5 ms·

popehat is great, and in spite this being one of their smaller articles, I fail to follow what it boils down to. Can someone please summarize what Prenda has to

by ultimoo 13y ago

popehat is great, and in spite this being one of their smaller articles, I fail to follow what it boils down to. Can someone please summarize what Prenda has to now do -- Do they serve time? Do they pay millions? Are they not allowed to practice again?

wyck 13y ago
1. They have to pay for the attorney fees with a punitive multiplier, basically double. So instead of paying 40k they have to pay 80k for this case. Other cases will likely follow suite. 2. Judge Wright says he is referring Steele, Duffy, Hansmeier, and Gibbs to their respective state bars and federal bars. They can very well be debarred from practicing law, there will be a very thorough bar investigation. This is what lawyer's nightmare are made of. 3. He is referring the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office for RICO (Racketeer act) and the IRS. This is what Hells Angels/Mafia nightmares are made of. 4. All judges that have pending cases with these lawyers will be notified of the above (and most likely more). Worse case scenario: More attorney fee x2 (how many cases did they prosecute?) , debarred, send to jail for racketeering. tl;dr the Judge fined them 2x and then set 3 organizations you don't want to mess with on their asses, and told everyone about it.
Sanddancer 13y ago
They have to pay attorney fees of about 40 grand, and another 40 grand of punitive damages. At this point, that's about it, but with a ruling like this, there's no doubt that there are going to be many more problems for the Prenda gang in the future. Don't worry though, given the gravity of the recommendations Wright's sending to the DA and to the IRS, you can be certain there will be much more popcorn to be had from this case.
- TylerE 13y ago
  Actually, the biggest bit in the judgement might be the "referral" (and not the _good_ kind of referral) to their state bar(s).
  - protomyth 13y ago
    I would say the worst referral is actually the IRS one. The IRS does not play "innocent until proven guilty" it is "pay up first, then prove you are innocent if you can". The referral for a possible RICO case isn't very nice either. Informing all other courts about this is going to kill their other lawsuits and bring some interesting new lawsuits / appeals.
Natsu 13y ago
Well, first they have to pay the defense lawyers for their time. It's not a lot, really, but enough to compensate them. Then he stripped them of various legal defenses by finding them to be party to fraud upon the court. And he accused them of "moral turpitude" which could get them disbarred. And he sent a copy of this order to every judge they have a case before. And to every bar association. So ALL of them can go after them independently. Then he referred them for a criminal investigation, mentioning RICO. Oh, and he pointed out how they said they paid no taxes and have all these shells and mystery trusts in a tax haven, so he called in the IRS to investigate, too. So they have to face this all over again in front of every single judge where they have a case, with every bar association they're a part of. All while facing the feds AND the IRS. This is akin to being stripped naked and thrown to the wolves, except that Judge Wright didn't stop with wolves, he looked up every carnivore in the country and gave it a dinner invitation.

by ultimoo 13y ago

wyck 13y ago

1. They have to pay for the attorney fees with a punitive multiplier, basically double. So instead of paying 40k they have to pay 80k for this case. Other cases will likely follow suite. 2. Judge Wright says he is referring Steele, Duffy, Hansmeier, and Gibbs to their respective state bars and federal bars. They can very well be debarred from practicing law, there will be a very thorough bar investigation. This is what lawyer's nightmare are made of. 3. He is referring the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office for RICO (Racketeer act) and the IRS. This is what Hells Angels/Mafia nightmares are made of. 4. All judges that have pending cases with these lawyers will be notified of the above (and most likely more). Worse case scenario: More attorney fee x2 (how many cases did they prosecute?) , debarred, send to jail for racketeering. tl;dr the Judge fined them 2x and then set 3 organizations you don't want to mess with on their asses, and told everyone about it.

Sanddancer 13y ago

They have to pay attorney fees of about 40 grand, and another 40 grand of punitive damages. At this point, that's about it, but with a ruling like this, there's no doubt that there are going to be many more problems for the Prenda gang in the future. Don't worry though, given the gravity of the recommendations Wright's sending to the DA and to the IRS, you can be certain there will be much more popcorn to be had from this case.

TylerE 13y ago
Actually, the biggest bit in the judgement might be the "referral" (and not the _good_ kind of referral) to their state bar(s).
- protomyth 13y ago
  I would say the worst referral is actually the IRS one. The IRS does not play "innocent until proven guilty" it is "pay up first, then prove you are innocent if you can". The referral for a possible RICO case isn't very nice either. Informing all other courts about this is going to kill their other lawsuits and bring some interesting new lawsuits / appeals.

Natsu 13y ago

Well, first they have to pay the defense lawyers for their time. It's not a lot, really, but enough to compensate them. Then he stripped them of various legal defenses by finding them to be party to fraud upon the court. And he accused them of "moral turpitude" which could get them disbarred. And he sent a copy of this order to every judge they have a case before. And to every bar association. So ALL of them can go after them independently. Then he referred them for a criminal investigation, mentioning RICO. Oh, and he pointed out how they said they paid no taxes and have all these shells and mystery trusts in a tax haven, so he called in the IRS to investigate, too. So they have to face this all over again in front of every single judge where they have a case, with every bar association they're a part of. All while facing the feds AND the IRS. This is akin to being stripped naked and thrown to the wolves, except that Judge Wright didn't stop with wolves, he looked up every carnivore in the country and gave it a dinner invitation.