RIAA Wants Student Deposed On School Day

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In a Houston, Texas, case, UMG v. Hightower, the RIAA has served a subpoena on the defendant's son, a high school student, on one day's notice, telling him to be at a lawyer's office at 9:00 a.m. the next day, a school day, for a deposition. The defendant's lawyer objected (PDF)."

Comments

School Day == Work Day?

[rsmith-mac]

Uhh, I hate to even sound like I'm agreeing with the MAFIAA on anything, but when exactly are they supposed to depose him if not on a school day? The school week and the work week are pretty well aligned, and forcing them to either work on a weekend or wait until he's on vacation is stretching things. Their actions are certainly deplorable, especially giving a one-day notice, but doing it on a school day isn't one of those deplorable actions.

Re:School Day == Work Day?

[pla]

and forcing them to either work on a weekend or wait until he's on vacation is stretching things.

THEY want his deposition. Not the other way around.

Why should he suffer an inconvenience to suit their schedule?

In the same situation, if I had to lose a day's pay to humor the RIAA, I'd feel mightily pissed off. OTOH, I have very little doubt that some hungry young lawyer would work OT on the RIAA's dollar to take the deposition on Saturday or some weeknight.

Re:School Day == Work Day?

[cprael]

The 24 hour notice thing is called abuse of process. It goes beyond the fishing expedition aspects, and gets into "now we're going to use this to screw up your life."

BTDT.

Re:School Day == Work Day?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why should he suffer an inconvenience to suit their schedule?

Because this is one of the RIAA file sharing lawsuits. Making people suffer is their primary objective. The greater inconvenience in the initial stages, the less likely someone will actually challenge them. This is the RIAA saying "We can make life miserable for you and your entire family, and it's completely legal. So cough up whatever amount of money _we_ think is fair, and we won't keep you dangling in legal hell for the next decade."

Re:School Day == Work Day?

[ec_hack]

when exactly are they supposed to depose him if not on a school day?

Well, it's not just any school day they picked. It's TAKS testing day - a statewide test in Texas that has to be passed to graduate from high school. They picked one of the worst possible days of the year to compel him to show up. They are either evil or ignorant, in my opinion.

Go figure.

[Mockylock]

RIAA is basically becoming an automated bot nowadays, anyway. I'd be surprised if they don't show up in court as robots with brief cases as well.

Someone needs to start doing something about RIAA's boundaries and arrogance, considering they're getting so careless with who they're attacking nowadays. How long will it be, before Judges and courtrooms are sick of these petty charges, and start only allowing the larger criminals who actually sell and distribute?

Right now, you're paying less when distributing marijuana or posessing cocaine, than you are to host MP3's.. EVEN if you're a child!

There HAS to be a line drawn somewhere.

Re:Go figure.

[mpcooke3]

How long will it be, before Judges and courtrooms are sick of these petty charges, and start only allowing the larger criminals who actually sell and distribute?

Or they could spend their time prosecuting price fixing media cartels.

Why would they need a deposition anyway?

[aadvancedGIR]

With their own lawyer and without giving enough time to prepare anything. There is only one possible explanation: what they really want is an intimidation session.
Since he would not be facing a policeman but the opposition lawyer, can he simply walk away anytime he wants or refuse to sign anything?

What happened?

[jakosc]

Also, I just realized '9:00 am the next day' was two days ago, so...what happened?

RIAA's fishing expedition

[t35t0r]

The defendent's attorney said:

The subpoena is being used for patently improper purpose, namely as a fishing expedition by plaintiffs'

That sums up the RIAA's entire strategy.

Response:

[debrain]

Say your lawyer is busy. You are entitled to your choice of legal representative.

Serving a notice for a sworn deposition on one day's notice is contrary to the rules of professional conduct, and can (and should) result in penalties against the lawyers' clients in court, as well as with with the lawyer regulatory disciplinary authority.

Re:Prays?

[Xtravar]

There are nuts everywhere. Most don't become too nutty until you start pointing out things that are wrong and differences that nobody noticed before.

The Texas constitution was made a long time ago by the people of the time. So were the original designs for US currency, and protocol for swearing on a bible before testifying in court. Do people look at currency and think, "Gee golly, it's right! In God I trust!"? Do they swear on the bible and actually feel compelled to tell the truth more so than otherwise? No.

Most nonsense that people complain about is left over tradition. Yes, sometimes tradition has to go. Other times, it doesn't, as it really means nothing to the people anymore. The moment someone complains about something like the Texas constitution, it starts a shoving battle between people who feel like their culture is being attacked and people who feel the need to fix something that isn't broken. IMO, in some cases it's better to let tradition and culture, remnants of the past, fade out silently than to attack them and renew interest in them.