A batch of new filings in the famous Ingenuity 13 v John Doe (the “Star Trek” case — CACD 12-cv-8333), where four clowns (John Steele, Paul and Peter Hansmeiers, and Mark Lutz) filed motions complaining that they were not served properly, essentially (and, in the Lutz’s case, literally) accusing Morgan Pietz and Nick Ranallo of fraud (wow!).

At the same time but in another case, Nick Ranallo, whom John Steele once called “underemployed lawyer trolling for business,” moved for sanctions against John Steele and Paul Hansmeier personally — to preemptively deal with the problem of extracting fees from Prenda’s shell corporations, which are de-facto judgment-proof. Unlike the farcical movements in the Wright’s case, a must-read Ranallo’s motion is dead serious, it contains all the instances of Penda’s wrongdoings, and it is complemented by Brett Gibbs’s declaration in support of sanctions (wow #2!).

Over the previous week Prenda continued to broadcast its last season of the soap opera. In particular, two events have been covered by the media:

These two events in their ironical contrast were nicely covered by ArsTechnica and TechDirt, so I won’t waste time trying to re-tell quite obvious commentaries (don’t neglect the readers’ comments).

One significant Prenda-related episode has been left out: there was a hearing in the AF Holdings v. Patel (GAND 12-cv-00262), where Blair Chintella, one of the first original Doe defenders, has been firmly standing against Prenda, opposing its cowardly move to flee — to dismiss the case with prejudice on 3/18/2013 — after it became clear that this particular extortion attempt had failed. Instead of letting the villains go unpunished, Chintella filed a comprehensive motion for sanctions. Naturally, Steele/Hansmeier did not like it, and what followed made this case probably one of the most entertaining Prenda’s shows (to the extent you can separate the grief of the victims from the good, healing and disinfectant laugh). Prenda’s local — The Best Of Craigslist Attorney 2012 winner Jacque Nazaire — filed motions featuring all kinds of bizarre arguments ranging from equating EFF to a “terrorist organization” to arguing that Judge Wrghts’s order is irrelevant because California allows gay marriage and because Anonymous attacked PayPal. It was the case where Mark Lutz claimed under influence oath that “Salt Marsh” is not an individual but a trust that benefits Mark’s unborn children.

Below is Chintella’s press release regarding the July 3 hearing. It is pretty self-explanatory; I only want to stress two most important points (in my opinion):

Court granted discovery to the defendant, and that is huge. I hope Blair Chintella will use all his skills to pierce Prenda’s shell game down to its core. Prenda is not dead yet, and opening another discovery front for sure will be cheered by tens of thousands of Prenda’s extortion targets.

Prenda via Nazaire went to great (popcorn-laden) lengths to shield this Court from the bigger picture, yet Blair was firm and it paid off: initially reluctant to go beyond this case’s scope, Judge William C. O’Kelley has finally made a note of the nationwide scam and expressed serious concerns.

As indicated in the release, Andrew Norton was at the hearing ready to testify as an expert witness, but was not called. Here is his detailed report, somewhat long but worth your time.

Update

10/24/2013

Below is the corrected press release by Blair Chintella:

In other news

One more notable Prenda-related event from the last week: David Harris, a pro se defendant from Arizona, filed a nice motion for Equitable Estoppel and Show Cause Order.

For the aforementioned reasons Defendant request this Honorable Court to Order Plaintiff to Show Cause why this Court should not forward the information in this Motion to the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona for Criminal Prosecution of Plaintiff for the charge of Criminal Copyright Infringement in violation of 17 U.S.C. §506(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 2319 a Federal Five Year Felony.

Many people welcomed Mr. Harris’s change of tone: previously he was criticized for rude language directed not only at the troll, but also at the judge, yet even the harsh critics agreed that in the essence Harris was always right. DieTrollDie has been following this case closely.