Paul Hansmeier Dismisses Case That His 'Client' Claims Was Filed Without Her Permission
from the about-time dept
So, remember how Paul Hansmeier's latest scheme has been to file a bunch of cases against small businesses, claiming their websites violated the Americans with Disabilities Act? The same lawyer who is getting slammed by courts all over the country for his shady copyright trolling practices appeared to be up to a new form of trolling -- a view that was strongly supported when one of the plaintiffs in one of these ADA cases, Lily Poss, claimed that she had "no idea" that Hansmeier was filing lawsuits on her behalf. That's a major no-no by a lawyer already very deep in trouble. And it took all of about a day for Hansmeier to file to dismiss the case in which he "represented" Poss -- though he did so "without prejudice," meaning that the case could potentially be refiled again in the future.Update: And... another one's gone too.
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Filed Under: ada, disabilities, lawsuits, lily poss, paul hansmeier, trolling
Companies: class justice, prenda, prenda law
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At least for a few billable hours
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Second Case
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It's like he pops his head out of the sewer for a brief moment, gets caught, then has to go back down into the sewage until he comes up with another creative reason to sue someone.
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I am sure any defense lawyer worth his money would have fact checked Hansmeier's so called "client" and then realized who Hansmeier was and I am sure they would have mentioned Prenda Law to the Judge and that would have been game over right there.
Never mind the fact that Flint Million one was suspicious enough to raise people to want to look at Hansmeiers filing.
I have doubts that Hansmeier is doing this alone I am sure Steele is involved as well.
Considering there porn trolling days are dead in the water, and how addicted they are to getting easy cash through settlements, I see them both neck deep involved in the next thing to keep the gravy train rolling.
I highly doubt that Hansmeier thought that his ADA lawsuits would make the media but now that they have and his claasjustice firm has had the light shone on it, I would be of the opinion he is going to have a tough time in the ADA lawsuit game.
I wonder how long it will be till Mark Lutz or Paul's pet cat starts being named as clients he will be suing on behalf of.
Same with the Allen Mooney connection, does anyone believe that it was really Allen Mooney on the line talking to Lily Poss or are some of us wondering if that isn't John Steele doing some calling like he did with GoDaddy.
I have to wonder if Paul is taking the old Prenda strategy to heart, that if you can';t find a client you just manufacture one to suit your needs.
Sure seem like this is what occurred, Hansmeier got scared enough to dismiss these suits before a judge or defense counsel brought it to the courts attention
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Contacting Plaintiffs
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Hansmeier's plaintiff could also have immediately blown it up in Paul's face.
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Submitting the news article to the court however is allowed, and the Judge would be so very happy about that detail.
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I'm amazed that the US legal system allows these on-going shenanigans
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our system is terribly slow in catching bad actors
At this point, Hans' time in being able to play lawyer is limited. He has too much attention from too many offices to keep his ability to practice for much longer. So, he's getting more and more desperate to find victims to fleece, possibly to help with money to live in a country that does not extradite. If he had been willing to work, he could have found legitimate ADA or copyright cases to pursue, but he would have had to have upheld his responsibilities in providing answers that courts require, making sure that he had an actual plaintiff, and making sure that he actually had good evidence of a basis to file the suit.
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Re: our system is terribly slow in catching bad actors
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Lawyers
In any event, I hate what he is doing.
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Check to see if Barratry exists
So go look up Barratry
Then use this frame: Litigation is typically classified as vexatious when an attorney or a pro se litigant (a person representing himself without an attorney) repeatedly files groundless lawsuits and repeatedly loses. Under the Common Law, the frequent incitement of lawsuits by an attorney constituted the crime of Barratry. In modern law, however, barratry is viewed as an archaic crime and is rarely enforced. Attorneys who encourage vexatious litigation are subject to discipline for violating rules of professional conduct and may be suspended from the Practice of Law or disbarred.
Many States have something on the books that let you bypass the Cops and go to the DA or ANY Judge/Magistrate and let you file criminal charges. Then the official who got that document is supposed to take that to a Grand Jury for a True Bill/No Bill typically. Where this gets FUN is one can use the lack of action as part of the election campaign the next time...hows that gonna look when they didn't do the job they are supposed to do.
(Spend time listening to the ruleoflawradio podcast. Get to here others doing exactly this stuff to effect change)
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Hansmeier shows yet again he is just not a big picture person
And now it is biting him in the ass in ways he didn't forsee such as, for example, he appears to be having a hard time finding clients.
In a March 2013 Minneapolis Star-Tribune article about his trying to get paid to go away by objecting to class action settlements, he said: “You generally start with people that are in your, shall we say, inner circle or whatever. ... Now, I would hope ... that as time goes on that I expand the circle, that I gain some credibility and some experience and a reputation for successfully prosecuting these style of cases.”
I guess that gaining credibility part didn't work out so hot for him.
It appears even his "inner circle" is very small and he is finding it harder and harder to find people that want to participate in slimy 'threaten lawsuits and hope they settle' strategy.
He has been reduced to trying to trick people into being plaintiffs for him.
And I'll bet he, at one time or another, said something like "I don't care that I am getting attention in the tech press. It doesn't matter." Now he is finding out it does matter. Again, it shows he has a hard time seeing the big picture.
What he doesn't seem to get is that as he goes from one 'be a nuisance to get a settlement' gambit to another (from porn copyright to class action objector to ADA threats to small businesses) he is just making his reputation worse and worse. These kinds of stains on your character don't go away for a long, long time in this age of easy Internet searches.
For years to come, a quick Google search will show that his desire for quick bucks with minimal work blinds him to the difference between having the right to do something and it being the right thing to do.
Will he learn his lesson? Probably not. I think odds are he will be able to find some other ADA plaintiffs whose ethical compass is as broken as his is.
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