Actually, Nintendo Wanted Smash Bros. Out Of EVO Tourney Entirely, Which Is Really Stupid

Prenda Fails To Pay Filing Fee For Appeal, Now Owes $9,425 In Legal Fees

from the so-many-appeals-to-keep-track-of... dept

Thu, Jul 11th 2013 8:04pm — Mike Masnick

While the "big" Prenda appeal is in the central district of California, back in May, we noted that a ruling in the northern district had also said Prenda needed to pay legal fees to Nick Ranallo, in the amount of $9,425. Paul Duffy quickly appealed, but never paid the $455 fee for an appeal. He was warned a few weeks back that he needed to pay up, and still didn't, so the court has now dumped the appeal and locked in the $9,425 fee that Prenda is required to pay. Of course, if they're not even going to pay the $455 for the appeal, I'd imagine that it's going to be nearly impossible to get the $9,425. As we already know, Duffy has claimed that Prenda is winding down its operations... even as a nearly identical operation, with the same basic participants, but called the Anti-Piracy Law Group, sprung up in its place. How long until someone connects those two, and says that the attorneys fees owed can come from the latter as well?

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Filed Under: appeals, attorney fees, fees, nicholas ranallo, paul duffy
Companies: af holdings, prenda, prenda law

34 Comments

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out_of_the_blue, 11 Jul 2013 @ 8:24pm

This horse is dead.
But it's funny to watch you endlessly flog it.

Tagline time!

Is there anyone lower or duller than a lawyer groupie? ... Mike just loves discipline at the bench: a real masnickist!
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Bear, 11 Jul 2013 @ 8:28pm

Has anyone checked to see if any of these guys are still in the country?
Are they just stalling via email while they go into hiding?
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2013 @ 8:31pm

Re: This horse is dead.
To answer your question? Yes, you.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2013 @ 8:35pm

Re: This horse is dead.
Your kind of like the shoulder devil from the cheesy trope of moral conflict.

Except nobody really cares what you say. You've made a career of it though, so congrats on that I guess.
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S. T. Stone, 11 Jul 2013 @ 8:51pm

Re: This horse is dead.
Is there anyone lower or duller than a lawyer groupie?

A troll.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2013 @ 8:51pm

Re: Re: This horse is dead.
"You've made a career of it though"

I really want to see his resume when he applies for a job.

"So, Mr. Blue, I see here it says you've spent the better part of the last several years trolling a website. We normally don't look at that kind of hobby as a plus, but it seems like you will fit in well here in the basement office of the janitorial services department. Welcome aboard!"
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Andrew Norton (profile), 11 Jul 2013 @ 9:05pm

Re: Has anyone checked to see if any of these guys are still in the country?
They're all supposed to be at a hearing in california tomorow, in front of Judge Wright. We'll see then.

I'll have a liveblog going at my site (ktetch.co.uk)
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Bear, 11 Jul 2013 @ 9:26pm

Re: Re: Has anyone checked to see if any of these guys are still in the country?
Bookmarked. Danke.
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apauld (profile), 11 Jul 2013 @ 9:29pm

Re: This horse is dead.
Yes Carol, the horse is dead. It finally succumbed to the syphilis you gave it.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2013 @ 10:04pm

Re: Re: This horse is dead.
Have to clap for that one...
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WDS (profile), 11 Jul 2013 @ 10:30pm

I can't remember, is it just AF Holdings on the hook for this, or is this one of the ones where they got the lawyers also held responsible for the award?
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Andrew Norton (profile), 11 Jul 2013 @ 11:50pm

Re: Re: Has anyone checked to see if any of these guys are still in the country?
liveblog address if anyone wants to join in - http://bit.ly/13730sc
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That One Guy (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 1:39am

Out of curiosity...
To any lawyers or those legal minded:

Though I know different rules apply for lawyers and non-lawyers, what would be the typical punishment for refusal or 'inability'(though if anyone honestly thinks those at prenda cannot pay a fine like this after running their extortion racket for so many years, I've got a bridge or two to sell you...) to pay a fine like this, after having had it ordered by a judge?
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 2:24am

Re: Out of curiosity...
Of course Prenda can't actually pay those fines! The money was routed through 7 tax proxies and into Steele and Hansmeier's joint account in Geneva.
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Deybroke (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 4:31am

Not surprised..
Not surprised that Duffy ddnt pay the 400 fee. He's broke like no joke. His house is being foreclosed on. Him and his wife are being sued a lot according to the Cook County Circuit Court docket.

Hes also being sued by his former employer Freeborn Peters...a legit law firm. Anyone know what is going on with that?
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Wally (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 4:39am

I really hope an Ohio judge makes the connection.
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Vidiot (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 5:08am

Re: Out of curiosity...
I would think that with the number of bogus filings Steele's made using his relatives, friends and acquaintances (Cooper!) and their various related addresses, piercing the corporate veil out to be a next step.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 5:16am

Re: Re: Re: This horse is dead.
At this time this is the last comment in the chain.

As far as the chain I find the original comment more relevant than all the comments denouncing the original comment.

In fact I find the whole chain to be the work of a group of moronic drunken village idiots who have nothing better to do with their time but to waist it posting absurd jack ass comments at the heading section after each article.

From past experience on other boards it has been my experience that once a board reaches this state where the comment section consists of nothing more than obscenities that the board degenerates to irrelevance rather fast.

The moderator has a choice. The village idiots leave or the board crashes as insight leaves.
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DannyB (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 5:25am

A suggestion for TechDirt
Suggestion:

When a comment is hidden due to being reported, also hide all of the replies to it. That would prevent the troll from accomplishing its mission of derailing any meaningful on topic discussion.

As it is, trolls can come and throw out lies, innuendo, personal insults and get tons of replies. Sometimes so many that it completely drowns out anything else. That seems to have become its purpose.
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Annie Mouse, 12 Jul 2013 @ 6:14am

Re: Not surprised..
There's a PDF of the Complaint on the fightcopyrighttrolls blog: fightcopyrighttrolls.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/duffy_fbp_pages.pdf‎

I didn't look close but it looks like Duffy breached his fiduciary duty to his employer.
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Baldaur Regis (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 7:31am

Re: A suggestion for TechDirt
Seconded.

While it's often amusing to read the rantings of a troll, and instructive to read the responses (insofar as many are first attempts at framing concepts mocked by the troller), ultimately, troll threads are distracting.

Collapsible threads would allow an uninterrupted flow of on-topic comments; troll threads could then be read at leisure for what they are - entertainment.
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Trelly (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 7:37am

Re: Re: Re: Re: This horse is dead.
The original comment is indeed most relevant, but only because Paul Duffy didn't get his memo about beating this old horse.

Maybe the appeal itself should have been properly considered, but since they deemed it important enough to bog down our court systems at the district court and appeals levels it probably is ok to waste a bit more on blogs and comments as well.
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Trelly (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 7:40am

Re: Not surprised..
Something to do with his employer law firm being upset that he was working with the client regarding fees and collection and eventually he was working for them directly or some such thing. As I recall the law firm didn't get paid and lost a client, something like that.
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Trelly (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 7:43am

Re: A suggestion for TechDirt
The problem is sometimes the troll threads have a valid point, in this case where they are complaining about beating a dead horse.

The problem the troll has is they are shooting the messenger, rather than properly identifying that the horse is being beaten well past many lifetimes by the absurd court filings.

It's the absurd court filings which draw the crowd. Had Prenda simply left the building early on and not drag things out, there is no story to report on.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 8:03am

Re: This horse is dead.
Then John Steele obviously didn't get the memo, you corporate cocksucking jackass.
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DannyB (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 8:08am

Re: Re: A suggestion for TechDirt
The troll is just a troll. It throws in its obligatory ad hom attack.

It is a valid question whether this is beating a dead horse.

The answer is: to each their own. If you don't want to read about Prenda Law, then don't. I don't read every article in TechDirt and (Important Newsflash:) you don't have to either!

But there are people who are interested in it, and it is their right to be interested in it.

It is only the trolls and their paymasters who want to silence discussion of copyright trolls such as Prenda Law; whether or NOT it is yet a dead horse.

I could also opine that most sitcoms that come out of Hollywood are beating a dead horse. Same old, same old. Just new faces.
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Magill (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 8:09am

Typical collusion
This is typical collusion between the Courts and Lawyers.... "The firm" is being pursued for the monies owed -- NOT the Lawyer responsible for the debt, or in this case the criminal activity. Yeah, I know the courts don't consider such activity criminal, and will NEVER consider going after another Lawyer to collect the monies owed to the Public... but then all Judges are Lawyers themselves.
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Trelly (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 9:00am

Re: Re: Re: A suggestion for TechDirt
The best way to end the trolling is to agree with them, since they come to create a fuss and thrive on the results.

The troll is right, but doesn't even know he is agreeing with us in that.
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Michael, 12 Jul 2013 @ 9:17am

...the Anti-Piracy Law Group, sprung up in its place. How long until someone connects those two, and says that the attorneys fees owed can come from the latter as well?

If they use the same IP address to set up their websites, I am sure you will hear the argument that an IP address is not enough to individually identify them...
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 9:22am

Re: Re: Re: Re: A suggestion for TechDirt
This particular one doesn't.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 11:10am

hurry and get a writ to take to the sheriff to collect.
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Bergman (profile), 13 Jul 2013 @ 1:57am

Re: This horse is dead.
I think of you more as a horse's ass than the whole horse...
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2013 @ 1:19pm

will those prenda dudes ever learn??
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Paul Keating (profile), 16 Jul 2013 @ 12:30pm

Debtors Exams
This is a GREAT THING. Once a judgment has become final, the plaintiff is entitled to conduct a debtors' examination. This is done under oath at a location determined by the plaintiff's counsel. It is usually performed at the courthouse so that a quick ruling on contempt or ordering production can be obtained. Most notably, during the examination there are almost no privileges capable of assertion. The examination can be conducted in any area so long as it is at all relevant to identifying assets or other property usable to satisfy the judgment. The costs of the examination are an enforcement cost which can be added to the judgment. This would serve to block delaying attempts and stalling.

A notice of examination can also be directed at any person or entity who is reasonably believed to hold assets of the debtor or know of the location of same. In the right hands, this would serve as a very valuable discovery tool to investigate what is actually occurring.

Most examinations are conducted without a stenographer but there is no reason to prevent one from being used. I would hope that the plaintiffs fighting Team Prenda would band together to fund this.
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