Akilah Hughes v. Carl Benjamin (2017)

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DragoonSierra said:
A restraining order would be better.
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A restraining order is a particular type of court order that covers criminal harassment, assault, etc. It wouldn't be applicable to the situation, and it doesn't cover speech generally unless it's specifically directed by the harasser toward the harassed person.

A restraining order is more along the lines of "don't talk to me," vs. "don't talk about me." The process to get a court order for someone to stop speaking about something or someone is significantly harder to clear than the process to order them to stop speaking to someone. Getting a gag order or an injunction against someone's speech is difficult, and for good reason... it's a pretty serious limitation on their freedom of speech.

If he chose to sue her for something like defamation, and if he won, he could probably get the court to issue an injunction against further defamatory speech, but that would be a pretty steep legal battle and a costly one.
 
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AnOminous said:
You're still prohibited from advancing meritless legal arguments. The fact you're doing it because you're being paid to do it isn't relevant. That an argument isn't likely to succeed doesn't make it objectively frivolous, but in this case, Benjamin's use was so clearly fair use that no lawyer could reasonably advance it.

You don't need to establish subjective bad faith for an award of prevailing defendant fees in a copyright action.

Another thing. During the DMCA notification/counter-notification process that went on before suit was filed, Benjamin, speaking on his own behalf in his counter-notification, explicitly raised his fair use claim and his basis for it. Neither Benjamin nor counsel could have been unaware of the fair use claim. They either failed to analyze it (as required by Lenz v. Universal) or did so and then willfully filed a frivolous complaint anyway.
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I don't believe the Judge made any criticism of Akilah's lawyers during the Judgement. I'm not familiar with the US legal system but that's when I would have expected him to make any comment.

In the UK Solicitors will sometimes end up on the hook for their clients costs, but if they do that's usually because they've made a 'no win no fee' agreement and the client is savvy enough to make sure the solicitor is taking all the risk for his %. Some years back courts were beginning to look at who was funding litigation, À la Peter Thiel and making people who facilitated an unsuccessful court case liable for costs, in the end it was clear some simple accounting techniques meant it was easily avoided.

I'm willing to bet Akilah's lawyers anticipated the result of the case. There's probably umpteen emails they'll be able to point to where they warned (mainsplained to) her, how it was all going to end. Knowing nothing about the legal firm I assume they've made sure to be get a decent retainer out of her (allowing for the possibility of whole trial, not just where it ended) .

On another note, I thought that Akilah had a whole series commissioned with Comedy central, at a closer look I think it's just some shitty webisode affair.

www.cc.com

Making Fun with Akilah and Milana

Best friends Akilah Hughes and Milana Vayntrub put a humorous and unique spin on workplace dynamics, modern life, friendships and annoying social habits in the sketch series Akilah and Milana.
www.cc.com www.cc.com
 
Trig.Point said:
I don't believe the Judge made any criticism of Akilah's lawyers during the Judgement. I'm not familiar with the US legal system but that's when I would have expected him to make any comment.
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The ruling disposing of the case was a brief 10 page opinion focused almost entirely on the fair use analysis. It speaks for itself. There was no real relevance to criticizing the lawyers because there was no motion it would have been relevant to.
 
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pearlslam said:
While everyone was sleeping, Ms. Hughes' attorney also submitted a letter motion to the court asking to strike the Sargon letter or in the alternative, submit an actual reply to the letter as if it was an actual sur-reply to the motion.
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I wonder if they'll get in an argument about whether it's a sur-reply and required permission to submit. That would be entertaining.
 
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Kosher Salt said:
A restraining order is a particular type of court order that covers criminal harassment, assault, etc. It wouldn't be applicable to the situation, and it doesn't cover speech generally unless it's specifically directed by the harasser toward the harassed person.

A restraining order is more along the lines of "don't talk to me," vs. "don't talk about me." The process to get a court order for someone to stop speaking about something or someone is significantly harder to clear than the process to order them to stop speaking to someone. Getting a gag order or an injunction against someone's speech is difficult, and for good reason... it's a pretty serious limitation on their freedom of speech.

If he chose to sue her for something like defamation, and if he won, he could probably get the court to issue an injunction against further defamatory speech, but that would be a pretty steep legal battle and a costly one.
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Found <Melinda's sock handle.
 
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Trig.Point said:
I don't believe the Judge made any criticism of Akilah's lawyers during the Judgement. I'm not familiar with the US legal system but that's when I would have expected him to make any comment.

In the UK Solicitors will sometimes end up on the hook for their clients costs, but if they do that's usually because they've made a 'no win no fee' agreement and the client is savvy enough to make sure the solicitor is taking all the risk for his %. Some years back courts were beginning to look at who was funding litigation, À la Peter Thiel and making people who facilitated an unsuccessful court case liable for costs, in the end it was clear some simple accounting techniques meant it was easily avoided.

I'm willing to bet Akilah's lawyers anticipated the result of the case. There's probably umpteen emails they'll be able to point to where they warned (mainsplained to) her, how it was all going to end. Knowing nothing about the legal firm I assume they've made sure to be get a decent retainer out of her (allowing for the possibility of whole trial, not just where it ended) .

On another note, I thought that Akilah had a whole series commissioned with Comedy central, at a closer look I think it's just some shitty webisode affair.

www.cc.com

Making Fun with Akilah and Milana

Best friends Akilah Hughes and Milana Vayntrub put a humorous and unique spin on workplace dynamics, modern life, friendships and annoying social habits in the sketch series Akilah and Milana.
www.cc.com www.cc.com
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I think of Akilah had a “no win no fee” agreement she would of said that in one of her pre-court tweet blasts saying;

“my case is so strong my lawyers didn’t even charge me. Fuck Sargonand I cant wait to take his kids Christmas away”.

I love Sargons lawyer pushing knowing it will add to Akilahs costs. Obviously.
 
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She Thought She Would Win

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Trigger Me Timbers said:
I think of Akilah had a “no win no fee” agreement she would of said that in one of her pre-court tweet blasts saying;

“my case is so strong my lawyers didn’t even charge me. Fuck Sargonand I cant wait to take his kids Christmas away”.

I love Sargons lawyer pushing knowing it will add to Akilahs costs. Obviously.
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She said she paid for it.

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https://archive.vn/o3iOW

Trig.Point said:
I'm willing to bet Akilah's lawyers anticipated the result of the case. There's probably umpteen emails they'll be able to point to where they warned (mainsplained to) her, how it was all going to end. Knowing nothing about the legal firm I assume they've made sure to be get a decent retainer out of her (allowing for the possibility of whole trial, not just where it ended) .
Click to expand...

Her lawyers defended H3H3 against claims of copyright infringement and were the lawyers of record for the "FUPA fund", the $170,000 that was raised on GoFundMe to safeguard everyone on YouTube against similar copyright infringement claims. (H3H3 ended up using all the money and FUPA did nothing for anyone else)

A year later, they assisted Akilah in suing Sargon for copyright infringement (and were pretty happy about it). Both Akilah and H3H3 ended up replacing Morrison & Lee with new council.

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https://archive.vn/MoZTs
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That's Ryan Morrison, "The Video Game Attorney", in the photo above.

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https://archive.vn/Ym0Pg
 
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mindlessobserver said:
Legal questions that are academic in nature are expensive to answer and Akilah doesnt have the money to pay for getting one. Obviously.
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They cite a Local Rule which means the court is specifically hostile to sur-replies. If Benjamin's letter supplement is one that is covered by the rule, it isn't academic, it's material.
 
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Playing Devil's advocate for a moment, suppose that Benjamin's letter IS a sur-reply and ultimately both letters are struck (the Hughes letter being rendered moot). Could sanctions be involved for Benjamin's team?
 
AnOminous said:
I wonder if they'll get in an argument about whether it's a sur-reply and required permission to submit. That would be entertaining.
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As long as it ends up running up those attorney fees

Cin Red said:
She Thought She Would Win
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Obviously.

AnOminous said:
They cite a Local Rule which means the court is specifically hostile to sur-replies. If Benjamin's letter supplement is one that is covered by the rule, it isn't academic, it's material.
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So is it a sur-reply?
 
pearlslam said:
Playing Devil's advocate for a moment, suppose that Benjamin's letter IS a sur-reply and ultimately both letters are struck (the Hughes letter being rendered moot). Could sanctions be involved for Benjamin's team?
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I think that if sanctions were even remotely likely, Hughes probably would have asked for them.
 
Cin Red said:
She Thought She Would Win

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https://archive.vn/PeBo2
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She said she paid for it.

View attachment 1437101
https://archive.vn/o3iOW



Her lawyers defended H3H3 against claims of copyright infringement and were the lawyers of record for the "FUPA fund", the $170,000 that was raised on GoFundMe to safeguard everyone on YouTube against similar copyright infringement claims. (H3H3 ended up using all the money and FUPA did nothing for anyone else)

A year later, they assisted Akilah in suing Sargon for copyright infringement (and were pretty happy about it). Both Akilah and H3H3 ended up replacing Morrison & Lee with new council.

View attachment 1437164
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https://archive.vn/MoZTs
https://archive.vn/frgV9

That's Ryan Morrison, "The Video Game Attorney", in the photo above.

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https://archive.vn/Ym0Pg
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This Ryan Morrison?
 
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They always eat their own. And to think in some weird way we have to give Sargon credit for not simply emerging victorious against the worlds dumbest litigant. But in playing som esmall role in unwinding a wonderous vipers nest of male feminist predatory juiciness.
 
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RodgerDodger said:
They always eat their own. And to think in some weird way we have to give Sargon credit for not simply emerging victorious against the worlds dumbest litigant. But in playing som esmall role in unwinding a wonderous vipers nest of male feminist predatory juiciness.
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Whether it be the Skeptics, UKIP, memes, his Patreon, his wife's womb, or his legal opponents, Carl truly has the touch of death. :semperfidelis:
 
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