Slashdot Mirror
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 ."
Mwuhahahahahahahahah!
Karma's a bitch huh?
die by the lawsuit.
When will this happen to the RIAA?
What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
Do we see here proof that unethical corporate practices (sueing everyone) will eventually be the destruction of your business? I for one hope so.
last post for this company
Yeah. Way cool. Just makes me wonder how you cannot say anything you want after all. Slightly irrelevant on this matter, I know, but hey, I am not bound by the US freedom of speech... :D
-Is the meaning of life vanity, or is vanity the meaning of life?
Seems that he has gotten what he deserves with a countersuit, though I could be wrong...
Once the dust settles on this, will these cases ultimately serve as a positive precedent for sanity in domain-related and free-speech cases? Or is this just a decision that any lawyer could predict, but was a long time in comming?
Ya see what happens to your business when you don't have a cute sock-puppet character on your side? Oh, wait... nevermind. They didn't make it either...
Cool...
Though, it's too bad that filing for bankruptcy doesn't mean that the frivolous lawsuits will end.
I don't think we've heard the last of Mr. Novak somehow.
Chaos, panic, disorder...my work here is done.
Seriously. This was one of the more common reasons he would sue. People would order fish, aquarium plants, rodents, etc. and they would arrive dead, not marked for paid-for weekend delivery, sent at slower than safe shipping speeds, not packaged to protect from temperature and normal handling, or even not delivered to the carrier the same day they were packaged!!!
For all of your pet purchases we've still got PETsMART.com and ePets.com where we can purchase pet-favorites such as the "Pet Stairs" for that pet that's just too lazy to jump ... and the "I Gotta Go Out Door Chime". Word has it that petswarehouse.com will be selling that last item on clearance rebranded as the "I Gotta Go Out of Business Door Chime" so keep your eyes opened.
because usually, the system doesn't work.
A layperson's reading of the judgement seems to be, "You owe your attorneys a bunch of cash. We are seizing your property and auctioning it to help pay back what you owe."
It's not clear to me why Mr. Novak can't just go out and buy his domain back on the open market. I can't imagine it is worth more than a couple of thousand dollars. And he shouldn't have any problems getting his hands on the cash since he in in bankruptcy protection.
"Petswarehouse.com" has long been a source of confusion in the marketplace. For many years a company known as "Pet Warehouse" (not "Petswarehouse") has been a trusted source of supplies for fish enthusiasts. Long before the .com retailer thing, Pet Warehouse was, IMHO, the best of the mail order catalogs. They were eventually bought out by "Doctors Foster and Smith" (www.drsfostersmith.com), but the good Drs continue to print the "Pet Warehouse" name on their catalogs because it's a well respected name. They even continue to operate via the same old tollfree number. I've been out of the hobby for years, but hopefully they're still good.
It's been a nuisance that Novak and his pathetic activities has brought confusion via a similar name. Good riddance.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
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.
Time wounds all heals...
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
Sounds like this place.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Think of all the hilarious hate mail this guy must get on a regular basis. I want it!
Game... blouses.
I agree, suing people who just wrote they didn't like his store is f**ked up, he should have paid them for all the worries and expences they got from him being an idiot.
my sig
Poetic Justice still rings!
HA HA
Slashdot - The one stop shop for procrastination
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!
There was a case in Canada a few years ago, with a "GeorgeK" filing suit against some Undernet IRC network users, "the co-defendants spoke falsely of him, thereby making other people in the IRC community dislike or distrust him."
From what I had read from the beginning, Mr. Novak had some problems best addressed by a counselor, rather than a lawyer.
Pete Carr Owner Chatmag.com
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.
The very basis of the case itself is the slander of a website featured on another website where users post their own opinionated comments (sound familiar guys?). I mean the entire discussion that we are having right now is worse than the original comments on the site in the first place. Hell if he would sue over that, what would stop him from suing everyone else...
-jake
There are parallels and I also sincerely wish SCO the same faith Mr. Novak got.
... when people like this get their come-uppins.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Don't think for a minute that this means this guy is broke. He's likely just using the bankruptcy laws to shield himself from paying his obligation. The guy apparently abuses the legal system to sue everyone he can to make a buck, then when a law suit catches up with him he does this to not pay on the judgement against him. Pretty typical.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
"The love you take is equal to the love you make"
Methinks that Robert didn't make much in the way of love.
Karma baby....INSTANT karma if you will.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
At least we still have petsovernight.com Pets Overnight
"Much work is lost, for the lack of a little more." -Edward H. Harriman
... that I could care less if something horrible happened them. He's on the list. Suing people who contributed to the defense fund? Insanity. The guy deserves whatever bad things happens to him. He's got a mighty huge karma hammer swinging towards him.
hmmm...if we're not allowed to eat other creatures, shouldn't these other "sentient beings which feel fear, joy and anger" be kept from eating other "sentient beings which feel fear, joy and anger"?
Everyone worries about the cute little harp seal for example...but they don't worry about the penguins these seals are knocking back like tic-tacs out on the ice flows.
I think, therefore I am....and I am thinking of having me a steak!
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
I've been following this story from the start, and it's been fascinating. Pets Warehouse is still up and operating. Novak switched over to a new domain shortly after the turnover of the domain was ordered, so he's managed to avoid any downtime despite losing his old domain. It's now located at Pets-Warehouse.com (Novak just added a dash). Maybe it'll soon be gone too, but Novak has been through a couple of bankruptcies already. I hope he's learned a lesson, at least.
Pets Warehouse.com
1550 Sunrise Hwy, Copiague, NY 11726
Phone: (631) 789-5400
I called, they're still open. The lady was kind of rude on the phone though. Anybody up for a class-action?
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
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?
barÂraÂtry
1. The offense of persistently instigating lawsuits, typically groundless ones.
2. An unlawful breach of duty on the part of a ship's master or crew resulting in injury to the ship's owner.
3. Sale or purchase of positions in church or state.
What he's doing is illegal, he should be fined into oblivion or sent up the river to be married to some guy named Bubba.
And, while we're at it, let's get the RIAA up on charges too.
-R
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
...for a judge to order him to never file another civil suit again? It really angers me to see someone abuse the system like this with no real repercussions.
I think the self-storage business has gotten too specialized. First you could rent a storage area for your stuff, then your boat, then your car...
There are several threads about this from tha past week in the compuserve aquaria forum here: Aquarists & The Law
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
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?
is bullshit
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Animals are not sentient. First of animal. Humans are considered animals, therefore you are already wrong. If you are speaking of other mammals, you've obviously never had a pet. The definition of sentient is: 1 : responsive to or conscious of sense impressions 2 : AWARE 3 : finely sensitive in perception or feeling #1 speaks for itself. The reactions of a dog are not random, he will greet you with affection, growl at those he doesn't recognize and many other responses to stimuli. #2 Does a dog know it exists? As much as any two year old child. The reactions of both are incredibly similar. #3 Again dogs are incredibly sensitive to their surroundings. They know when you are upset, when they have done something wrong, and so much more. Based on your response you obviously have never spent time with something you didn't eat. I would recommend you do, it's a rewarding experience. :)
Good Riddance to this guy. One of his lawsuits went so far as to say these forums and competition be barred from using his name in their websites, so much that he listed PETS and WAREHOUSE as words pet forums and pet warehouse-sized internet businesses would be unable to use them.
He's one of those thousand lawyers who are a good start on the bottom of a lake, from that old lawyer joke.
[plus, two times in bankruptcy in 13 years?]
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
Intrigued, I thought to look up who this Liberty Lobby was. What I found was as convoluted a pile of conspiracy theories; claims against individuals and institutions; counter claims; and a host of legal battle records. I'm still not sure who or what Liberty Lobby was, but this is what some people do with the internet and courts, not too much unlike the whole petswarehouse fiasco. It's a wonder things take so long to move through the courts with this kind of crap clogging things up.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Please contact me if you are there or close to there. I'd like to bid on the name and use you as a proxy.
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!
Animals are not sentient? You claim to have a gun and a copy of the Constitution, and aren't afraid to them use them. How about a dictionary?
You, sir, are the moron.
(tig)
"We do not inherit the land from our ancestors"
"We borrow it from our children"
Ignorance and prejudice and fear
Walk hand in hand
What definition of sentience are you using? m-w.com says:Animals aren't aware? Animals don't respond to sense impressions? More to the point, if animals don't have human-like emotions, they certainly are faking it really well. They're probably not exactly the same as human emotions, but they seem pretty close.
mods metamodded as "Unfair"
First- disclaimer: IANAL, my wife is. What does that make me and my legal advice? WORTHLESS!
That being said:
At the discretion of the judge, based upon how frivolous the suit was, they can award attorney's fees.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
I meant to say "other animals" or something like that.
Second, we need a clear definition of what is sentience. Let's toss out the PETA definition since using their rules would include insects and possibly even plants.
So what is sentience? My personal definition is the ability to ask a simple question, "why am I here". Note that the ability to answer this question is not necessary (humans have been arguing this point for a rather long time without success). Sentience is the ability to wonder about things beyond "food, shelter, reproduce" - sadly, a large number of humans haven't evolved beyond this.
A few members of the ape family have shown some rather interesting sentient-like behavior, but as I said in my previous post - it is only hints.
Despite my arguing against animal sentience, I am not promoting cruelty to animals. I am very much against any type of cruelty to animals of any sort. I stopped eating veal after learning of the conditions in that industry (and I love veal!).
-- Will program for bandwidth
Just when you think Novak has filed just about everything he can, on June 2, 3003 he filed a bankruuptcy petition. He also has sued Tucows, Inc., an Internet Registrar as well as the Circuit Court of Colbert County, Alabama.
:)
Wow! He lived over a thousand years to file yet another suit AND these people were able to scan through time itself to find out about it? Now THAT is the kind of service I expect to find in my news sources!
bork bork bork!
SLAPP would not have applied in NY. If I remember correctly, the NY SLAPP applies only towards government access.
Each state's SLAPP laws are different. Some are only when you talk about the government process, others are much broader.
There is also rule 11, that may apply, which is for filing a frivilous lawsuit. This is not used much, but it does get invoked on occassion. There was a case in California where a plaintiff was hit with a $500k rule 11 ruling.
I'm not sure if the bankruptcy would discharge the penaly for court sanctions as these are done maliciously (sp?).
Fight Spammers!
I know, I only caught this after I posted it. I ment to say lepard seals.
But the oceans ARE connected. A determined harp seal could make the journey if he really had a hankering for penguin.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
Some may remember the deal discussion forum Fatwallet.com from when several retailers sued them because users posted Black Friday sales fliers ahead of time. They also got sued by a guy named Todd Short, who was running a fraudulent scheme where he was selling laptops, claiming you would pay him now and get your laptop several months later. Users did, never got their laptops, and posted their experiences on the forum. The forum, along with a user who created a website, got sued by Todd. Later, he declared bankrucy.
Fatwallet JC Morris Thread
Website about JC Morris Scam
I have blog like everyone else
Homonyms.
Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
This guy it nuts and way out of his mind. As I recall, one of the big differences between the DSM III and DSM IV was the omission of the Passive Agressive Personality Disorder. Here are the criteria I could find:
o Resist fulfilling their given responsibilities through procrastinating, "forgetting," sulking, or being argumentative
o Protest, without justification, that unreasonable demands are being placed on them
o Seem to work deliberately slowly or to do a bad job on tasks that they do not really want to do
o Obstruct the efforts of others and fail to do their share; are uncooperative
o Resent useful suggestions from others concerning how they might be more productive
What I am getting at is Novak's actions are the most extreme example of passive agressive behaviors I have ever heard of. Maybe he has a personality disorder is is Psychotic out of his mind. He is using the court system as part of his psychopathology. Because of the grand scale of this, his case could easily be published in a major Psychiatric journal. Is there any way to force him to undergo a Psych eval ???
.. in its own right.
:-/
The judgment orders Tucows to give up the domain name and related documentation to a Sheriff in Alabama. Unfortunately, Tucows is in a foreign country, and is in no need to respond. How does the Judge expect to enforce the order?
I say Novak's still got wriggle room.
Cam
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
Can we have some ammendment to the constitution, like, a limit on the number of frivolous suits per year? Per life?
learn ( P ) Pronunciation Key (lÃrn) v. learned, also learnt (lÃrnt) learnÂing, learns v. tr. To gain knowledge, comprehension, or mastery of through experience or study. To fix in the mind or memory; memorize: learned the speech in a few hours. To acquire experience of or an ability or a skill in: learn tolerance; learned how to whistle. To become aware: learned that it was best not to argue. To become informed of; find out. See Synonyms at discover. Nonstandard. To cause to acquire knowledge; teach. Obsolete. To give information to. v. intr. To gain knowledge, information, comprehension, or skill: learns quickly; learned about computers; learned of the job through friends. www.dictionary.com
...so little time. Here is one. You reap what you sew.
If the LORD didn't want us to eat animals then why did he make them out of Meat?
the OED is the definitive dictionary. If there is any dispute between it and any other source, I will believe the OED.
It is very boring though...
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
So why should it be allowed to treat these wonders of the LORD's creation as liveless objects?
If the LORD didn't want us to eat animals then why did he make them out of Meat?
Yeah, no kidding. They taste so nice...especially with barbecue sauce...
More to the point, if LORD is in all caps, it means Jehova, who commanded his people (Israel, through Moses) to eat animals. It's amazing what people will forget in order to try to make a point.
I got my Linux laptop at System76.
... but then he might sue me.
It's not stupid. It's advanced.
Do you mean a limit on damages, which to me is a recipie for business to rape consumers & employees in the ass, hard, if it means they'll save money in the long run? Or do you mean pass legislation that would try and bring some order to the system? What I would like to see is laws that differentiate between inevitable human error, and gross/criminal incompetence/negligence. And go by percentages of income rather than some invented fee. A different poster threw up the figure of $50,000 as a limit; to a well paid surgeon that is chump change, to a doctor who works at a small practice that would be a huge amount, epecially if he has a family to support.
What is it about being a zealot that interferes with one's ability to form clear, concise sentences free of spelling and grammar mistakes?
And what, by the way, would everything be poised to doom? Society? The planet, maybe? Your cat? My proper digestion? Yeah, that's probably it.
Anyway, I doubt that the morality of our society is in much danger of being corrupted, given that we've never been particularly moral in the first place. Society's morale, on the other hand, may well be in danger. But I think that has more to do with the current political/economic climate than with whether or not we eat meat.
(Score: -1, Stupid)
One of the reasons Mr. Novak may have declared bankruptcy is that filing the bankruptcy petition should result in an automatic stay of the Sheriff's Sale of the petswarehouse.com domain name. This may result in Mr. Novak being allowed to continue to use his domain name until the bankrutpcy is settled. Since the Sheriff's sale was schedule for tomorrow (seek the link at on the front page posting), it should now not take place until some time after the bankruptcy court's hearing schedule for September 30, 2003.
The reason why a stay is permitted is simple - all of Mr. Novak's creditors are to be treated on an equal footing. He's also complaining that he was not properly within the jurisdicton of the Alabama court that instructed the county Sheriff to sell the domain name.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
Karma is indeed a boomerang, however, noone should revel in someone else's misery or misfortune. It's just not cool.
SEO Copywriter. Just Say ON
What is rightful tort reform? How about the simple view that a jury ought to be the arbiter of the dispute? If juries are good enough to decide who lives and who dies (the various US Death Penalties at state & federal jurisdiction) then they are damn well good enough to decide who has to pay. No physician decides who lives and who dies â" s/he has the duty to try their best to limit pain and damage. Tort reform is all about denying access to a jury trial. FWIW I am a trial lawyer with a physician mother, brother and lawyer father and brother-in-law.
HAHAHA That's fucking sweet. I submitted a proposal for some networking stuff at his store a few years back, but when I met with him he was talking about suing people because his son is a lawyer and he gets free legal advice.
What a wanker!
Any business when too risky, reduces entry into the field. 10 years ago the concern was who is delivering babies in small towns? This was due to excessive malpratice lawsuits for less than perfect babies. It had to be the doctor's fault, make him pay, he has insurance, yada... Doh, the insurance rates went out of sight to cover the increased risk. Small physisians simply could not afford it and left the small town practice, or simply stopped delivering babies to drop the high insurance premium.
The problem has not improved. With managed healthcare, not only is the risk high, but the potential earnings are down with extreme workloads.
This is one of the great reasons I went into electronics instead of the medical field. A failure is limited to replacement cost, not pain, suffering, potential income over lifetime etc. The pay is better for a surgeon, but the risk kept me out of the field.
So tell me, where is the next generation of doctors comming from?
The truth shall set you free!
sorry :_(
Slashdot - The one stop shop for procrastination
More to the point, if LORD is in all caps, it means Jehova, who commanded his people (Israel, through Moses) to eat animals. It's amazing what people will forget in order to try to make a point.
Genesis 1:29 says
"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."
Sounds like God telling everybody to be a vegetarian. OK, so after the flood he gives up and lets them eat meat, but that's only because everybody was so bad, and he was just throwing up his hands in despair and saying "Like, WHATEVER"
F'rinstance = For instance. Yall need to understand twofer language.
Life is not for the lazy.
I'm gonna sue. The cat giving me the finger offends me very much. http://www.pets-warehouse.com/Gallery/test/fred.jp g
Life is not for the lazy.
The question is how often does this happen. It doesn't seem to be very much in the US at present, at least in the big cases. In the UK, in contrast, it's common for the losing party in a case to wind up paying costs for both sides. That's a great disincentive for the idiots with lots of money but no case, who'll sue anyway hoping to force a settlement because the defendants can't afford to risk fighting in court. Now if only we had punitive damages, so a sufficiently high court could fine a company all of its profits * 1.5 when it does something scummy in the interests of lining its pockets...
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
I didn't get any details, but I called the Sherrif's office and the auction for the domain name has been cancelled. If you go to the domain, it still shows the document saying it's on for today at 11:00 am - you'd think they'd update it to cut down on the phone calls.
666-607: 6th floor apartment of the beast
I like to think it's because God himself gave mankind dominion over every living thing. If you want to argue with Him, feel free to take it up with Him in person.
And it's becoming a sufficiently workable practice (c.f. SCO) that it's easy to imagine stockholders demanding it. Short of tort reform, is there a way to discourage this destructive pattern?
There's a lot read into "Cogito, ergo sum" that I don't think is there.
Descarte was simply looking for a starting place in an argument to show that God existed. How could he know that anything existed? After all, we experience dreams and hallucinations, so our sensory experience is not reliable. Even mathematical logic may have some subtle, undetected flaw.
His insight was that if thinking was taking place, something, someone, was doing the thinking. Whatever was true, his self-awareness was near-tautological proof that his self-awareness, at least, existed. The world might be a dream, his body a mere seeming, other people figments of his imagination -- but the fact was that something was experiencing all that, and that something, himself, had to exist to have the experience, false or not.
Any creature capable of framing this concept knows that it exists. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, it's a dead end; it doesn't allow you to infer the existence of anything else.
See the Wikipedia entry.
In the wrong hands, sanity is a dangerous weapon.
English changes too much to have a definitive guide. If somebody says it's a word, it's a word. Meanwhile, if somebody says it isnt a word, it's not a word.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
So tell me, where is the next generation of doctors comming from?
India.
This isn't any ordinary darkness. It's advanced darkness.
Nor is "Unfortunatly"
English doesn't change that fast. I can still read Lord of the Rings in its original and understand it. I might not phrase things the same way, but I understand what it means. I am not so sure of the meaning of some of the things that I hear consultants say right now though...
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
I fail to see how this doesnt entirely prove my point.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All