Judge Davis retired May 15, 2015 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Davis_(judge)
Thank God, all of this should be coming to an end any day now.
Son appointed judge, family clan as associates in law-firm...
The world does not work this way.
Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]
71–80 of 431 posts
Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Loser pays" would go a long way, I think. Not being that familiar with the US system, what's the reasoning not to have this?
It's called the English Rule. People argue that implementing it could disincentivize people bringing forth valid cases and that it could lower the liklihood of settling, increasing legal and court costs for cases that do go through. I don't really have an opinion either way, those are just the common arguments against it.
They're common arguments, but the predicted falling skies don't happen very often in practice. Meanwhile, there is far less of a problem with barratry under loser pays than the US system seems to have.
Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be fair, I think this mistake in the US judicial system should be fixed separately.
The overall point is that there will always be injustice, and loser pays can easily magnify it rather than reducing it. Even if you fix East Texas, there will be many others. I'm sure you can construct it such that there's a net gain, and maybe even a simple "loser always pays" system qualifies, but it's tough to figure out. In theory, I like the idea that the winner's legal fees are just another item in play when th…
In theory, I like the idea that the winner's legal fees are just another item in play when the judge decides how to award damages.
In effect, this is exactly what happens in most loser-pays systems. Loser-pays usually doesn't mean literally that the winner automatically gets all of their fees paid, no matter how abusive their practices during the case or how disproportionate their expenses. More often it means that the judge can award those fees and there is some sort of presumption in favour of the winner of the case not losing out financially.
Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
> judge determines what is a reasonable amount for the legal fees That just gives financial unsupervised power to the judge, without any clear definition of involved terms. Which doesn't really sound like a good idea.
In practice, this is no different to having judges determine the amount of any damages awarded in a successful civil action or the amount of jail time or size of fine given to a convicted criminal. Making such assessments, taking into account the circumstances of each specific case, is a large part of the role of the judge in many legal systems.
Amount of jail time doesn't really benefit donors, but amount of damages and who pays does.
Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
>We do not have equal access to our judicial system in the United States. I agree, but I think we can be more specific. Criminals (or those accused of a crime) are constitutionally guaranteed an attorney. Civil plaintiffs/defendants, by contrast, have no such right. The anecdotes and experiences of HN users overwhelmingly describe the civil side of things. Civil lawsuits, IMO, should carry no guarantee of counsel at…
An interesting thought experiment along the lines of resolving this inequality is making it so that sides can only fund their civil case through a fund that both sides contribute to but both sides get an equal share. This means in order to frivolously sue someone, you have to be willing to fund their effort to defend against you. It probably breaks down a lot in cases involving multiple litigants (let alone class act…
That's a genuinely brilliant idea!
The ramifications on corp to corp lawsuits would be amazing.
Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]
#76TLDW - Patent troll sues Xplane creator after he migrated his app to the Google play store. They claim they own the general idea of the Google play store. Law firms create these cases for billable hours for their lawyers and some of their parent judges in Texas. Patent trolls and law firms in the end want to receive a settlement by targeting app creators and not Google themselves who are well equipped to defend themselves, http://www.thepatentscam.com/ .
Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]
#77A comment from a reddit thread states: The gist behind this case is that the Judge's son owns patent law firm in East Texas where they often represent both sides. This guy doesn't live in East Texas. However, the dad lets these stupid cases into the town to bring business to his son. Really shady. I agree with clavelle's comment. It's not so much the laws, but the system that allows this to occur. Link here: https://…
Did you even watch the video? He says it right on there.
Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
In practice, this is no different to having judges determine the amount of any damages awarded in a successful civil action or the amount of jail time or size of fine given to a convicted criminal. Making such assessments, taking into account the circumstances of each specific case, is a large part of the role of the judge in many legal systems.
Amount of jail time doesn't really benefit donors, but amount of damages and who pays does.
Sorry, I don't follow. Does "donors" have some technical meaning here?
Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]
#79So, no attempts to bring Davis in front of the Texas BAR association for unethical practices? I'm also curious why numerous developers have not demanded an Insurance Protection Product / Plan that would take a premium in return for subrogation (defense) if a frivolous Patent Suit is filed. I'm rather certain the market exists and while it may be for larger businesses or players, developers forming a Mutual Company an…
> I'm also curious why numerous developers have not demanded an Insurance Protection Product / Plan that would take a premium in return for subrogation (defense) if a frivolous Patent Suit is filed. I'm rather certain the market exists and while it may be for larger businesses or players, developers forming a Mutual Company and writing on some big name AM Best A paper (or even going to Lloyds) could be helpful.
I suspect part of the problem is that the monetary and time costs of litigation could not be easily measured. Every case would be, effectively, unique. Not insurmountable, but I have to imagine that the premiums would need to be very high.
Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amount of jail time doesn't really benefit donors, but amount of damages and who pays does.
Sorry, I don't follow. Does "donors" have some technical meaning here?
Judges in the US run for office like politicians and thus have donors to their campaigns. Sorry for the confusion.