Judges Berate Spammer For 'Incompetent' Litigation 143
An anonymous reader writes "Joseph Kish, attorney for alleged serial spamming firm e360, must have known he was in trouble when Judge Richard A. Posner interrupted him seconds into his opening statement to berate both Kish and his client. Kish was appearing before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to explain why his client was entitled to $27,000 from Spamhaus, a British anti-spam nonprofit. None of the judges on the appeals court panel seemed sympathetic to e360's argument, but Judge Posner did most of the talking. He spent fully two-thirds of Kish's 15-minute presentation demanding that Kish explain his client's methodology and lecturing him on its inadequacy. 'This is just totally irresponsible litigation,' he said. 'You can't just come into a court with a fly-by-night, nothing company and say "I've lost $130 million."'"
Re:$27,000 is not that small (Score:4, Informative)
No, it's because the benefits of winning greatly outstrips the potential gains. It's an awfully big gamble to take. When you factor in the money it costs for an attorney and the necessary legal staff, you very quickly run up bills much higher than that. Some people will appeal on principle, but I suspect that it's fairly unusual.
Plus, they lost their first trial, you're more likely to get the sum knocked down than overturned at this stage, which means that you end up paying even more money that you would have as you wouldn't be getting legal fees from the other party.
A judge doing that at the beginning of the first trial would be way out of line.
Re:Alas, (Score:5, Informative)
Hmm I think Judge Posner has a much deeper knowledge than you of what one can and cannot do in a court of law.
From Wikipedia:
Posner has been called "the worldâ(TM)s most distinguished legal scholar." He is the author of nearly 40 books on jurisprudence, legal philosophy, and several other topics, including The Problems of Jurisprudence, Sex and Reason, Overcoming Law, Law, Pragmatism and Democracy, and The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory. The Journal of Legal Studies has identified Posner as the most cited legal scholar of the 20th century, and a 1999 New York Times article identified Posner as one of the most respected judges in the United States.
Re:$27,000 is not that small (Score:5, Informative)
Spamhaus did in fact, not defend themselves. That is how the judgment was rendered in the first place.