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Quepasa.com Settles Whatshappenin.com Lawsuit
Bob Roberts writes: "It looks like the frivolous lawsuit brought against quepasa.com by Whatshappenin.com is finally over: the case has been settled by Quepasa.com. What does 'dismissed with prejudice' mean?"
It's a good way for the judge to "honorably" state their disgust, which is probably the case here.
This is wrong. A dismissal with prejudice means that the the principle of res judicata may apply as to matters actually litigated (as opposed to tangentially exposed) by the case.
A dismissal without prejudice is often made for clerical mistakes in the form of the pleading. Parties can refile the lawsuit (and start the clocks for answers, cross motions, etc., all over).
So, it just means that as to matters explicitly raised in the pleadings, or fairly before the court (jurisdictions differ at to what this means), the current dismissal has the force of res judicata--"that which is already decided".
Oh, yes. Fuck moderation and all that.
Suppose that John Q. Slashdotter pours hot grits down the pants of Anonymous Troller, scalding A. T. in an intensely painful and personal way.
Suppose that A. T. feels injured and files suit for damages against John Q. Slashdotter.
Scenario #1: John Q. Slashdotter shows up in court and says "hey look! this suit is against John Q. Slashdaughter, and that is not me!" The judge might give A. T. leave to amend the complaint, or the judge might dismiss the claim without prejudice.
Scenario #2: At the first hearing, John Q. Slashdotter produces a letter from A. T. that says "please pour hot grits down my pants. Thank you". The letter goes on to say "I am aware of the possibility of intensely painful and personal injury resulting from grits pouring activity. I hereby forever release and hold harmless John Q. Slashdotter from liability for any such injury. Thank you." What's more, the letter is signed by A. T. and the signature is notarized.
In Scenario #2, the judge is going to ask A. T. "what's up with this letter?" And if A. T. doesn't have something really compelling to say at this point, the judge is likely to dismies the case with prejudice.
In other words, "without prejudice" means the judge is saying: "you may have a case but you aren't making it right. Come back and do things right and I'll listen to you." And "with prejudice" means the judge is saying: "you do not have a valid case. Go away, and don't come back".
IANAL, but I did defend myself in a civil suit once against a Real Lawyer. The judge dismissed the case with prejudice.
I've given up on Babblefish. www.freetranslation.com does a much better job. Running barrapunto.com through FreeTranslation gives a pretty readable result.
...phil
...phil
"For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
You are out of order here.
.sig means it's important to him.
/. who use sigs force you to do the same. You can just turn off sigs in your preferences.
This person has a personal crusade. It may be important to other people on Slashdot or it may not. The fact that he has chosen to put it into his
Do you have the right to tell him what he should call important ? Can you set other people's priorities ?
So what if you get tired of reading the same sig every time he posts. All the people on
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
The next big domain battle is going to be over "whazzzaaaappp!!!".com, anyhow. Look for a big lawsuit between Annheuser-Busch and all the folks who set up variations on the whazzzaaaappp name in multiple languages.
(but imagine the ads!)
- -Josh Turiel
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
The judge hates both parties, holds the lawyers in contempt of court, and really, really wanted to adjourn. :P
IFAIK
This does prevent future claims. Prejudice is used to prevent "me too" cases. That situation is what class-action suits are for.
A case dismissed "Without Prejudice" allows new evidence to be ADDED to the original, giving the plaintiff(s) a chance to build their case. In these cases, the judge is telling the plaintiff that they're probably right, but for the wrong reasons.
-sid
That's a surprizing quote. Everything I've heard of Galbraith makes him sound like a major cheerleader for the state. What is this from? Maybe I should finally get around to reading some of his stuff.
You know I got to thinking about it and it reminded me of the feeling I have when I am wiping a windows partition and installing linux to it. I format that bad oscar with prejuidice.
:-)
A precedent is a ruling that can/is used to make other rulings. Usually this is from an appeals level courts. In Mass, if the Mass Appeals court or the Mass SJC makes a decision, it applies to other cases in Mass. Sometimes, other courts would look at thoses cases for advice. Generally the closer the court to the jurisdiction, the more weight given the decision.
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This was a publicity stunt. No mention was made about the terms of the settlement. It's possible they just got together, threw together bs lawsuit and then dismissed it in order to get some publicity. __ Then again what the hell do I know?
I don't think so, if they didn't have any location in France this really would be an utterly stupid lawsuit, but if they did sue was because of the foothold, because they had something in their juridiction.
Let's say that I create a company in France that sell DeCSS (the true one) modified (under the GPL of course) to be a player/recorder. If the MPAA sues me under the DMCA in America while I am not selling it or otherwise having any relation to America they can bugger of whatever they want because in France we don't have the DMCA, we can reverse engineer for compatibility reasons and we have rights to fair use just like you did a few years ago in the States (with nuances probably), so the DeCSS is completely legal.
Of course they could try to sue me in France under a French law but not under an American law. More exactly they could sue me under the DMCA in America but since I don't have any relation with America the ruling don't have any teeth to bit me.
Mattel has locations in China, and they can try to claim that the China location is hurt by the US based website.
No, with their location in China they can sue the guy in China for his website but they will have a hard day to make the judgement valid in the States by using international treaties because these treaties hold no power on the constitution, so he keeps his free speech. in the worst case the guy can be condemned in China and then must avoid going there, which is already bad, but they cannot touch him in the States from China, otherwise it would mean that I don't have the right to free speech because China doesn't give this right to me, so if I am condemned by a Chinese court this takes away my right to free speech.
But this work the other way round, Mattel has got a implantation in France, which means that I can sue them under French law (I'm French) for something that may be legal in the States but illegal in France, they still can do it in the States (it's legal over there) but they couldn't do it anymore in France (because the French judge say they can't).
But on your point, doesn't MIT and Harvard have exhange programs with schools in France? Is that enough to cover them?
Since I am not aware of any implantation of a branch of the MIT or Harvard in France they have absolutely nothing to fear from French laws.
An exchange program isn't the same because when a student make an exchange program between a French university and a foreign (for the French) one he is enroled in the French university in France and he is enroled in the foreign university in whatever country this university is, not in France, so this is the same case as if I went to the States and got enroled to the MIT (I can dream ;)), I could not complain of the lack of French enrolment forms.
Well, at least that's how I understand things, but if the MPAA can sue me in France (or England given that that's were I currently am) over the DMCA because I have got DeCSS on a French webpage then this would be called ingerence.
"The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
Oh man, that's fun to read in babelfish.
;)
"You have not entered like user. You can enter or Create an account. If stuffed your name and your password in addition to the fields Subject and Commentary, you can send your commentary without using a galletita (cookie). If you do not enter, your commentary will be put to name of Asshole Without Name"
Yep, that sounds about right.
---
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
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This means this case can never be brought up again... even if new circumstances are uncovered.
:-)
It's a good way for the judge to "honorably" state their disgust, which is probably the case here.
Anyone know how to say "Slashdot" in Spanish??
-sid
What would that be? dismiss -9?
"And real life has warts and smelly feet" -- Paul Jaquays, id Software
Dear Sirs/Madames; This is our last warning. As the owner of the trademarked domains "ot.com", the workaholics annonymous website, and "t.com", the Boston Harbor Authority web presence, we insist that you cease and decist using our registered trademarks in your domain name, "slashdot.com". If you fail to comply with our demand, we will be forced to defend our trademark through other means. Sincerely, R. E. Dickulus
There's a site barrapunto.com which appears to be a spanish slashdot-esque thingy and uses the Slash code and has lots of people posting using the name "Pendejo Sin Nombre"... you get the idea.
When a case is "settled," as the linked article tells us that this case was, it almost always means that the plaintiff -- the person or entity who brought the case -- agreed to voluntarily dismiss their case with prejudice in exchange for something they want, often money. Dismissal "with prejudice" means the plaintiff can't refile the case. (If the plaintiff were able to refile the case, it would make the settlement worthless to the defendant.)
A voluntary dismissal is usually entered automatically by the clerk of the court. A dismissal in connection with a settlement therefore does not reflect any judge's opinion on the merits of a case, and has no value as precedent.
The following things are not true or are nonsensical:
When you dismiss, it can be with or without prejudice. Without means that the case can be brought again. Usually that can be done by the plaintiff before the defendant answers. After their is an answer, it needs to be agreed to by the defendant or ordered by a judge.
Dismissed with prejudice mean it's dead. But a new case can't be brought unless there is a new violation that is signifantly different from what occurred before filing.
Mattel tried that trick with me. They tried to dismiss w/o prejudice in my case. This would allow them to bring it again, anywhere that Mattel had a location. Probably without anti-SLAPP statute, and maybe without free speech. Maybe they were thinking of bringing in China, where there is no free speech?
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