Judge To Allow More Evidence Filed Against Team Prenda, Despite Vehement Objections From Prenda

from the judge-isn't-buying-it dept

On Wednesday, lawyer Morgan Pietz asked Judge Otis Wright if he could file some additional evidence in the big Prenda showdown case. Pietz, of course, is the lawyer who had been representing some of the anonymous Does that Prenda Law was targeting in various cases, and who was the lawyer who successfully convinced Judge Otis Wright that Prenda Law and its associated lawyers were up to highly questionable activities. The key thing was that Pietz pointed out that he had important evidence that Steele has admitted to having an "ownership interest in several of Prenda's clients" including AF Holdings. He also wants to file a response to the ridiculous character assassination of Alan Cooper, as well as the related filings by Team Prenda.

the outrageous attacks made on the real Alan Cooper are shameful. However, they are also easily discredited, and undersigned counsel would appreciate an opportunity to do so. Similarly, the other two declarations submitted by Mr. Duffy and Prenda also have problems, which undersigned counsel would like to briefly address and refute.

Pietz also wants to dig deeper into some of the actual legal issues associated with the cases at hand that go beyond just attorney misconduct, noting that some of these are important issues that shouldn't be lost in the focus on Prenda's conduct.

Not surprisingly, Prenda Law / Paul Duffy very quickly shot back, with a filing telling the court, rather vehemently, that it should not allow Pietz to file such things. It notes that the case itself is now a criminal investigation (interesting...) and thus opposing attorneys from the civil case no longer have a role in the case, because they're not "disinterested prosecutors." It then points out that Pietz is clearly not disinterested. Basically, it argues that Pietz is biased against copyright enforcement (ha!) and is just seeking to "pad his bill." Further, they claim that the evidence is "vague and inadmissable" (which some might interpret to mean "it says stuff we don't like very much, which hurts our credibility.") Very quickly after that, both Paul Hansmeier and John Steele filed "me too!" statements with the court, both saying that they "join" Prenda's objection.

Not surprisingly, these protests went for naught as Judge Wright very quickly approved Peitz's request to file the evidence by Tuesday April 16th. If you hadn't figured it out by now (and unless you've been living under a rock, you have figured it out by now), Judge Wright simply doesn't believe anything coming out of Team Prenda these days.