A San Francisco hearing scheduled in a case involving copyright trolling firm Prenda Law was cancelled this morning. Another Prenda case has also been tossed out, dismissed with prejudice by US District Judge Samuel Conti. Like some other Northern California judges, Conti had ordered Prenda to post a sizable bond ($50,000 in this case) if it wanted to proceed with it claims against the defendant, Andrew Magsumbol.

The reason for the bond is so that defendants would have some assurance that they could recoup at least some costs if they prevailed in case. As in every case where Prenda was asked to post a bond to proceed, Prenda decided it wasn't worth it. It didn't actually want to sue the defendant with the charges it had originally outlined, of illegally downloading porn off BitTorrent.

"More than thirty days have passed since the Court required Plaintiff to post an undertaking, and Plaintiff has not complied," wrote Conti in his order. "Nor does it express any intention or desire to do so. Indeed, Plaintiff's attorneys 'anticipate this case will be dismissed in the near future for failure to post this amount.' They are right. Plaintiff's refusal to post the undertaking is grounds for dismissal."

The attorney who would have had to show today was Brett Gibbs. Gibbs filed many copyright suits for Prenda last year, but distanced himself from the porn-trolling operation a few months ago. At a March hearing in US District Judge Otis Wright's court, Gibbs testified against Prenda, stating that John Steele and Paul Hansmeier were the masterminds of the operation—despite Steele's denials.

Today, Gibbs was going to testify about his desire to withdraw from the Magsumbol case.

Distancing himself from Prenda hasn't helped get Gibbs off the hook yet. Along with three other Prenda-linked lawyers, Gibbs was tagged with the tough $81,000 sanctions order from Wright earlier this month.

Too broke to pay, Gibbs officially severs ties

When Gibbs took the stand on March 11, one observer, legal blogger Ken White, felt bad for him. "He's a tall, thin, dark-haired young man with a serious expression," wrote White. "He looked appropriately unhappy... I found Gibbs believable as a young attorney out of his depth who fell in with the wrong crowd and made bad choices."

There's no question Gibbs is in a tough spot, and he made clear just how tough in a filing last week, where he explained why he can't afford to pay the sanctions he's been ordered to pay—sanctions that are growing at the rate of $1,000 per day.

"My bank account has a balance of less than $500," wrote Gibbs in a declaration he filed last week. "I currently owe more than $50,000 on a loan I used to pay for my legal education," as well as money to other creditors. Gibbs has no real estates or assets that would allow him to purchase a bond.

Since he left Prenda, he's only found work as a contract attorney. "[I]n that role, I have earned less than $5,000 total over the span of about two and one-half months." (In a footnote, Gibbs acknowledges that's in part due to his wedding and honeymoon having recently taken place.)

Tragically, Gibbs also has brain cancer. "I am on a heavy supplement regime and a special diet to attempt to suppress the cancer, both of which are very costly," he explained to the court. "I expect this level of health-related expenditures to continue or increase for the rest of my life in light of my incurable condition."

Gibbs, now acting as his own attorney, noted in a separate response that the court has the power "to waive the bond requirement and fashion an alternative remedy that ensures an appellee does not suffer any prejudice." He continued: "Mr. Gibbs is not trying to skirt his duties here.... he is willing to entertain any alternative arrangement that would allow the Court to effect a stay on his behalf."

He asked the court to discharge the order to show cause against him and relieve him of the obligation to pay $1,000 per day.

Wright granted Gibbs' motion to withdraw on Wednesday, but hasn't responded to his plea for leniency.

Meanwhile, the Prenda gang has posted a bond for $101,650 while it prepares to appeal Wright's order. The bond was secured on May 20, Wright approved it on May 23, and it appeared on the docket today.

“They’d be pounding their chest and jumping up and down”

Claire Suddath of Bloomberg Businessweek has published a story on the Prenda saga. Close Prenda-watchers won't see much new, but for those who haven't followed every step of the way, it's a good catch-up.

One interview that is revelatory is with Paul Pilcher, who runs a six-employee porn company called Hard Drive Productions in Phoenix, Arizona. Suddath writes:

The money started rolling in. “They would send me a check for, let’s say, $35,000, for a month,” Pilcher says. “They’d be pounding their chest and jumping up and down, thinking they were the greatest in the world.” Over a year and a half, Steele and Hansmeier filed a total of 65 suits on behalf of Hard Drive against 4,760 people, according to court documents. Pilcher earned just under $200,000, he says, but he never knew what was happening with the suits, how many there were, or who exactly his company was suing. “Getting information out of [Steele and Hansmeier] was honestly kind of painful,” he says. “They claimed they didn’t want me to have records of specific things in case something happened.”

So: just about everyone says that Steele and Hansmeier were the kings of Prenda, except for Steele.