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Novak Loses petswarehouse.com, Files For Bankruptcy
An anonymous reader writes "Remember Robert Novak, the person who has filed several frivolous lawsuits in order to silence people who criticize his business. Well, Robert Novak has lost his domain (see here)in a countersuit filed against him, and has just filed for bankruptcy ."
Do we see here proof that unethical corporate practices (sueing everyone) will eventually be the destruction of your business? I for one hope so.
Whenever someone gets a war chest big enough to sue them.
It's remarkably hard to take down a huge coporation without a similar budget.
because usually, the system doesn't work.
Yep, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Thinking about things like this keep me warm at night. Every once in a while I get to read about someone getting exactly what they deserve. Yum.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
From the link:
Novak 3 involves a lawsuit against Novak as the result of a defamatory message that was posted claiming a Bar Complaint was pending on November 2001 against John Benn. A judgment has been rendered against Novak in that case.
So he's going off suing people because they are (I assume rightfully) complaining about his poor business practices in a public forum. Then he publicly defamates a LAWYER'S character and loses the whole business!!! What an ultra maroon! It's big time poetic justice that Mr. Benn will get his $50,000 settlement from the obliteration of the brand.
If you don't have something nice to sig, then don't sig anything at all.
The dogcow says "Moof!"
I'm under the impression that this isn't the first time he files for bankruptcy. I'm also under the impression that he doesn't care about his business, and that he'll find a way to sue some more people next week
What I'd like to know is: does he manage to profit from it? I'm not very knowledgeable of bankruptcy law, but is there a way he could be trading money for a bad credit history, in a way? Because if he manages and cares to do it again and again, he's probably not losing everything every time. Or maybe he's just hoping he'll get lucky?
Karma: Could be worse (could be raining)
I hope this idiot stays down this time. People like him make it harder for the rest of us to do business. As a guppy, and an Endler's livebearer breeder, this guy really pissed me off.
I can't wait to see how the rest of this works out, with his other suits.
GuppyLog
But this is slashdot. A slashdoter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber!
anonymous because I know I'll be modded down for this, but vegans are morons.
You contradict yourself constantly.
"We are all the same part of the ecological cycle. Humans are in no way a superior lifeform on this planet."
Humans are omnivores by nature, not herbivores. We eat meat, and this means killing animals.
If we are not superior, why are you trying to raise yourself above the food chain by defying your nature? Why are you trying to be "better" than the rest of the animals in the food chain who EXPLOIT each other by their very nature. YOU are the one acting superior, us omnivores are just eating what nature intended us to eat.
If only we could castrate him for being a dingus, to prevent him from breeding (assuming he hasn't already bred), and somehow deport him to a third world country that could use him for labor or meat (if he won't work), we'd be good off.
I hope that the bankruptcy court leaves him with the lifestyle of a crackfiend. I've known people whose business practices are like this guy's, and I have no sympathy.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
This is the kind of maddening garbage that makes people sound the trumpet for tort reform... and rightfully so.
I'd like to see some kind of penalty for filing frivolous/nuisance/totally-without-merit suits, preferably a monetary penalty (jail time might be going just a wee bit too far... though it would be very satisfying).
This should really go for all types of torts, including medical malpractice (disclaimer: I am a physician). I have multiple colleagues who have been sued, and NOT ONE of these suits had real merit, or were for any sort of egregious breach in the standard of care. How do I know? I've looked at the charts and thought "I wouldn't have done anything different." I could never testify against any of these physicians, because what they did was objectively medically reasonable. Now, they all won their cases, but some were very close... frighteningly close.
You always play the odds in medicine... and sometimes you lose. Every surgical procedure has a certain complication rate, no matter what you do. Every disease has a certain mortality rate, no matter what you do. The medical reality is that "sh*t happens," and it inevitably happens to a certain percentage of patients. It sucks to be in that small percentage, but attorneys and "hired gun" expert witnesses attempt to pin it on the doctor. The scariest thing of all is that you can lose everything you've ever worked for, just because "sh*t happens."
Tort reform is a good thing... trick is, you have to do it while not taking away the poor man's keys to the court room. Even so, if the poor man files a nonsense suit, he should find himself even poorer.
Seems fair to me...
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
His message board is still up, too. Wouldn't it be a shame if some dedicated Slashbotters decided to drop in and let his customers know about all this?
Animals are not sentient. Some members of the ape family might be on the edge of sentience and just need a little "push" to cross that border, but they aren't there yet. Dolphins aren't even close. Only one create on this planet has reached sentience - humans.
-- Will program for bandwidth
The real question is how well has he protected his assets. F'rinstance, if his home were included in business assets he stands to lose it. Possibly any pending income from suing petsforum people could be transfered to creditors, too.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Wasn't meant to be a troll, just me venting a little after reading that "make animal trading illegal" comment.
I think you're confusing vegans with vegitarians. I can totally understand chosing the lifestyle for many reasons, health, protest, whatever. What bugs me are the hardcore vegans who won't use any product that is remotely animal related. For example, they won't eat honey because it exploits the bees. They are the ones saying they aren't superior to animals while at the same time trying to be superior to animals. I wonder if they take antibiotics when they have an infection, or would that be murdering bacteria?
You always play the odds in medicine... and sometimes you lose. Every surgical procedure has a certain complication rate, no matter what you do. Every disease has a certain mortality rate, no matter what you do. The medical reality is that "sh*t happens," and it inevitably happens to a certain percentage of patients. It sucks to be in that small percentage, but attorneys and "hired gun" expert witnesses attempt to pin it on the doctor. The scariest thing of all is that you can lose everything you've ever worked for, just because "sh*t happens."
I would find it a lot easier to agree with you 100% (instead of 90%) if you had bothered to mention the one little "gotcha"... which is that some doctors suck and shouldn't be practicing medicine and other doctors rarely if ever do anything to police their own ranks. You ALLOW the bad apples to taint you all, and so, I gotta say it, DESERVE some of the suits.
Q:what do you call the guy who graduated from medical school with the lowest GPA?
A: Doctor
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
I love my cats, but if there was some kind of a famine and I couldn't get any food, I'd grill and eat those motherfuckers without a second thought. Because if they were starving, they'd probably try to eat me if they could!
A judge doesn't necessarily grant full protection from creditors if he/she determines, possibly from information provided which indicates spending it all and declaring bankruptcy was the plan all along, that this is in bad faith.
I've heard people suggest getting a pile of credit cards, max them out, then declare bankruptcy. Well, you can imagine the credit card companies have heard of this strategy, too, and have means to collect on debts, i.e. you are saddled with a payment plan which requires you to pay them back over time. Less kindly creditors are known to employ collection agents. It's probably a bad idea to lend your car to someone who has recently filed for bankruptcy.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Yeah, and when this guy emails you, the from line reads "Pets Warehouse".
Somebody from his 'company' found a 6th month old post to a newsgroup, written by one of my users. Angry that it put down his 'good name', he emailed our abuse address, demanding that we take action, as a computer crime had been committed. In any case, the article against Novak is an interesting read.
The downside to being a sole proprietor is that you DO get double-taxed because you are self-employed. When you incorporate typically, you've also got that double-taxation. For individuals, it's perhaps best to file as a subchapter-S incorporation. As an S-corp, you have the advantages of being both a sole proprietor and a corp. You still have to file quarterly taxes as an employer, but you won't be considered self-employed. You then just need to file individual taxes based off of the salary you take it - which can be a very nominal amount. You end up paying less taxes than you would a sole proprietor, and you won't need liability insurance
Novak is bankrupt because he had a fool as a tax lawyer.