Case 2:12-cv-08333-DMG-PJW Document 19 1 2 3 4 5 Filed 12/10/12 Page 1 of 7 Page ID #:173 Morgan E. Pietz (SBN 260629) THE PIETZ LAW FIRM 3770 Highland Ave., Ste. 206 Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 mpietz@pietzlawfirm.com Telephone: (310) 424-5557 Facsimile : (310) 546-5301 Attorney for: Putative John Doe in 2:12-cv-8333-DMG-PJW 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 10 11 AF HOLDINGS, LLC, a Limited 2:12-cv-05709-ODW-JC Liability Company Organized Under the Laws of the Federation of Assigned to: Judge Otis D Wright, II Referred to: Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian Saint Kitts and Nevis, 12 13 Plaintiff, v. JOHN DOE'S SUPPLEMENT TO NOTICE OF RELATED CASES 14 15 JOHN DOE, Defendant. 16 17 18 19 INGENUITY 13, LLC, a Limited 2:2012-cv-06635-GHK-RZ Liability Company Organized Under the Laws of the Federation of Assigned to: Judge George H. King Referred to: Magistrate Judge Ralph Zarefsky Saint Kitts and Nevis, 20 Plaintiff, 21 22 23 24 25 Complaint Filed July 2, 2012 Complaint Filed August 2, 2012 v. JOHN DOE, Defendant. 26 27 28 -iJOHN DOE'S SUPPLEMENT TO NOTICE OF RELATED CASES Case 2:12-cv-08333-DMG-PJW Document 19 1 2 3 INGENUITY 13, LLC, a Limited 2:2012-cv-06660-GAF-AGR Liability Company Organized Under the Laws of the Federation of Assigned to: Judge Gary A. Feess Referred to: Magistrate Judge Alicia G. Rosenberg Saint Kitts and Nevis, Plaintiff, 4 5 Filed 12/10/12 Page 2 of 7 Page ID #:174 Complaint Filed August 2, 2012 v. 6 7 JOHN DOE, Defendant. 8 9 10 11 INGENUITY 13, LLC, a Limited 2:2012-cv-07385-DSF-FFM Liability Company Organized Under the Laws of the Federation of Assigned to: Judge Dale S. Fischer Referred to: Magistrate Judge Frederick F. Mumm Saint Kitts and Nevis, 12 Plaintiff, 13 14 15 v. JOHN DOE, 16 Defendant. 17 18 19 20 INGENUITY 13, LLC, a Limited 2:2012-cv-07386-DMG-JEM Liability Company Organized Under the Laws of the Federation of Assigned to: Judge Dolly M. Gee Referred to: Magistrate Judge John E. McDermott Saint Kitts and Nevis, 21 22 Complaint Filed August 28, 2012 Plaintiff, Complaint Filed August 28, 2012 v. 23 24 25 JOHN DOE, Defendant. 26 27 28 -iiJOHN DOE'S SUPPLEMENT TO NOTICE OF RELATED CASES Case 2:12-cv-08333-DMG-PJW Document 19 1 2 3 INGENUITY 13, LLC, a Limited 2:2012-cv-08322-DMG-PJW Liability Company Organized Under the Laws of the Federation of Assigned to: Judge Dolly M. Gee Referred to: Magistrate Judge Patrick J. Walsh Saint Kitts and Nevis, Plaintiff, 4 5 Filed 12/10/12 Page 3 of 7 Page ID #:175 Complaint Filed September 27, 2012 v. 6 7 JOHN DOE, Defendant. 8 9 10 11 INGENUITY 13, LLC, a Limited 2:2012-cv-08333-DMG-PJW Liability Company Organized Under the Laws of the Federation of Assigned to: Judge Dolly M. Gee Referred to: Magistrate Judge Patrick J. Walsh Saint Kitts and Nevis, 12 Plaintiff, 13 14 15 16 17 Complaint Filed September 27, 2012 v. JOHN DOE, Defendant. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -iiiJOHN DOE'S SUPPLEMENT TO NOTICE OF RELATED CASES Case 2:12-cv-08333-DMG-PJW Document 19 Filed 12/10/12 Page 4 of 7 Page ID #:176 1 SUPPLEMENT TO NOTICE OF RELATED CASES 2 On December 3, 2012, undersigned counsel filed a Notice of Related cases in 3 multiple actions in the Central District of California. The purpose of this Notice was to 4 relate all of the cases filed by Prenda Law in this district on behalf of Ingenuity 13, LLC to 5 all of the cases filed by Prenda Law in this district on behalf of AF Holdings, LLC.1 In addition to identifying other legal and factual issues common to all cases, such as 6 7 the identical pleadings, the propriety of early discovery, whether the ISP subpoenas are 8 "very likely" to identify actual defendants, and other pre-service litigation issues, the 9 Notice of Related Cases also covers deeply troubling facts relating to one Mr. Alan Cooper 10 of Minnesota. The facts explained by Mr. Cooper's attorney, and particularly when read in 11 conjunction with the Florida hearing transcript, suggest possible systemic fraud, perjury, 12 lack of standing, undisclosed financial interests, and improper fee splitting. Remarkably though, the five-page "Plaintiff's Response in Opposition to Notice of 13 14 Related Cases" filed December 7, 2012, does not provide a single substantive fact designed 15 to assuage any of these very troubling concerns. Rather, Plaintiff's opposition attacks the 16 evidentiary foundation for Mr. Cooper's assertions, plus ad hominem attacks on the 17 undersigned, an on Mr. Cooper's attorney, without responding substantively to any of the 18 deeply troubling issues raised by Mr. Cooper. 19 Since plaintiff is focused on the evidentiary foundation for Mr. Cooper's assertions, 20 rather than the substance thereof, attached hereto as Exhibit A hereto is a sworn, notarized 21 affidavit executed by Mr. Alan Cooper of Minnesota. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 Plaintiff's Response in Opposition to the Notice of Related Cases, filed December 7, 2012, erroneously suggests that the Notice of Related Cases covers only six, seemingly-randomly-chosen cases. This is incorrect. Some but not all of the Ingenuity 13 cases have already been related to one another. Thus, the Notice of Related Cases was filed in each of the lead cases and seeks relation of all of the cases, all of which are listed in Appendix 3 to the Notice of Related Cases. The Notice of Related Cases was filed in 12-cv-6660-GAF despite that case being terminated because that is the lead, low-numbered case currently assigned to Judge Fees, who has several other Ingenuity 13 cases currently, none of which are terminated, and all of which are related to the 12-cv-6660 lead case. Simply put, undersigned counsel respectfully suggests that all of the cases identified in Appendix 3 to the Notice of Related Cases should be assigned to the same judicial officer(s). -1JOHN DOE'S SUPPLEMENT TO NOTICE OF RELATED CASES Case 2:12-cv-08333-DMG-PJW Document 19 For approximately the past two weeks, undersigned counsel as well as Mr. Cooper's 1 2 Filed 12/10/12 Page 5 of 7 Page ID #:177 attorney, have sought answers from Prenda Law on the following questions: (1) Is there another Alan Cooper, other than the gentleman in 3 4 Minnesota who was John Steele's former caretaker, who is or was the 5 principal of AF Holdings, LLC and/or Ingenuity 13, LLC?; 6 (2) Will plaintiff's counsel Brett Gibbs produce the original signature 7 to the verified petition, supposedly executed by hand by "Alan Cooper" and 8 notarized, which Mr. Gibbs stated, under penalty of perjury, that he has a 9 copy of in his own possession and control? See In the Matter of a Petition by 10 Ingenuity 13, LLC, E.D. Cal. Case No. 2:11-mc-JAM-DAD, ECF No. 1, 11 10/28/11;2 (3) Will Mr. Gibbs identify his client contact at Ingenuity 13 and AF 12 13 Holdings, given that Mr. Gibbs purported to speak with his "client" at 14 Ingenuity 13 only two weeks ago? 15 So far, Prenda has not only refused to answer these specific questions, it has refused to 16 even discuss these matters at all. A true and correct copy of email correspondence 17 memorializing undersigned counsel's recent attempts to meet and confer on these issues 18 with Mr. Gibbs is attached hereto as Exhibit B. Similarly, although Prenda attacks the evidentiary foundation for suggestions that it 19 20 may be pocketing as much as 90% of the take from its lawsuits (with its client receiving 21 only 10%), Prenda does not actually state that such a split is incorrect. Similarly, although 22 the undersigned shared his suspicion that Prenda Law and/or John Steele may be the 23 undisclosed real parties in interest in these cases, Prenda Law does not actually deny that 24 suggestion either. 25 26 27 28 2 A copy of Ingenuity 13's verified petition executed by "Alan Cooper" is attached as "Exhibit E" to the Letter Mr. Cooper's attorney filed with the Minnesota courts (the complete ECF letter filing from Cooper's attorney is attached as Appendix 1 to the Notice of Related Cases filed herein on December 3, 2012). -2JOHN DOE'S SUPPLEMENT TO NOTICE OF RELATED CASES Case 2:12-cv-08333-DMG-PJW Document 19 Filed 12/10/12 Page 6 of 7 Page ID #:178 1 Finally, Prenda argues that undersigned counsel has attempted to "defame" Prenda 2 Law by including as Appendix 2 to the Notice of Related Cases a recent transcript from a 3 hearing in a Prenda case that was conducted in federal Court in Florida. Prenda argues that 4 the Florida hearing is irrelevant. The undersigned disagrees; the Florida hearing transcript 5 provides further evidence of what appears to be a pattern whereby Prenda law is attempting 6 to defraud the Courts across the country by falsely holding out former/current personal 7 acquaintances of John Steele as the purported principals of the plaintiff entities that Prenda 8 Law represents in its national copyright infringement campaign. In other words, the 9 Florida hearing transcript provides yet further evidentiary support for the same kind of 10 11 deeply troubling circumstances that have been raised by Alan Cooper of Minnesota. In sum, the undersigned respectfully suggests that all of the Ingenuity 13, LLC cases 12 pending in this district be transferred to Judge Wright, who is already presiding over all of 13 the AF Holdings cases pending in this district. Such a transfer would undoubtedly result in 14 a substantial savings of judicial labor by streamlining the consideration of several identical 15 legal and factual issues relating to pre-service discovery, plus all of the troubling issues 16 raised by Mr. Cooper. 17 18 Respectfully submitted, 19 DATED: December 10, 2012 THE PIETZ LAW FIRM 20 /s/ Morgan E. Pietz 21 Morgan E. Pietz THE PIETZ LAW FIRM Attorney for Putative John Doe(s) Appearing on Caption 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -3JOHN DOE'S SUPPLEMENT TO NOTICE OF RELATED CASES Case 2:12-cv-08333-DMG-PJW Document 19 1 Filed 12/10/12 Page 7 of 7 Page ID #:179 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 I hereby certify that on this day, the above document was submitted to the CM/ECF system, which sent notification of such filing(s) to the plaintiff, which is registered for electronic service. Check if Applicable: [ ] Copies of these documents were also served via U.S. Mail, on this date, to the following parties, who are not registered for electronic service: N/A Respectfully submitted: December 10, 2012 THE PIETZ LAW FIRM /s/ Morgan E. Pietz Morgan E. Pietz THE PIETZ LAW FIRM Attorney for Putative John Doe(s) Appearing on Caption 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -4JOHN DOE'S SUPPLEMENT TO NOTICE OF RELATED CASES