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Pastimes : Investment Chat Board Lawsuits -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: EL KABONG!!! who wrote (11726)	4/25/2013 5:13:19 AM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 12465

If someone wanted to write the definitive textbook on the history of cyber law, all they would need do is read this message board from start to finish. Early on the "bad guys" had the advantage since their entire goal wasn't to prevail at trial but to shut you up by suing you and alleging all sorts of crazy things, figuring it would cost you a fraction to settle vs. engage in an expensive and protracted legal battle. If memory serves, I think you actually "discovered" the anti-SLAPP legislation in California that we used to take on Business Wire. Prior to that, the statute was designed to protect people from getting sued by politicians to shut them up. We figured why not apply that to cyberspace? These days, 99% of anti-SLAPP cases are for cyber lawsuits. We were #1. Also back then (late 90s) it was unclear whether just because someone in, say, NY could speak ill of a company in CA via the Internet that said CA company could sue the NY person in a CA court. We proved conclusively by our legal challenges that an Internet connection alone was not good enough to establish jurisdiction. As I said, I could go on and on about other legal precedents we set and chronicled here. Here's hoping iHub can make their mark as well. Now if only Canada would follow the US's lead! - Jeff

To: EL KABONG!!! who wrote (11726)	4/25/2013 9:38:45 AM
From: DanDerr	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12465

I also remember a similar "copyright scam" where people were sued to make them settle for some smaller amount!

To: EL KABONG!!! who wrote (11726)	4/25/2013 12:04:05 PM
From: the_worm06	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12465

Yes, that $1 million Pugs settlement set the good guys back for a year or two in the battle against the evil scam companies in court. The plaintiff then spent about 8 years suing everyone and their mother (somewhere around 18 more lawsuits) - resulting in just about every case dismissed, many with sanctions against him and his sleazy attorneys. The plaintiff passed away 2 years ago. We never did find out what his true relationship with "Big Black Buck" out of NYC was. PS - For old timers around these threads, we can remember the days when an SI poster found himself in the position of defending a $1M defamation lawsuit against a plaintiff that sued him (and others) knowing that the defendant(s) could ill afford a costly lawsuit and would likely concede the case, which had the effect of (temporarily) establishing legal precedence (which was the goal of said legal maneuvers). The defendant lost $1M, which was, to the best of my knowledge, never paid, though some concessions were made in the ultimate settlement of that litigation. Ancient history now, as the defendant no longer posts on SI, and the plaintiff is deceased (I think).