Slashdot Mirror
RIAA v. Santangelo Default Judgment Vacated
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "It was reported last week that at the July 13th status conference in Elektra v. Santangelo II, the default judgment taken by the RIAA against Patti Santangelo's daughter, Michelle, was vacated by Judge Stephen C. Robinson. This has now been confirmed in papers filed by the RIAA's lawyers in which they indicated that the Judge vacated the default judgment because he prefers cases to be decided on their merits, rather than by default (pdf). The papers sought $513 in attorneys fees for (a) procuring the default judgment and (b) preparing judgment enforcement documents. Patti Santangelo is the first RIAA defendant known to have moved to dismiss the RIAA complaint. After two years of litigation, the RIAA dropped its case against Patti Santangelo, leaving open only the question of whether the RIAA will be ordered to pay her attorneys fees."
What does this actually mean?
Seriously!What's a default judgment, why is it being vacated, and how does this impact the case against Santagelo?
not really if you are middle class then you can easily afford legal insurance. that $45.00 a month I pay covers a lot of things with good lawyers all over the country. Middle class can easily afford this, Hell I blow $45.00 on lunch at times. Middle class is $55,000.00 to $170,000.00 so you have a crapload of cash so even if you have to go to court you can easily afford to drop $4500.00 on a lawyer if you needed to, sure that means the disney trip is out this Christmas but not the end of the world.
What it screws with is the poor. Poor cant afford $45.00 a month for legal insurance so they have to pay the big lawyers fees.
That is what they target, they target the poor. i have yet to see one middle class or rich person targeted by the RIAA because they know that those people have the means to fight back.
RIAA target the lower class, fake middle class, and the poor. Fake middle class are those that dont own anything but get credit up the wazoo to look like they are middle class, no they cant afford another $45.00 a month as they are already paying minimums to all their credit accounts... Yes there are lots of those out there sadly.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
http://www.araggroup.com/ is what I use. It's awesome and Has paid 100% for a divorce, a lawsuit against a business on the east cost that sent me a box of junk instead of what I paid for, as well as other smaller legal issues like getting me off of a traffic ticket that was going to be expensive.
you have a premium you pay and a "copay" depending on the problem, you may have a max and then pay afterwards but most of the time it covers a bulk of the lawsuit. (after X $$$ they cover 80%)
or type in google
"legal insurance" to get a bigger list.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
IANAL etc, etc. But as far as I remember, the RIAA tactics were:
The plaintiffs never had a chance to defend themselves. The judge apparently found these proceedings not entirely agreeable.
...since it was such a simple and straightforward case: If it was simple, shouldn't it be reflected in the number of hours rather than cost per hour?
...since it was such a simple and straightforward case: If it was so simple to disprove, shouldn't the people who brought it be detered from bringing extranous lawsuits?
It's like medicine; a neurosurgeon can charge more for his or her time than a general practitioner can. In law certain cases require specialized knowledge and experience (well, unless you want to lose). Representing someone in a slip and fall case is different than managing a $2 billion class action securities case, for example.
You can have a simple and straightforward case where there's no way to know for sure who the victor is going to be. If it all comes down to an iffy question (like was a stop sign visible or not), the case is simple but either side might have had a legitimate, non-frivolous claim.
Fuck me. I knew the US was litigious, but you guys actually have personal legal insurance? Holy shit.
Have you guys ever considered that your legal system may be broken if normal people have to pay $500/year just in case someone sues them?
Warning: May contain nuts