Richard Liebowitz's 'Client' Sends Judge A Letter Saying He Was Totally Unaware Of Multiple Lawsuits Filed In His Name
from the oops dept
Oh, copyright troll Richard Liebowitz is at it again. Last month, we wrote about an absolutely massive benchslap he received, as a judge detailed pages upon pages of Liebowitz lying to various courts, filing questionable lawsuits, and doing all sorts of things no lawyer should ever do. And now that list is getting longer.
Apparently Liebowitz has spent nearly two years engaged in a lawsuit in which he never informed his own client about anything related to the lawsuit. The client -- a photographer named Glen Craig -- seems reasonably upset by all this. I know I would be.
Dear Judge Yandle,
I learned for the first time last week about a case that Richard Liebowitz filed in this Court in 2018 in my name: Craig v. PopMatters Media, Inc. He dismissed the case and PopMatters has a motion pending for its attorney's fees. This is all a total surprise to me. Richard blindsided me. He didn't tell me anything about this case, or another case he filed in the Northern District of Illinois, until yesterday after I demanded an explanation.
Oops.
You can see from the docket that this case took the usual path of many Liebowitz cases. Sue first (in September of 2018) and then when the other side starts to push back, Liebowitz cuts and runs, filing for dismissal. Later, PopMatters sought attorneys' fees for having to deal with the nonsense lawsuit, and then there had been some back and forth paper filings between PopMatters (represented by Dan Booth, who has become a constant thorn in the side of Liebowitz) and Liebowitz, who continues to try to get out of this case without getting into any more trouble.
And a bombshell dropped yesterday when the judge saw this letter from Craig -- ostensibly Liebowitz's client -- in the lawsuit, stating he had no knowledge at all of the lawsuit. The judge notes that while it's quite irregular for a party to the lawsuit to directly file documents, this seems to be a special case:
While "hybrid representation" (i.e., a represented party filing papers on her own) is generally prohibited, see Carlson v. CSX Transp., Inc. 745 F.3d. 819, 826 (7th Cir.2014); United States v. Chavin, 316 F.3d 666, 671-72 (7th Cir.2002), Plaintiff's assertions in the attached letter are directly material to Plaintiff's exposure to and liability for attorney's fees and costs being sought in a motion currently pending before the Court (see Doc. 10 ). Accordingly, the letter shall be included in the record for the Court's consideration.
And with that the letter is added to the docket. The first paragraph is above, but it goes on beyond that:
He never told me PopMatters used my photograph. He never asked me if it had been licensed to anyone or I would have told him about my license to Sony. He never told me he was going to file either lawsuit and he did it without my knowledge and without my permission. He never told me PopMatters made offers to settle each case. He never told me PopMatters filed a motion for attorney's fees in either case. He never consulted me about anything.
That's... really bad. That's the kind of thing a lawyer might get disbarred for. Craig notes that Liebowitz seems to also be violating the contract they signed, let alone basically all fundamental ethics rules for lawyers:
In the retainer agreement. he agreed to "keep You informed of the status of your matter, and agree to explain the laws pertinent to your situation, the available course(s) of action, and the attendant risks." Richard violated that at every step of this case. I agreed "to fully cooperate with the Firm in the administration of the matter" and "seriously to consider any settlement offer that Attorneys recommend before making a decision to accept or reject such offer." Richard made that impossible because he never told me about the lawsuit or PopMatters' settlement offer.
I have now seen the response that Richard filed in this Court on June 11, 2020 without consulting me. He wrote, "Plaintiff choose the Southern District of Illinois as his venue of choice, in part due to the availability of his counsel, Liebowitz Law Firm." I was never consulted about this action and did not choose to file it at all. I would not have authorized filing it in this Court if Richard had asked. Richard made every choice, not me. He also wrote that "Defendant has failed to show that Plaintiff's counsel acted in bad faith, and therefore the request for sanctions should be denied." I do not know how Richard filing a lawsuit without my knowledge could be anything other than bad faith.
Richard did all this behind my back and without my authority. I had no idea about this lawsuit or the lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois until I got a demand from PopMatters' lawyer on June 29, 2020 for the attorney's fees award that was entered in the Northern District of Illinois in March, also without my knowledge.
That is... really, really bad. And then, even worse, is Liebowitz's response when Craig finally called him about this. You may recognize this side of Liebowitz trying to weasel out of things from what he's said in court in previous cases when he's finally called out by judges:
I sent Richard an email on July 6, 2020: "Richard, is this once again something you did and did not relay to me or ask me over two years ago. I have not spoken or heard from you since Feb. 2020 and now this. Please explain what this is and how I got mixed up in this matter." We talked yesterday, July 7, 2020. I told him what I knew about the case and asked him, "How come you didn't come to me?" He had no response. He tried to put the onus on me. "It's par for the course" he said. "You roll the dice, you see what you get."
Let's be clear here: this is not "par for the course" for anyone other than Richard Liebowitz. This is not how any of this is supposed to work. It does seem to be Liebowitz's standard practice to roll the dice and hope to get something good out of it, but this is not how a lawyer is supposed to behave. Craig seems to recognize all of this, and notes that Liebowitz has been rolling the dice quite a bit on his behalf:
I'm not the one who rolled the dice. That was all Richard. Last year in another case I caught him negotiating a settlement under the table without my knowledge. There are other cases that he filed in my name that I only found out about after the fact. This whole case is malpractice, a breach of my agreement with Richard and a total fraud. Now I know he's a scam artist and I don't want to be another one of his victims.
And of course, Craig notes that if anyone should pay attorney's fees, that should be on Liebowitz, not himself:
I understand that PopMatters asked for its attorney's fees either against me under the Copyright Act or as sanctions against Richard. He should have to pay any award, not me. I am asking you to please consider the facts of the matter and require Richard Liebowitz to pay the attorney's fees to PopMatters.
Let's just say that it's not very often that a client shows up in court to tell the judge he has no idea that the lawsuit exists and hopes the judge will make his own lawyer pay the other lawyer's fees.
I've said a few times now when attorneys' fees have been awarded and potentially fell upon the plaintiffs who had hired Liebowitz that one hopes that Liebowitz was honest enough to warn his clients of the liability they might face. However, I didn't consider that he'd started going around filing lawsuits without even telling those clients in the first place.
At this point, you have to wonder just how much longer Liebowitz will be allowed to practice law. I know these things take time, but the record of his misdeeds is really quite stunning.
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Filed Under: copyright, copyright troll, glen craig, richard liebowitz
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My popcorn futures took a serious hit when the Prendateers were jailed, but along comes Liebowitz to show that even in the middle of a virus caused global recession, popcorn is a smart investment.
I get the distinct feeling that this is going to proceed from a judicial benchslap into the realm of a judicial beatdown.
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You'd think so, but if too many people start following the Liebowitz show, there won't be any popcorn left.
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"I get the distinct feeling that this is going to proceed from a judicial benchslap into the realm of a judicial beatdown."
Well, you do have to give Liebowitz this - his balancing act on the razor's edge between criminal charges and debarment is, by now, a tightrope act worthy of the cirque de soleil.
He'll take that beatdown and ooze out of the epxerience none the worse for wear.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhQWDtpO2Ds
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In a sane world, Liebowitz would have been disbarred long ago.
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Given how much he’s lied to the courts, a conviction for perjury (and possibly fraud) would seem like a no-brainer, too.
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A little jail time and court ordered sessions with a psychiatrist is in order as well. Bipolar perhaps?
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After seeing Craig's listing of previous problems he had with Liebowitz, how the hell had he not fired him earlier? Like, years ago? WTAF?
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I think Mr Liebowitz is a very effective and personable liar when in person. Not everyone lives by fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...
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Sure, but the guy already had a list.
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Consider the possibility that Liebowitz would not act like being fired. He seems to ignore his client's instructions anyway.
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"Former" client: Didn't I fire you?
Liebowitz: It's par for the course.
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If the court truly wanted to uphold the principle of justice in this situation, it would hold Liebowitz personally and fully liable for all the legal fees of this specific case. Then it would refer his actions to both the bar association and the district attorney for other potential remedies regarding his actions. Nothing less than disbarrment and the loss of a good chunk of his own money will teach him a lesson about being a lying shit.
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You seem to misunderstand what our courts are for. Because it's not this.
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But if the courts don't do something about the likes of Liebowitz, those courts will no longer be trusted or respected by the people. Judges don't tend to like their own names and professions being dragged through the mud.
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'You've got some more mud on your mud-soaked robes there.'
But if the courts don't do something about the likes of Liebowitz, those courts will no longer be trusted or respected by the people.
Little late for that I'd say.
Judges don't tend to like their own names and professions being dragged through the mud.
And yet the apparently don't like actually doing anything about it even more, as they keep handing out the equivalent of 'pretty please stop doing that'.
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Joyriding, but with lawsuits instead of cars?
And he'll abandon the lawsuit in some place where the owner has to pick up the pieces.
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Any day now...
While it's always nice to see yet another 'Liebowitz eats his own foot/has it fed to him' story much like Prenda a few years back every such article shows just how pathetic the legal system is, and how there are apparently no real checks(or at the very least no interest in applying them) against abuse of the system so long as the one doing the abusing is a lawyer.
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one thing puzzles me
With the past history of problems with the lawyer, why would the client continue to use him?
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Sounds like Liebowitz has a promising future at Wells Fargo.
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You mean Hamilton's copyright hero, the great Richard Liebowitz, turned out to be a lying sack of shit again? It boggles the mind!
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Is anyone else getting a little whiff of of Another Prenda Law in the making? Seriously, all Richard needs to do is take his own photos and start suing over them, he's getting damn close.
Filing suits and then doing so under your clients name and not informing them, yeah that is a no no. Negotiating settlements and not disclosing them is also a no no.
Honestly it is way pat time for Richard to get his hands whacked here. This is the problem when you are using copyright enforcement under the guise of revenue generation you get too focused on the easy money and forget all about responsibilities, we have seen this time and time again with the trolls.
Well ought to be interesting to read old Richards response to all this, anyone want to take a bet that Craig is about to get thrown under the bus a lot in the next while with Richard threatening to sue for defamation or something?
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Honestly it is way pat time for Richard to get his hands whacked here.
If by that you mean 'lose his legal license entirely and be legally barred from ever acting as a lawyer in any capacity again, having demonstrated that he is completely unfit for the job and cannot be trusted with the power that comes with it' then yes, it's well past time for that.
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Wait until someone finally manages to get his books & compare what he told clients with checks he deposited.
Willing to bet there are several clients who are unaware that there are judgements against them, that settlements were paid to them, & entire cases happened without them ever being aware.
I mean if you look at the flurry of lawsuits between trolls & their clients you can see a pattern of people getting screwed out of money & having no idea what was happening in the cases.
Be it clients not being paid or firms not getting paid, it pretty much is an open secret that copyright trolling seems to draw in the worst of the worst... and I'd be happy if they were only feeding on each other, but they keep shaking people down based on imagination & evidence courts just don't understand but still somehow have faith that these lawyers would never ever ever lie to them... despite the huge number of benchslaps & questionable cases.
Now we have to deal with a court that reversed a ruling on the evidence Strike 3 uses isn't actually enough, not because they understood the tech but because they thought it was the lower court just being mean to them b/c they make porn & the thousands of cases they have filed & abandoned is not evidence they are just shaking people down.
o_O
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Now we have to deal with a court that reversed a ruling on the evidence Strike 3 uses isn't actually enough, not because they understood the tech but because they thought it was the lower court just being mean to them b/c they make porn & the thousands of cases they have filed & abandoned is not evidence they are just shaking people down.
... I always joke about judges taking a head-first trip down a flight of stairs as what it would take for them to screw a particular case up but damn, I guess at least one judge actually did.
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How long will L be practicing law? Indefinitely
Do a web search on "professional courtesy".
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What the fuck is wrong with our laws
Seriously this shit should be 25 years worth of felonies give the sheer legal chaos it could cause.
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Hmm... is Liebowitz still fililing so many cases in the hopes that one of his spam shams sticks and brings in enough cash that he can pay off his judgements (instead of the plaintiff he likely never contacted)?
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So unnecessary. That is a legit photographer with great cases. Just do the job right and everyone wins. RL is a sociopath.
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My prediction
Every time I think Liebowitz has hit rock bottom, he breaks out the tunneling gear. I'm done thinking he has finally hit the limit.
Quoting the above article: "However, I didn't consider that he'd started going around filing lawsuits without even telling those clients in the first place."
How can he go lower than that? I predict his next stunt will be randomly selecting some person out of a phone book to pretend is his client, forging documents as needed to prove standing to sue.
Not only will his next case involve a plaintiff who doesn't know Liebowitz is suing on his behalf, it will be a plaintiff who has no idea who Liebowitz is!
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Re: My prediction
"Every time I think Liebowitz has hit rock bottom, he breaks out the tunneling gear. I'm done thinking he has finally hit the limit."
You say that now. Wait for it, I fuckin' guarantee Liebowitz will do something which prompts us all to just sit and watch in slack-jawed fascination. Again.
There's a certain type of shameless grifter who simply won't stop bullshitting until, one day, they're getting fitted for concrete overshoes and realize, dimly, that perhaps unswerving honesty would have made for a better career path.
Problem is that ever since Trump got elected they now have a role model to follow rather than a warning example.
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Rolling the Dice
The way Liebowitz rolls the dice, he looks like the sucker who's about to be taken in a back-room craps game...
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