We have been impatiently waiting for Judge Rice’s order on the defendant’s motion for attorney fees in a landmark Bittorent lawsuit Elf-Man v. Lamberson (WAED 13-cv-00395 ). It was a long and exhausting battle: please read my previous coverage . DieTrollDie also paid close attention to the developments in this case.

So, today we have this long anticipated decision, and it is good:

[…]IT IS HEREBY ORDERED: 1. Defendant’s Motion for Attorneys’ Fees (ECF No. 175) is GRANTED

in part and DENIED in part. Defendant is awarded attorney fees in the amount

of $100,961. […]

While the defendant asked for $200K, his demands were cut in half: a reduction of fees is traditional in this game, so I hope that the defense is satisfied with the outcome. There is a funny part: even after the judge awarded the fees in principle and his final decision addressing the exact amount was pending, the plaintiff offered to compensate the defendant in the amount of… $5,000.

Judge Thomas Rice recently made headlines with his statement that high statutory rates in this type of cases may run afoul of the Eight Amendment to the US Constitution. Alas, the judge stopped short of addressing the well-documented allegations of massive fraud upon the US courts by this and similar plaintiffs — Judge Rice simply ignored the evidence provided by the defense over the course of the litigation. This evidence resulted from the defendant’s attorney Chris Lynch enormous research of the “German trail.” This case has been closed, but Lynch’s findings don’t disappear with the case closure, and we will continue analyzing and investigating the international copyright shakedown Mafia and will report on new discoveries.

While this is a big victory over the law abusers, I regret to note that the predatory practice continues unabated: troll David Lowe (one of the plaintiff’s attorneys) still files fraudulent lawsuits in the State of Washington, and his brothers-in-scams in other states are busy extorting citizenry. I hope not for long. If the evidence substantiating one particular fraud — fake declarations and forged signatures filed in nearly 200 cases nationwide — reaches its critical mass and attracts interest of the FBI, we will see a downfall bigger than Prenda’s.



Congratulations to Ryan Lamberson, whose innocence was vindicated, and to his attorney Chris Lynch, whose titanic efforts and superb skills made it possible!

Coverage

Update

7/20/2015

It seems that the defendant received the payment:



Followup