda disappointed
I was hoping that this action would lead to Mark Ishman having to give up his prestigious office space at:

9660 Falls of Neuse Road
Raleigh, NC 27615

And great props to the AC in the last thread who told everyone to look at the google street view for that address.
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Pixelation, 10 Jun 2013 @ 11:23pm

I wonder what this will mean for their "anti-cyberbullying" service...

You already answered that...
"and, perhaps, a fairly decent chance of blowing up in their faces"

'Nuff said.
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- That Anonymous Coward (profile), 10 Jun 2013 @ 11:47pm
  
  Re:
  Oooh oooh oooh maybe Pretenda will hire them to figure out who I am!
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JustMe (profile), 11 Jun 2013 @ 3:51am

Deposition of That Anonymous Coward
Mr. That Anonymous Coward, if in fact that IS your real name, where were you at 8:00 PM on the 1st of March 1932 and what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
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- That One Guy (profile), 11 Jun 2013 @ 4:33am
  
  Re: Deposition of That Anonymous Coward
  What do you mean, an african or european swallow?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 11 Jun 2013 @ 4:45am
    
    Re: Re: Deposition of That Anonymous Coward
    They've africanised swallows now?
    
    Watch out.
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  - Sheogorath (profile), 18 Jul 2013 @ 7:02pm
    
    Re: Re: Deposition of That Anonymous Coward
    What do you mean, an African or European swallow?
    They're the same damn bird! It's the European swallow because that's where it hatches, but it migrates to Africa for the winter. *facepalms*
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- That Anonymous Coward (profile), 11 Jun 2013 @ 6:28pm
  
  Re: Deposition of That Anonymous Coward
  Kidnapping the Lindbergh baby I think.
  It was such a long time ago...
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Jessie (profile), 11 Jun 2013 @ 5:50am

We can't stand for it. This is clearly a case of the competent bullying the lesser competent.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jun 2013 @ 8:30am

Johnny Monsarrat or Jonathan Monsarrat?
I admire Monsarrat's search engine optimization by using a different name: Searches for "Jonathan Monsarrat" show all of his nonsense, but searches for "Johnny Monsarrat" seem to be clear of all controversy, at least on the first page or two.
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- theta1138 (profile), 11 Jun 2013 @ 1:35pm
  
  Re: Johnny Monsarrat or Jonathan Monsarrat?
  Yeah, at least until he screws up again.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Mar 2018 @ 5:08am

i used to work with jonathan monsarrat. he was defenitely a big picture thinker and had some success in the video game industry. wonder what happened that he came to this.
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