Severance Ordered in More RIAA Suits
In another win for due process, Judges Sam Sparks and Lee Yeakel ruled that recording industry lawsuits in the Western District of Texas would have to proceed individually — rather than 150+ “Does” at a time. See PDF Order. As the judges noted, the RIAA members’ practice violates the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: Rule 20(a), joinder, requires that parties be linked in the “same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences.” Moreover,
The filing fees for the recent four cases totaled $600, whereas the filing fees for 254 separate cases would have been $38,100. That is a considerable loss of revenue to the public coffers.
Similar orders have now been filed in Pennsylvania (2x), Florida, and in a movie industry suit in California, plus several DirecTV cases around the country. Note to lawyers and law students — that CivPro is pretty important.
mttxsfec mguoar.
Comment by Tobias — December 29, 2004 @ 1:05 pm
Right - except, the legal argument for allowing the joinder of parties (”Does” in this instance) is that all “Does” were involved in the “same transaction or occurrence” that is the impetus for the action.
Here, if the RIAA could show that the “Does” broke the same law, at the same time, from the same place, over the same property, it makes a good argument that all “Does” should be joined.
Comment by KJS — January 23, 2005 @ 10:17 pm
wow!!!! this is a great website.
government grants
Comment by government grants — February 23, 2005 @ 12:01 pm