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The defendants, which apparently are not residents of Texas, will probably exercise their statutory right to "remove" [1] this lawsuit, so that instead of the c
by dctoedt 12y ago
The defendants, which apparently are not residents of Texas, will probably exercise their statutory right to "remove" [1] this lawsuit, so that instead of the case being heard in the Texas state court in Denton, it'll be in the federal court in Dallas [2].
We can expect the defendants to move to dismiss the case on the merits, on grounds that their conduct is protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act [3]. Whether they'll succeed is another question, especially as to Pinkmeth, and Tor might have an uphill battle as well.
We can also expect the defendants to move to dismiss on procedural grounds -- they will claim that they don't have enough contact with Texas to be properly subject to suit there (here) [4]. That too will probably be the subject of "satellite" litigation in pre-trial motion practice.
This won't be an inexpensive exercise for the defendants, just in terms of legal fees.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_jurisdiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_jurisdiction
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Northern_District_of_Texas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_fo...
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230_of_the_Communications_Decency_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230_of_the_Communicatio...
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_jurisdiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_jurisdiction
- 300bps 12y agoMore likely the Defendants have expected this type of thing to happen and are completely judgment proof. Anyone in a profession likely to be sued is smart to put asset protection at the forefront of their financial life and these guys would have to be insane not to have done that.
- AlyssaRowan 12y agoWhen you say "these guys", do you mean the Tor project? If so, they are at much higher risk than mere lawsuits, and they are quite well aware of that. The Electronic Frontier Foundation previously hosted the Tor project on tor.eff.org until it moved to torproject.org - I would expect a very forceful response and representation from EFF, probably already being drafted. (If you meant the 'revenge porn website' in question, I've no idea, but that's not the interesting part here.)
- johnnymonster 12y agoI would assume that the defendants are not going to do a single thing. I highly doubt they are in the united states. the pinkmeth website even makes fun of the "lolsuit". I'm going to guess no response will be given and they will just ignore the whole thing.
- ufmace 12y agoWhoever runs Pinkmeth is probably in a position to ignore it. The Tor project people probably aren't. IANAL, but hopefully their part of the suit will be thrown out with a minimum of legal wrangling, as I don't think there's any evidence that they have anything to do with the Pinkmeth site.
- subleq 12y agoPinkmeth are not the defendants; Tor is.
- ef4 12y agoRead the actual article. Both of them are listed as defendants.