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from www.arstechnica.com – Last month we reported on allegations that the plaintiff in several copyright trolling cases was represented by an attorney who was not licensed to practice law in Florida. www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=53171
The judge, Robert Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida, put the cases on hold and ordered the attorney, Terik Hashmi, to explain himself in February.
In his reply, Hashmi conceded that he had been practicing law without a license and asked Hinkle for permission to substitute another attorney in his place. Hinkle allowed the substitution, but on Monday he ruled that it wasn’t sufficient to save the lawsuits. He dismissed all 27 copyright lawsuits Hashmi had initiated. The plaintiffs, mostly producers of pornographic films, will need to start over with new attorneys if they want to continue the lawsuits.
Judge Hinkle’s order dismissing the cases was scathing. He noted that Hashmi had previously signed an affidavit with the Florida bar in which he “swore that he understood that holding himself out as authorized to practice law in Florida would constitute contempt of the Florida Supreme Court and a third-degree felony.”
Hinkle also said that Hashmi “swore that he understood that it would constitute the unlicensed practice of law to hold himself out as an attorney or as able to render legal advice or services; to offer legal services to others; or to collect fees for legal services. The assertion that Mr. Hashmi thought he could properly undertake to represent these plaintiffs in these cases…is plainly unfounded.”
Between them, the 27 lawsuits targeted several thousand Internet users, all of whom will get a reprieve as a result of Hashmi’s unlicensed practice of law.
This is not the first time the plaintiff’s attorney in a pornography-related mass copyright lawsuit has proven disreputable. Earlier this year, we covered the case of Kenneth J. Ford, a copyright trolling attorney who was charged with a felony for forging a court order and defrauding a client. Apparently, good legal advice is hard to find when you’re a porn company looking to file mass copyright lawsuits.