“I did not do it, I am not willing to settle.”
It might not be readily apparent why I am offering a “no settlement representation” option for defendants accused of copyright infringement.
Paying an attorney $750 for the following four items might make you ask why this is of value to you:
- review your case,
- speak to you about the circumstances surrounding your involvement in the lawsuit,
- send a letter of representation to the plaintiff attorney,
- send them a follow-up letter indicating that you did not do the download and you are not interested in settling.
Copyright infringement lawsuits (a.k.a. “copyright troll” cases) are extortion-based cases which are based upon scare tactics and threats of expensive litigation. Plaintiff attorneys (“copyright trolls”) scare defendants into settling because doing so is cheaper than litigating a lawsuit.
Once an ISP hands over your contact information, plaintiff attorneys often contact defendants and convey that they have detailed evidence of infringement, which is often a bluff. Rather than providing you with actual evidence of infringement, they offer “other evidence of infringement” to prove that you must be the downloader.
To avoid the plaintiff’s detailed explanations of guilt, the simplest way to do this is to have your attorney 1) stop them from being allowed to communicate with you, and 2) offer a letter of non-infringement.
Why the Cashman Law Firm, PLLC can offer you a “No Settlement” discount option.
I have thought a lot about this, and obviously me offering something like this requires some credibility.
We have spent seven years of service dedicated almost exclusively to serving John Doe Defendants in copyright infringement cases. We have posted over 200+ information-packed articles teaching defendants about the copyright troll strategies on the TorrentLawyer™ blog. We have done all of this in full view of the movie companies who are filing the copyright infringement lawsuits. For this reason, as an attorney, I believe I have developed enough credibility to make this offer useful to you.
My Experience: Innocent “John Doe” Defendants Are Left Without Representation
Most of my TorrentLawyer™ blog is dedicated to exposing the schemes of the ‘copyright troll,’ who is tasked with extorting thousands of dollars in settlement monies from each “John Doe” defendant accused of copyright infringement. In recent months, I have been warning defendants of corrupted DEFENSE attorney tactics, where these defense attorneys are sometimes less ethical than the copyright trolls they seek clients against whom to defend.
These so-called defense attorneys cash in on the “broken copyright system,” and they scare prospective clients with threats that “if they do not settle, they will be named and served by the plaintiff attorney to defend against $150,000 statutory damages, and they will have to spend thousands of dollars more in attorney fees to defend themselves.” Many of these defense attorneys run “turn-key settlement factories,” and some of them agree to even more nefarious schemes.
An attorney who represents “John Doe” defendants generally represents PAYING CLIENTS. Even attorneys who are willing to genuinely 1) fight, 2) settle, or 3) negotiate a settlement (or even a nuisance settlement) cater their law firms towards a paying client.
These firms (mine included) represent clients who either have the funds available to fight a copyright infringement lawsuit, or who are willing to pay a few thousand dollars to negotiate a settlement to pay their way out of a lawsuit. Many firms (again, mine included) will happily discount their fees to accommodate lower income clients, and we will even take a limited number of clients on a free pro-bono basis.
Often left out is the innocent defendant who did not do the download, and who does not wish to pay an attorney (or anyone else) to resolve a claim they had nothing to do with. Their belief system is that they should not need to pay anything to resolve a copyright infringement claim they did not do.
Through this strategy, they do not pay an attorney to represent them, and as a result, they are left vulnerable and exposed to the crafty copyright troll attorney who has his way with them. In the end, they often are seen signing consent judgments where they admit doing something they did not do, or they pay settlement fees which end up being more than if they simply hired the attorney to represent them.
Why a ‘turnkey’ operation for the innocent is needed.
Literally, a “turnkey” law firm operation is needed to service THESE defendants.
Candidates for a NO SETTLEMENT representation will be accused “John Doe” defendants in copyright infringement lawsuits who did not do the download.
Candidates for NO SETTLEMENT REPRESENTATION are not limited by financial need (I have nothing wrong servicing a financially stable client who did not do the download), so this option is not a low-income need-based program.
We at Cashman Law Firm, PLLC believe that those accused of an act they did not commit (especially where it comes to copyright infringement and copyright trolling) deserve to be represented at an at-cost basis.
What will be the cost of a NO SETTLEMENT representation?
The cost of no settlement representation will merely need to cover the time spent on the following steps:
- process the client’s paperwork,
- speak to the client,
- check the status of the lawsuit on PACER,
- prepare and send a letter of representation, and a “letter of non-infringement / no settlement” letter to the plaintiff attorney, and
- deal with any follow-up communications with the client relating to evidence of infringement provided by the plaintiff attorney.
I believe this service can be covered with a $750 flat fee payment, but I won’t know until I try it. I might adjust this up or down as I learn how long it actually takes to competently represent each client’s case.
How a NO SETTLEMENT representation would work.
For those who wish to have our firm represent them in the NO SETTLEMENT representation, this is what would happen:
After becoming a client, we would send a letter to the plaintiff attorney explaining that they did not do the download and are unwilling to settle.
By having our Cashman Law Firm do this, we will create a SPECIAL CATEGORY for the innocent who are unwilling to settle.
Because you will have a Cashman Law Firm, PLLC attorney doing this on your behalf, all communications would need to go through that attorney.
Consequently, the plaintiff attorney will become forbidden from contacting my client.
If the attorney disputes the innocence of this defendant, he is free to share his information with our firm, and I would be happy to share that data with the client.
Otherwise, there will be no communications with the plaintiff attorney, no settlement negotiations, and no back-and-forth communications.
We would simply inform the attorney that he can either name and serve our client, or dismiss him or her without a settlement.
Why a NO SETTLEMENT representation can be effective.
I mentioned above that starting a “turnkey” defense of the innocent will create a SPECIAL CATEGORY of defendants. This category will be those who are willing to state on paper that they did not do the download. By putting this in writing, this gives credibility to the claim that the download did not happen.
Obviously it would be detrimental to the client’s case to have it come out that they have lied about their activities. No doubt the plaintiff attorney would capitalize on that lie to name and serve the defendant. Then, once the defendant is forced to testify under oath, he would extract the maximum amount that he can from the defendant.
With all of this said, I expect that only innocent defendants will be willing to make this assertion.
How would a NO SETTLEMENT representation differ from the “playing chicken” or “ignore route”? How did you get the price so low?
Our Cashman Law Firm, PLLC used to offer clients an “ignore” route, which could be compared to the 1960’s car game of “playing chicken.” In this “ignore” route, we would represent a client in the “John Doe” stage of the lawsuit. As such, we would deal with all functions an attorney would take care of in a lawsuit in its early stages, but we would not settle claims against a client as other settlement factories would.
For a while, the “ignore” route was a low cost successful strategy, and it was a good alternative to not being represented at all.
To compare the “no settlement” representation strategy to what we used to call the “ignore” route representation (or more commonly, ‘playing chicken’), click here.
What are the risks of pursuing a NO SETTLEMENT representation option.
The risk of pursuing a NO SETTLEMENT representation option is that the plaintiff attorney will name and serve you as a defendant.
[I must take a moment here and mention that an attorney who names and serves a defendant -without evidence- can get sanctioned by the court. If there truly is no evidence against you, the likely outcome is that the plaintiff attorney will name and serve other defendants, including those who actually did the infringing of the copyright holder’s copyright.]
If you are named and served, as our client, you would need to decide whether to continue having us represent you as your attorney, or if you want to represent yourself pro se. You also have the option to hire someone local, and if you wish, you can keep us on as advisory counsel, or you can have that attorney take over the representation in its entirety.
Remember, copyright infringement is exclusively a federal court matter, and our firm can represent you in any federal court.*
*NOTE: Some jurisdictions have a requirement that an out-of-state attorney hire local counsel, and we know in which states we would need to do this. Otherwise, an out-of-state attorney can defend you in your federal court through what is called “pro hac vice,” which is a motion with the court which is almost always approved by the federal judge.
How to get started with the NO SETTLEMENT representation option.
In order to make an option such as this one sustainable, I will need to forego the phone consultation that I offer clients.
I would have you:
1) Sign my fee agreement, where you explicitly agree that you have not done the download, and that you are unwilling to settle the claims against you.
– Ideally, I will offer this online, but for the moment, please fill out the form below, and I will e-mail you the fee agreement.
2) I will provide you an e-mail containing a link to pay our fee.
3) I will have you send me copies of the letter you received from your internet provider (or from the plaintiff attorney).
– I would provide you instructions on how to send me information relating to your case in the same e-mail I would provide you in order to process your payment.
Once those three steps are complete, again:
- fill out the form, and sign my fee agreement,
- process your online payment, and
- forward me paperwork regarding your case.
I will send you an e-mail letting you know that I received it. Once you become a client, obviously I would need to speak to you.
– The goal of our call will be to confirm that you were not the one that did the download. I will ask questions about your router configuration, family members, and other activities which the plaintiff might have access to, but the conversation will be to the point.
At that point, I would remain your attorney until you are either dismissed from the case, or until your status as a “John Doe” Defendant ends.
In sum, you are welcome.
In closing, I am happy to proactively offer this service to you. It is my hope that since you should not have been involved in this lawsuit in the first place, I will minimize your involvement in it moving forward.
Obviously, this NO SETTLEMENT REPRESENTATION option is for those who do not wish to have us represent them in fighting the claims against them. Similarly, it is an option for those who do NOT wish to have us engage in settlement negotiations on their behalf.
If you would like to use our firm to either fight, negotiate a settlement on your behalf, or some combination thereof, I invite you to set up a free phone consultation for us to speak about your case.
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