RIAA Mischaracterizes Letter Received From AOL

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In Elektra v. Schwartz, an RIAA case against a Queens woman with Multiple Sclerosis who indicates that she had never even heard of file sharing until the RIAA came knocking on her door, the judge held that Ms. Schwartz's summary judgment request for dismissal was premature because the RIAA said it had a letter from AOL 'confirm[ing] that defendant owned an internet access account through which copyrighted sound recordings were downloaded and distributed.' When her lawyers got a copy of the actual AOL letter they saw that it had no such statement in it, and asked the judge to reconsider."

Re:uhoh

[Baricom]

My initial interpretation to that was that all the other IPs were not Ms. Schwartz. Wouldn't this put even more doubt as to the credibility of the RIAA's supposed evidence?

Re:Sure, the **AA are evil...

[edward2020]

I don't know that what they did is perjury. The trial hasn't even started yet. The plaintiff's were trying to show that they meet the prima facia elements of thier case in order to continue to trial after the defendant's motion for summary judgement. Of course this doesn't mean that the plaintiff's attorney's shouldn't be beat with a hose though.

Re:Sure, the **AA are evil...

[bishiraver]

"[MS] really has no bearing on the case".

(IANAMD,BIRW [I am not a medical doctor, but I read wikipedia])

Actually, it sort of does. When you have MS, you can have "relapses" or "attacks" that increase the severity of your disability. These can be triggered by disease (colds, influenza, etc), or stressful events.

Needless to say, having to go through the ordeal of a trial may cause her disease to get worse. So it sort of does have an inhumane quality if she really did pirate music. Even so: couple thousand dollars, or potentially make the person you're suing degenerate further into a permanent and debilitating disease... sort of calls their morals into question, eh?

Re:Sure, the **AA are evil...

[stox]

MS can cause cognitive impairment. As I heard from someone with MS, "time is brain." Not only does control of the body go, but so can the senses and cognitive function.

Re:Nothing to see here, please move along

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

I don't agree that suing someone every other Tuesday is our national tradition.

I do think that the rule of law is our crown jewel, and is the bedrock of our democracy, and that in our common law system the law evolves in part through judicial decisionmaking. Respect for law, to my mind, suggests that we should respect the courts, and not litter them with frivolous litigation as the RIAA has done.

I am hopeful that the judges will take action against these bullies.

Keep an eye on Capitol v. Foster [riaalawsuits.us], where the judge has the opportunity to hit them with a big attorneys fee award, and Elektra v. Barker [riaalawsuits.us], where the judge is considering whether the RIAA even has a sufficient claim to warrant filing a lawsuit.

Re:Wrong, lawyers are salespeople.

[KiahZero]

http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/Rule11.htm [cornell.edu]

(b) Representations to Court.

By presenting to the court (whether by signing, filing, submitting, or later advocating) a pleading, written motion, or other paper, an attorney or unrepresented party is certifying that to the best of the person's knowledge, information, and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances,--

(1) it is not being presented for any improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation;

(2) the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions therein are warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or the establishment of new law;

(3) the allegations and other factual contentions have evidentiary support or, if specifically so identified, are likely to have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation or discovery; and

(4) the denials of factual contentions are warranted on the evidence or, if specifically so identified, are reasonably based on a lack of information or belief.

Re:Is it any worse?

[elucidnation]

The MS part is VERY relevant. MS is an autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of the myelin sheath that protects nerves. Stress is a key trigger that can increase the severity and duration of the excarbations (immune system atacks on the myelin sheaths). Even if she wins the case, the woman will likely suffer physical damage as a result of the stress. If the RIAA has deliberately mischaracterized their case then I would consider them guilty of assault. of course IaNAL---just someone with a conscience who has seen a loved one deteriorate and die from MS.