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RIAA Lobbyist Turned Judge Backpedals On BitTorrent Cases

In the ongoing mass-BitTorrent lawsuits, last month U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell laid down a landmark verdict in favor of copyright holders. The verdict was widely publicized, but put in doubt after it was uncovered that the Judge was a former RIAA lobbyist. This critique appears to have had an effect. In two new orders in the same cases, Howell has now backpedaled on her earlier stance.

howellLess than a week after her investiture ceremony, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell gave several copyright holders carte blanche to continue their profitable settlement schemes. This verdict weakened the position of thousands of alleged BitTorrent users, some of whom may be completely innocent.

A landmark ruling, and one The Hollywood Reporter went so far to describe as “the most important decision to date in the ongoing mass-litigation campaign against thousands of individuals who traded copyrighted movies on BitTorrent.”

But then, a few days later we reported that Judge Beryl Howell may not be the most objective person to rule on these types of cases. After a quick background check we found that Howell earned close to half a million dollars as an RIAA lobbyist in previous years. At the time, she was the Managing Director and General Counsel at a consulting firm with expertise in digital forensics.

This unveiling of Howell’s close ties to the RIAA was again widely reported in the press, and it now seems that this may have had an effect. In two new orders that came out of the same cases where Judge Howell previously gave a carte blanche, she is now putting several restrictions on what the copyright holders can and can’t do.

In Maverick Entertainment cases, Judge Howell orders (pdf) the copyright holders to dismiss all the cases for which they indicated they would not name the defendants. This means that it will result in a dismissal “for all John Doe defendants for which the plaintiff has received identifying information as of February 1st, 2011.”

In the cases related to the Call Of The Wild movie (pdf), the judge appears to want to kill the case for the same reason John Steele’s CP Productions, Inc. case v. Does 1-500 case was killed in Illinois (violation of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 4m). That is, defendants had to be served within 120 days after the complaint is filed.

However, the copyright holders are being given the opportunity to give a good reason why the defendants should not be dismissed, and in both of the above cases they have the option to name new defendants in an amended complaint.

TorrentFreak talked to Texas lawyer Robert Cashman, who represents several defendants in mass-BitTorrent lawsuits, to find out how he sees the remarkable turnaround and what the latest orders mean for the current defendants.

“Whether these defendants get dismissed or not is based on the coming acrobatics of the plaintiff attorneys, and how hard the judge claps her hands in amusement,” Cashman told us in a response.

Interestingly, Cashman agrees that it appears the negative attention on her RIAA past may have had an effect on her ruling. He thinks that bringing the nefarious nature of the cases to Judge Howell’s attention may have led to the latest orders.

“I do not think she was aware when she wrote her opinion, that the plaintiffs were using the legal system (her court) to harass and extort thousands of dollars from each of the John Doe defendants while pretending to her as if they were merely conducting evidence gathering,” Cashman said.

“It appears she — consistent with her previous ruling — is finding another way out of these cases while still keeping her past pro-copyright stance in accordance with the current US administration’s policy against copyright infringement,” he added.

Whatever the true motivations for Judge Howell are, the end result is more positive for the defendants than Howell’s previous verdicts. Together with the thousands of dismissals we’ve seen in recent weeks, it’s beginning to look like the mass-BitTorrent lawsuits may not be that profitable for the copyright holders after all. Not even with an former RIAA lobbyist as a judge.

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  • arb

    first, She only did this so as not get what she rules thrown out and a possible worst verdict for people she used to work for

  • Anonymous

    lol, are their any politicians out there that are not bought and paid for?
    Anonymous-Toolz.tk

  • Anonymous

    Judge Beryl Howell should not be sitting on these cases at all.

    The rules clearly state that anyone who lobbies congress cant judge a case related to the subject they lobbied. So the only call would be for her to step aside and to let another judge take over.

    Any other judge could have done what she did today simply following the law so nothing much to thank her for.

    • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

      I don’t know where that Rule is V0. Do you?

      But rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (2010) does allow a judge to ask the plaintiff if they have good reason why the 120 days should be extended. It says in full -

      Rule 4
      (m) Time Limit for Service.

      If a defendant is not served within 120 days after the complaint is filed, the court — on motion or on its own after notice to the plaintiff — must dismiss the action without prejudice against that defendant or order that service be made within a specified time. But if the plaintiff shows good cause for the failure, the court must extend the time for service for an appropriate period. This subdivision (m) does not apply to service in a foreign country under Rule 4(f) or 4(j)(1).

      And I wager that if the Plaintiff writes back saying “Mickey Mouse tripped me up in the street”, this bought-and-paid-for so-called judge will grant an extension of time to serve the defendants with the necessary papers.

    • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

      I don’t know where that Rule is V0. Do you?

      But rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (2010) does allow a judge to ask the plaintiff if they have good reason why the 120 days should be extended. It says in full -

      Rule 4
      (m) Time Limit for Service.

      If a defendant is not served within 120 days after the complaint is filed, the court — on motion or on its own after notice to the plaintiff — must dismiss the action without prejudice against that defendant or order that service be made within a specified time. But if the plaintiff shows good cause for the failure, the court must extend the time for service for an appropriate period. This subdivision (m) does not apply to service in a foreign country under Rule 4(f) or 4(j)(1).

      And I wager that if the Plaintiff writes back saying “Mickey Mouse tripped me up in the street”, this bought-and-paid-for so-called judge will grant an extension of time to serve the defendants with the necessary papers.

      • Anonymous

        You have highlighted that this time she handled the law correctly. It also means Mr Cashman’s comments while humerous were quite political.

        Anyway since you asked then this is what Jay said on this subject 11 days ago…

        Link -
        http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc…
        (a) Any justice, judge, or
        magistrate judge of the United
        States shall disqualify himself in
        any proceeding in which his
        impartiality might reasonably be
        questioned.
        (b)(1) is even better – Where he
        has a personal bias or prejudice
        concerning a party, or personal
        knowledge of disputed
        evidentiary facts concerning the
        proceeding;
        (b)(3) – Where he has served in
        governmental employment and
        in such capacity participated as
        counsel, adviser or material
        witness concerning the
        proceeding or expressed an
        opinion concerning the merits of
        the particular case in
        controversy;

        • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

          Oh now THAT is soooooo sweet. Many, MANY thanks V0 and Jay too of course.

          I now have that page duly bookmarked and will drag it out time and time again for EVERY occasion this witch (or any other so-called judge), falls into this beautiful little section.

          TITLE 28 > PART I > CHAPTER 21 > § 455
          § 455. Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge

          btw, subsection 455(b)(3) is unlikely to apply because the witch worked for the MPAA which (despite their illusions of grandeur) is not yet a government agency even though they get politicians, gov’t agencies, judges and laws bent to their evil will.

          I think it’s far more likely she’d fall foul of ss455(b)(1) for reason of personal bias (either for or against – it doesn’t matter), and definitely ss455(a) because their impartiality is not only questioned reasonably – but blatantly ffs.

          Thanks again to V0 and Jay – you guys are the best *thumbsup

        • Anonymous

          She was not employed by the MPAA when they only paid her to lobby for them.

          Since 2004 until this new job she was actually a member of the United States Sentencing Commission which is an independent
          agency of the judicial branch of the federal government.

          So a governmental paid job during her lobbying means she is condemned by all three points.

        • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

          No disrespect my friend, but this is where I get confused with the ‘modern’ World.
          When a person is paid to do a job I think that means the person is in their employ by way of a contract for services, employment, or however else it’s now called. To me, that means they were employed in a legal contract.

          But this aint the place to argue such minor differences I guess. So let’s see what happens with this wide-legged MAFIAA whore of a judge.

      • Anonymous

        You have highlighted that this time she handled the law correctly. It also means Mr Cashman’s comments while humerous were quite political.

        Anyway since you asked then this is what Jay said on this subject 11 days ago…

        Link -
        http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc…
        (a) Any justice, judge, or
        magistrate judge of the United
        States shall disqualify himself in
        any proceeding in which his
        impartiality might reasonably be
        questioned.
        (b)(1) is even better – Where he
        has a personal bias or prejudice
        concerning a party, or personal
        knowledge of disputed
        evidentiary facts concerning the
        proceeding;
        (b)(3) – Where he has served in
        governmental employment and
        in such capacity participated as
        counsel, adviser or material
        witness concerning the
        proceeding or expressed an
        opinion concerning the merits of
        the particular case in
        controversy;

    • Gargamel

      Its the U.S. Good luck with that.

      They dont even follow their own laws.

      Invading countries with no cause, pro lobbyist judges on panels. Harassing other countries with U.S laws that don’t apply to them.

      Just another day at the office for the U.S Government.

      • Anonymous

        If laws and courts do not reflect justice then they are just lines in the sand drawn by people who stand in our way.

    • Guest

      Did I miss something?

      I thought that the previous verdict gave them carte blanche in all future bit torrent cases, meaning being able to name 1 million John does and go after them with greater ease…
      If I got that right then this is just to appease and lull people to sleep while they reign free. The current verdicts only puts restraint on the current cases so they can pretend to be pissed and fold these cases and name a whole new 6 000 Does tomorrow with all the ease that her previous judgment gave them…

      Please tell me I missed something

  • POOP

    Bloody good show.

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  • TD

    I’m glad that the child of Cate Blanchett and Julian Assange has seen the error of her ways.

  • Donkeyshow

    “I do not think she was aware when she wrote her opinion, that the plaintiffs were using the legal system (her court) to harass and extort thousands of dollars from each of the John Doe defendants while pretending to her as if they were merely conducting evidence gathering,” Cashman said.

    This part is confusing to me. Why wouldn’t Cashman have brought this up prior?

    • Anonymous

      Because at the moment he’s not representing any of the people in these particular cases?

      Isn’t this partly about ‘discovery’? Aren’t the defendants are all ‘Does’? If so, until they have been identified and charged they won’t have lawyers.

    • Whatever

      I was wondering something else about that.

      With her past she obviously was aware, these things have discuss already been discussed with her in the “old boys network”. There is even a good chance she even knows the plaintiffs personally.

      Why is Cashman acting as if he is naieve enough to believe that she was not aware ? This an example of how a politician would phrase it (carefully and running around the issue).

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  • Jeep

    This is a perfect example of whats wrong with america. In all facet of business( financial,insurance,heathcare,entertainment,energy and im sure others) these lobbyist move back and forth between lobbying and government and back to lobbying and back to government to get their laws enacted that favor whatever industry their in. This type of stuff is corrupt and criminal. Or at least it should be.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay

      I’ll expand on that:

      We have a small number of people in government and private interest that move from one area to another. It’s a no-brainer that most of Washington is made up of lawyers, politicians, and those in positions of power.

      The problem is, the US is quite large with a very diverse number of people and beliefs. Basically, you have our federal government being controlled by just Washington DC. Think about all of the bureaucratic leaders that have come out of this system we have:

      Mitch Glazier – RIAA leader
      Steven Tepp – In the USTR now (started in the Justice Department)
      Dick Cheney – Congressional Aide for years
      Chris Dodd – Corrupt Congressman that is now making $1M a year with the MPAA.

      I think a great way to solve our problem would be thus:
      If we allowed people one long Senate or Congressional term, that’s it. It changes the system around and then you have your chance on society. The thing is that nowadays, you have terms that keep going and going and going. Leahy has been there for 30+ years. I would imagine he has gerrymandering down to a science along with coveting TWCs donation money as his own. What if he had a limit, same as the President? Just a thought.

  • Guest

    “RIAA Lobbyist Turned Judge Backpedals On BitTorrent Cases”

    Too late bitch. You now have a record as a corporate parasite and corrupted lawyer with all the consequence associated with it.

  • Dawg

    Justice is and has always been for sale, in the USA and every else on planet Earth. I think the question is, can the RIAA and their cronies afford the judges, courts, legislators and lawyers necessary to stop P2P downloading by incalculable millions of “John Does” all across the world? That is alot of jurisdictions to cover and alot of palms to grease. I am guessing they would need at least a few hundred billion dollars to get the job done. Howell is probably pretty cheap, but she is’nt going to be allowed to sap dollars from other jurisdictions all over the USA., or any other vast areas.This is good news, the stupid mass lawsuit strategy is failing.

    • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

      If it’s gonna cost that much, then they can simply buy an atoll in the eastern pacific ocean, set-up their own form of democracy lol, and invite everyone who wishes to visit physically or electronically to agree to a shake-down prior to access.

      That sounds fair to me. And there’s plenty of fools will agree to it, and desire it (for their own privacy and freedom of course).

  • http://otester.myopenid.com/ PiRat

    Problem in the US is the general public do nothing, the elite is destroying your country yet you sit there and continue to watch American Idol all day…

    • Guest

      I agree with you 100% but to be fair it’s not just the americans… Most countries fall under this title but it is true that the americans love to export their shit…

    • Thrillhouse

      Youre right. I will offer an explanation other than the fact that some are just lazy and stupid. There is a very good portion of the people that believe the Fed is the final say in all matters, and really just shrug off this stuff with a “what can you do” attitude. The tide is changing though as my generation starts to realize that this is not the way this country is supposed to be. We are tired of American Idol…and we are tired of losing our freedoms!

  • Momo

    This is awesome news! Now, I want to see the shills who were saying “there is no conflict of interest” on the previous article’s comments eat their ties.

    But, note:

    “However, the copyright holders are being given the opportunity to give a good reason why the defendants should not be dismissed, and in both of the above cases they have the option to name new defendants in an amended complaint.”

    Means now she knows blatant corruption doesn’t sit well with the public, and will be doing the exactly same things but more subtly in the future.

    • Gee

      Indeed this is good news. It also means the power of internet news such as TF can have a positive affect in some situations such as this one.

      If it wasn’t for TF and others exposing this questionable judge, nothing would change.

      Unfortunately you are probably right about her taking a more subtle approach with the same agenda in the future….. But I hope she proves us wrong.

      That would be refreshing.

      • Donotreply

        “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
        — Thomas Jefferson

  • Jared Loughner

    That will not solve the problem, those responsible for the corruption knowingly have nothing to fear from the courts.
    Unaccountable.
    But the thing is, you only get one life.

  • Whatever

    “for all John Doe defendants for which the plaintiff has received identifying information as of February 1st, 2011.”

    Did they already receive the information ? Then nothing will stop them sending a letter which tries to persuade victims to pay anyway like the scammers they are (not mentioning the verdict).

    Maybe “received identifying information” means something else here ?

  • Anonymous

    Talk about influence in Government before being a judge Beryl Howell, general counsel, Senate Judiciary Committee.

  • Anonymous

    When Corporations insist having their case heard in a certain state in front of a certain judge, it shouldn’t take long to find the shit under the sheets.

  • Js8gue2giu

    I’d rec’d the letter from Comcast in early March notifying of their subpoena to release IP holder names/address if I didn’t apply to quash such subpoena by April 1st.

    Per above:
    In Maverick Entertainment cases, Judge Howell orders (pdf) the copyright holders to dismiss all the cases for which they indicated they would not name the defendants. This means that it will result in a dismissal “for all John Doe defendants for which the plaintiff has received identifying information as of February 1st, 2011.”

    Am I deemed off the hook or not as I’m not part of the group identified as of Feb01?

    • Bakapinkuu

      When they “show cause” that they couldn’t be bothered to name defendants because they were too busy blackmailing them and sending her a cut of the proceeds, the “Honorable” Judge will agree and give them an indefinite extension, and you’ll be back on the hook.

    • Anonymous

      Seeing that April 1 has already passed then we can hope you already had a lawyer and could ask them. If no lawyer yet it may not be too late and contacting Mr Cashman would help.

      As Bakapinkuu points out none have been dropped yet by this judge and we will soon see if she does or not. It is likely she will drop them simply because there are more too follow.

      It is worth fighting them at this early stage when a win can save hundreds of thousands of people this same hassle. You can also fight them when they contact you directly where my advice is deny all when if you admit to it they can hound you until you pay up. In that case it becomes a hard fight to minimise the cost.

    • Js8gue2giu

      Check out:
      http://ia700304.us.archive.org/14/items/gov.uscourts.dcd.141583/gov.uscourts.dcd.141583.docket.html
      Looks like quite a few motion to quash/vacate was granted for a handful of named defendants.

  • Xanas

    Ahh that lovely revolving door that exists between government and business. Don’t we love that pervasive corporatism that exists regardless of which party is in power.

  • Garagespy69

    She was sellected by the film industry to sit on the case ,so she could award them what they wanted and no one would ever know that she was in their camp.
    She has now been caught with her pants down and is now backtracking to try and cover her ass. She simply as to be sacked.

    • Anonymous

      I doubt she will be removed without some major media coverage. These judges tend to be hard headed.

      It would not surprise me if she was part of Joe Biden’s anti-piracy crusade. Recommend by Obama late last year and appointed by Congress very recently.

      I am sure the pornographers are happy with someone to quickly rubber stamp their subpoena requests for subscriber details.

      Since we could well be looking at the judge to sit on the large majority of future cases then our only hope is for her to realise that this is a copyright exploitation scam in which many innocent people will get hurt.

  • Guest

    This woman seriously needs to be dis-bared for not removing herself as the judge for these proceedings….

  • Airpressure

    I received a settlement request letter from DGW on March 18th for the Maverick Entertainment case. Does this mean I am off the hook? or?

    • Anonymous

      No one is off the hook yet when they have a chance of an extension pending a good excuse.

      If you are pending drop then from what I can read that depends on if your name was given in court or was kept listed as a John Doe. I doubt anyone here can answer that question.

      • Airpressure

        The settlement reads as the deadline for payment as April 20th, so the deadline is in the future, wouldn’t this mean I am still a doe?

        • Tp

          If DGW has your name then you are screwed. The whole point of this lawsuit is to get your name. They will now hound you until you pay with the threat of taking you individual to court always looming.

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