Jonathan Monsarrat Drops Ridiculous Lawsuit Against Online Commenters
from the wonder-how-that-impacts-his-new-business dept
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...
![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: copyright, cyberbullying, dan booth, jonathan monsarrat, mark ishman, ron newman
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
The little devil in me is kinda disappointed
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.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You already answered that...
"and, perhaps, a fairly decent chance of blowing up in their faces"
'Nuff said.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Deposition of That Anonymous Coward
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Deposition of That Anonymous Coward
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Deposition of That Anonymous Coward
Watch out.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Deposition of That Anonymous Coward
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*
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Deposition of That Anonymous Coward
It was such a long time ago...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Johnny Monsarrat or Jonathan Monsarrat?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Johnny Monsarrat or Jonathan Monsarrat?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]