[Dixielandjazz] RIAA Sues Attorney for Representing Defendant in Lawsuit

[James O'Briant]

>From the WIRED Blog page:

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RIAA Decries Attorney-Blogger as 'Vexatious' Litigator

By David Kravets September 17, 2008 | 6:47:01 PM 

The Recording Industry Association of America is declaring
attorney-blogger Ray Beckerman a "vexatious" litigator. The
association is seeking unspecified monetary sanctions to punish
him in his defense of a New York woman accused of making
copyrighted music available on the Kazaa file sharing system.

The RIAA said Beckerman, one of the nation's few attorneys who
defends accused file sharers, "has maintained an anti-recording
industry blog during the course of this case and has consistently
posted virtually every one of his baseless motions on his blog
seeking to bolster his public relations campaign and embarrass
plaintiffs," the RIAA wrote (.pdf) in court briefs. "Such
vexatious conduct demeans the integrity of these judicial
proceedings and warrants this imposition of sanctions."

Lory Lybeck, a Washington state defense attorney leading a
proposed class-action lawsuit accusing the RIAA of allegedly
engaging in "sham" litigation tactics, said the RIAA's motion
comes from the same organization that has sued about 30,000 people
over the last five years for file sharing, some of them falsely.
It's the same organization, he said, that has sued dead people,
the elderly and even children -- all while using unlicensed
investigators.

"This is like irony and irony and irony," Lybeck said in a
telephone interview. "That's what vexatious litigation is."

Beckerman, whose blog is Recording Industry vs The People, said in
an interview the allegations were "frivolous and irresponsible."

Attorney Ray Beckerman denies RIAA charges that he's a "vexatious"
litigator. Lybeck represented an Oregon woman, Tanya Andersen, and
got the case dismissed last year. The RIAA fought paying his legal
fees because it claimed she was still an infringer. He
countersued. The case seeks to represent what he says are
"thousands of people falsely sued" by the RIAA. The case is
pending.

"Irony is too tame of a word to describe the motion against Ray,"
Lybeck said. "Their whole 30,000-lawsuit scheme is founded on the
purpose to run a PR campaign based on a fundamental starting place
of an illegal investigation by unlicensed investigators and then a
threatening letter," Lybeck said. "Ray is duty bound and ethically
bound to zealously defend his client."

In federal court documents filed in the Eastern District of New
York, the RIAA accused Beckerman, in defending a 2004 case against
a New York woman, "for providing false and misleading information
and for unreasonably and vexatiously multiplying and prolonging
this litigation."

The RIAA is also seeking sanctions against the defendant, Marie
Lindor, because it accuses her of destroying evidence to prevent
it from proving the allegations.

	"Here, sanctions are appropriate because defendant, 
	her family, and her counsel engaged in a deliberate 
	pattern of misconduct by providing false, misleading, 
	and incomplete information as to the status of 
	defendant's Internet service in August 2004, who 
	resided in defendant's home during that time, the 
	identity and location of witnesses with information 
	about the case, and the existence and owner of the 
	computer connected to defendant's Internet account 
	at the time of infringement. ...Defendant's 
	misrepresentations caused plaintiffs and the court 
	to waste substantial resources chasing empty leads 
	and ultimately led to the destruction of critical 
	evidence in this case. The actions of defendant 
	and her counsel have caused Plaintiffs to engage 
	in additional discovery at great time and expense, 
	prolonged this litigation unnecessarily, and 
	resulted in the destruction of critical computer 
	evidence severely and irreparably prejudicing 
	plaintiffs' ability to prove their case."

Readers should note the cover sheet (.pdf) of the court filing
lists Richard Gabriel as the RIAA's lead counsel. Gabriel was
named a Colorado judge in May and no longer works on behalf of the
RIAA.