People are able to opt out (presumably after we have their information), hire an attorney, and experience federal court all by themselves. The problem is that since our clients are entitled to attorney's fees (if they win), the cost of defending a suit all by yourself is expensive if you win, and really expensive if you lose. Of course, we would be able to pull them out of the class action anyway if we wanted and sue them in a separate action.
I won't respond to every comment here, as I am about to file some new cases this afternoon, but I will point out that the cases in other states were 'severed' for joinder concerns. First, many cases were not severed, including all but one of mine. Second, class actions are immune to the improper joinder argument. Lastly, movie companies are going to keep coming up with new ways to go after pirates.
1. the judge ruled on the john doe motion 48 hours after it was filed and before we had an opportunity to respond. That is extremely unusual, and has not happened in any other "BitTorrent" case. I will refrain from posting my thoughts about such an 'unusual' practice.
2. All the people that were named can still be sued by CP, as the case was dismissed without prejudice. In fact, if the pirates do not settle, that will be happening within the statutory period (we still have 2+ years). Why do we wait? All I can say is that parties contacted by us are put on notice they have a legal obligation to maintain the computer equipment and records until trial.
3. I have a feeling that tomorrow, there will be a new case filed on behalf of CP. I will be more than happy to post the case number when it is assigned.
4. The costs for ISP's are not passed on to customers, but rather to the Plaintiffs in these cases.
5. These same issues have been brought before roughly 12 judges just for our cases, and because one rules for the pirates, people think its the end of these cases. Does that make sense?
6. Stay Tuned. I can promise we are not sitting around over here.
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opting out
I won't respond to every comment here, as I am about to file some new cases this afternoon, but I will point out that the cases in other states were 'severed' for joinder concerns. First, many cases were not severed, including all but one of mine. Second, class actions are immune to the improper joinder argument. Lastly, movie companies are going to keep coming up with new ways to go after pirates.
facts please
1. the judge ruled on the john doe motion 48 hours after it was filed and before we had an opportunity to respond. That is extremely unusual, and has not happened in any other "BitTorrent" case. I will refrain from posting my thoughts about such an 'unusual' practice.
2. All the people that were named can still be sued by CP, as the case was dismissed without prejudice. In fact, if the pirates do not settle, that will be happening within the statutory period (we still have 2+ years). Why do we wait? All I can say is that parties contacted by us are put on notice they have a legal obligation to maintain the computer equipment and records until trial.
3. I have a feeling that tomorrow, there will be a new case filed on behalf of CP. I will be more than happy to post the case number when it is assigned.
4. The costs for ISP's are not passed on to customers, but rather to the Plaintiffs in these cases.
5. These same issues have been brought before roughly 12 judges just for our cases, and because one rules for the pirates, people think its the end of these cases. Does that make sense?
6. Stay Tuned. I can promise we are not sitting around over here.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by JohnSteele.
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