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There are three quick steps to angering a federal judge: first, launch the country's largest file-sharing lawsuit against 23,322 anonymous defendants, even though most of them don't live where you filed the suit. Second, request "expedited discovery" in the case, allowing you to quickly secure the subpoenas necessary to go to Internet access providers and turn those 23,322 IP addresses into real names. Third, don't even bother to serve the subpoenas you just told the court were so essential to your case. Federal Judge Robert Wilkins of Washington, DC this week blasted the conduct of Dunlap, Grubb, and Weaver, the attorneys behind the lawsuit, calling it "inexcusable." Dunlap, Grubb, and Weaver helped kickstart the current frenzy of P2P lawsuits last year after filing cases under the name "US Copyright Group." The 23,322-person case, their largest to date, involves the film The Expendables. Two months after Judge Wilkins approved the subpoenas, they have still not been served; upset at this behavior, he has now revoked them. In explaining his decision, the judge said the delay was "especially surprising given the fact that one of Plaintiff's stated reasons for 'good cause' for the expedited discovery was that the ISPs typically retain the information that Plaintiff seeks only for a limited period of time… Plaintiff's delay in pursuing the discovery they requested on an expedited bases is inexcusable." Further, the judge has realized that few of the IP addresses in question are likely to belong to DC residents; the plaintiffs admitted as much in a recent status conference. "The Court finds it inappropriate and a waste of scarce judicial resources to allow and oversee discovery on claims or relating to defendants that cannot be prosecuted in this lawsuit," said the judge.
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Topic: Judge Furious At "Inexcusable" P2P Lawyering, Nukes Subpoenas (Read 743 times)
