Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

junierob said:

Marc Randazza has just filed to move the case to federal court. http://www.cpclerk.co.summit.oh.us/PublicSite/Documents/sumr400000BF2.pdf

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The federal case number (Northern district of Ohio) is: 5:14-cv-02331-JRA

Additionally, DA has subpoenaed Google about the identity of a specific gmail account. Those were filed with the state court on 10/17.

On the federal docket it says:

Cause: 28:1332 Diversity-Libel,Assault,Slander

I get that it was removed to federal for diversity of jurisdiction (this was expected, actually), but I hadn't heard assault alleged before.

firedrake said:

I'm not very good with the legalese in the document.
What would moving the case to the federal court do?

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It could mean the complaint/counter-complaint contains issues that are normally handled by Federal court (certain types of fraud, extortion, etc being things I'm sort of familiar with) OR the complaint/counter-complaint claims Constitutional violations. Free speech, right to due process, non-discrimination are all Constitutional rights and can usually be ruled on by a Federal court (though there may be overlap with lower courts for certain issues where there are applicable state laws that cover the same issues).

Aggy B. said:

It could mean the complaint/counter-complaint contains issues that are normally handled by Federal court (certain types of fraud, extortion, etc being things I'm sort of familiar with) OR the complaint/counter-complaint claims Constitutional violations. Free speech, right to due process, non-discrimination are all Constitutional rights and can usually be ruled on by a Federal court (though there may be overlap with lower courts for certain issues where there are applicable state laws that cover the same issues).

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Thanks Aggy, that makes a lot of sense.

S.C. Wynne said:

What exactly does that mean? I'm not a legal whiz, in case you couldn't tell?

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The biggest thing it gets you is a judge who's used to weighing the relative merits of different jurisdictions. Ohio state court judges are expert in Ohio law, and might not give due weight to the Iowa issues in the case.

Also, since federal court stuff's behind a paywall, I've excerpted the "Amount in Controversy" section (the meat of the removal filing) and put it here: http://deirdre.net/elloras-cave-dear-author-suit-removed-to-federal-court/

Deirdre said:

The biggest thing it gets you is a judge who's used to weighing the relative merits of different jurisdictions. Ohio state court judges are expert in Ohio law, and might not give due weight to the Iowa issues in the case.

Also, since federal court stuff's behind a paywall, I've excerpted the "Amount in Controversy" section (the meat of the removal filing) and put it here: http://deirdre.net/elloras-cave-dear-author-suit-removed-to-federal-court/

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Wow, thanks so much, Deirdre!

victoriastrauss said:

the publisher telling the writer they don't need to worry about troublesome contract clauses because "that will never happen." - Victoria

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I wonder if any writer has been bold enough to say to the publisher's face, "Since it will never happen, by your own words, I'm just lining it through here...there, nice and black with my trusty Sharpie."

We do not look out for our own interests efficiently enough. That's why these egregious contracts are still being written and accepted.

This is going to sound a bit paranoid/conspiracy-theory-esque, but...

Does anyone else get reports of the sites that generate traffic to their websites? I get a daily report (I think through Wordpress?) and since this all started I've been getting a LOT more hits from AW than usual, and they're almost all from this thread.

Maybe it's just because lots of people are reading and interested. But it's a dramatic increase. Like I usually get two or three hits from AW a day. I've gotten eight so far today from this page alone, a couple others from other pages of the thread... much more traffic than I've EVER gotten from AW, including from threads that were essentially promo for my books.

It's not a problem. But it's weird.

I've had an uptick, too. Not much, and it varies day by day, but I have noticed it.

Captcha said:

This is going to sound a bit paranoid/conspiracy-theory-esque, but...

Does anyone else get reports of the sites that generate traffic to their websites? I get a daily report (I think through Wordpress?) and since this all started I've been getting a LOT more hits from AW than usual, and they're almost all from this thread.

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Yes, and I've had an uptick from AW, but more from FB and Twitter. Today, about 13% of my hits came from AW.

Captcha said:

Maybe it's just because lots of people are reading and interested. But it's a dramatic increase. Like I usually get two or three hits from AW a day. I've gotten eight so far today from this page alone, a couple others from other pages of the thread... much more traffic than I've EVER gotten from AW, including from threads that were essentially promo for my books.

It's not a problem. But it's weird.

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Nah. People are just interested.

Courtney Milan did a great assessment of the DA filing on twitter yesterday. Worth a read if you want to understand why they're moving to the federal court etc: https://twitter.com/courtneymilan

DA filed opposition papers in federal court yesterday. Courtney Milan posted a pdf: http://www.courtneymilan.com/ecda/opposition.pdf

Who knew legal documents could be so entertaining?

junierob said:

Who knew legal documents could be so entertaining?

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A couple of my favourite bits:

A company in good financial condition would not go liquidating assets, clearing out its office space, and selling posters and tchotchkes on Ebay.

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I had to look up 'tchotchkes', which shows you how educational this forum is.

Ellora’s Cave nit picks minor possible factual inconsistencies, as a child might try to remove peas from goulash.

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My experience of goulash is rather limited but I doubt if it can be spoiled by a few peas.

My favourite bit was the footnote about ebola symptoms.

Can I add a public 'thank you' to the editors, authors, etc. who offered testimony to support DA? We're used to operating with a certain degree of anonymity in this field, and it's scary to shed it.

Thanks for standing up, guys!

Captcha said:

Can I add a public 'thank you' to the editors, authors, etc. who offered testimony to support DA? We're used to operating with a certain degree of anonymity in this field, and it's scary to shed it.

Thanks for standing up, guys!

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Yes. This.

girlyswot said:

My favourite bit was the footnote about ebola symptoms.

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Loved that. And this:

The goulash here is savory, even if the plaintiffs would prefer not to eat the peas.

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This document is a delight!

The footnote listing EC's tax liens was so long it spilled over to the next page. Yikes.

Captcha said:

Can I add a public 'thank you' to the editors, authors, etc. who offered testimony to support DA? We're used to operating with a certain degree of anonymity in this field, and it's scary to shed it.

Thanks for standing up, guys!

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Yes, THANK YOU!

That brief was a thing of beauty.

Meanwhile, EC has returned to promoting their books on Facebook. In the middle of the catch-up promo, there's a plea for a "gofundme" type campaign for a friend of Jade's who, as far as I can see from the post, has no connection to EC.

However, tchochkes cheered me up hugely.

I am no lawyer and barely know anything, but is it anyone else's impression that Randazza's document basically eviscerated EC's case?

Deb Kinnard said:

I am no lawyer and barely know anything, but is it anyone else's impression that Randazza's document basically eviscerated EC's case?

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Definitely. If I were the plaintiff in a case like this, after reading that document I'd drop the suit. Especially that last section about having to provide a 150,000 dollar bond.

ETA: I really want to read all the documents mentioned in the footnotes. Does anyone know if they're available yet? Anyone have a PACER account?

Deb Kinnard said:

I am no lawyer and barely know anything, but is it anyone else's impression that Randazza's document basically eviscerated EC's case?

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Yes. Randazza took a chainsaw to it.

Randazza deserves his reputation as a First Amendment Badass. I've read several of his filings in the past, thanks to Popehat, and they are all interesting and entertaining. Popehat has opened my eyes to fun court documents. Read some of Judge Posner's rulings some time.

ULTRAGOTHA said:

Randazza deserves his reputation as a First Amendment Badass. I've read several of his filings in the past, thanks to Popehat, and they are all interesting and entertaining. Popehat has opened my eyes to fun court documents. Read some of Judge Posner's rulings some time.

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Judge Posner and his rulings are, quite possibly, the reason(s) I made it through law school.

Honestly, the bond issue alone should be enough to shut down the case. Wow, that was beautifully written. Even a non legal type like me could follow along. Randazza is one intelligent smarty pants.