Higbee & Assoc. Lists RM Media Ltd in Nick Youngson Template Lawsuit

[sbausman]

I think we may consider countersuing.

[icepick]

Has anyone gone on the offense with these guys (any of them, not just Higbee) and sent a Spoliation of Evidence letter to make the impression they aren't going to get the default judgment they are probably looking for and that their client is going to be put through detailed discovery if they persist?

Just wondering if being aggressive gets better results for most people since the trolls usually look for the easy mark with their fee being contingent.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

I think we may consider countersuing.

Have they filed suit against you? or do you mean filing suit first? a case worth watching is the mywebgrocer v adlife, where mywebgrocer filed suit against adlife and is attempting to get a default judgement, been going on a while now and it does not look like either side is going to cave ( yet) a win for mywebgrocer would not bode well for adlife / higbee going forward.

[kingkendall]

Being agressive with a copyright troll is a better course of action in my opinion if they file suit.  That's the last thing they want.  They prefer the scared rabbit that gets easily shook.  They want low hanging fruit cuz that where they make the most of their money.  Counter suing should be a given if they file a case.

[icepick]

I'll report back my Higbee results once the matter ends, in case they are listening here. There are just so many obvious sloppy issues in their extortion attempt I'd be surprised if it ends well for them.

I looked into the letter program here but a $450 fee for an issue where I'm confident my damages would be $200 is a little too rich for me, and they would have to pay the filing fee and process server plus court time to get the $200.

Plus Youngson would need to come to the US which I don't see happening, especially if the rumors of him switching to the Sanders law firm are true.

Until then, go and dislike Higbee's recordgone YouTube videos to make his real business suffer for his new troll identity. Every YouTuber I know says dislikes do sink placement in search results.

[sbausman]

We just received this from Higbee.  I find this very scammy, especially talking about business insurance coverage.    Thoughts?

Hello,
My name is Daniela,  I am a Claim Resolution Specialist at the Law Firm of Higbee & Associates. The case was transferred to me.   My job is to help resolve copyright claims without them having to go to court. 
I am not one of the attorneys.  I have about 14 days to try and resolve this claim before the claim gets escalated to the attorneys.  The claim gets more stressful and expensive when it gets moved to the attorneys— my goals is to not let that happen to you.Here are a couple of things that can help solve this potential problem:
First, if you have a license for the image that was purchased prior to the image being used, please let me know and provide it to me via email.
Second, most business liability insurance policies covers this type of claim.  Please contact your insurance provider.  If they say they do not cover this type of claim, I will be glad to have one of our attorneys review your policy to see if they are wrongfully denying you coverage.  It is in both of our interests to make sure your insurance provider is not denying you coverage that you paid for.If you did not have a license or proper business insurance, we can talk about how to come to a reasonable resolution. 

[icepick]

I'm not an expert, but I would seriously consider giving that evidence to the Bar disciplinary committees for the states they are licensed in. He is representing an adversary to you and then making an offer to represent you for the business insurance. Looks like a conflict of interest to me plus a deceptive way to obtain evidence of your insurance which he is going to use in his case against you. Not an expert, but I would definitely file that with the Bar.

We just received this from Higbee.  I find this very scammy, especially talking about business insurance coverage.    Thoughts?

Hello,
My name is Daniela,  I am a Claim Resolution Specialist at the Law Firm of Higbee & Associates. The case was transferred to me.   My job is to help resolve copyright claims without them having to go to court. 
I am not one of the attorneys.  I have about 14 days to try and resolve this claim before the claim gets escalated to the attorneys.  The claim gets more stressful and expensive when it gets moved to the attorneys— my goals is to not let that happen to you.Here are a couple of things that can help solve this potential problem:
First, if you have a license for the image that was purchased prior to the image being used, please let me know and provide it to me via email.
Second, most business liability insurance policies covers this type of claim.  Please contact your insurance provider.  If they say they do not cover this type of claim, I will be glad to have one of our attorneys review your policy to see if they are wrongfully denying you coverage.  It is in both of our interests to make sure your insurance provider is not denying you coverage that you paid for.If you did not have a license or proper business insurance, we can talk about how to come to a reasonable resolution. 

[Matthew Chan]

That is what I have been saying all along.

People keep looking at Higbee because he is the "front man" but Youngson is conveniently hiding out in the UK. If he filed a lawsuit (Under who? Youngson or RM Media?), he would have to show up.

And regarding the "rumors" of switching to Sanders, I would like to know more. I have not heard this.

Plus Youngson would need to come to the US which I don't see happening, especially if the rumors of him switching to the Sanders law firm are true.

[icepick]

I don't know if it was ever pointed out in other threads but the Alex Wild cases he did file in Texas this year were because the plaintiff was located in Texas. So he will file where the plaintiff is, not necessarily just in California. Youngson is a reach from the U.K. in my opinion.

That is what I have been saying all along.

People keep looking at Higbee because he is the "front man" but Youngson is conveniently hiding out in the UK. If he filed a lawsuit (Under who? Youngson or RM Media?), he would have to show up.

And regarding the "rumors" of switching to Sanders, I would like to know more. I have not heard this.

Plus Youngson would need to come to the US which I don't see happening, especially if the rumors of him switching to the Sanders law firm are true.

[icepick]

So I guess Higbee is still pounding sand on the Youngson cases despite all his 14 day deadlines etc.? I haven't found any filings for Youngson or RM Media. For the people dealing with this for a long time, is his last gasp the draft lawsuit? He probably doesn't want to eat the $400 filing fee for a plaintiff he knows won't show up. He seems quick to file like with that confidentiality clause filing in another thread so dragging his feet on these reveal a lack of confidence.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Youngson would have to give Higbee the okay to file, which i doubt he will do, based on the fact that he's in the UK and won't show up, and based on the fact that his honeypot experiment has been exposed. I think the odds of him winning a lawsuit would be very slim at this point. Higbee will continue to attempt to extract monies with the veiled threat of an impending suit to get whatever he can from those uneducated. Such a slimeball Higbee & Associates

[icepick]

I used to think that would be the case but with some things I've seen I'm not 100% sure Higbee is following the traditional client interaction. First, he pitches to clients like a personal injury lawyer with the "nothing out of pocket" and no fee unless they win. That makes me think Higbee is fronting filing fees on cases he thinks are worthwhile, not necessarily the client's decision in practical terms. https://www.higbeeassociates.com/practices/copyright-law/copyright-infringement-attorneys/ It will come off the top in the settlement, but if the client isn't involved in the decision making they aren't doing the math in deciding if paying the fee is worth it. Like with that confidentiality case, paying that extra filing fee is probably going to result in the client getting less at the end of the day unless Higbee gets a big win above the amount they accepted. I genuinely wonder if Higbee made that filing call without direction from the client based on #2.

Second, I've seen some sort of power of attorney he is passing around which claims to give him complete control over the matter from his client. That could also extend to choosing to file or not, I don't know.

If he gets nowhere with the Youngson cases I still would not be surprised to see one token filing just so he can make people think he's serious, and then the case either settles or gets dismissed before Youngson needs to come to court. In his mind, he will probably make up the $400 from other settlements if people thinking he is serious because of it. It's a big game of chicken.

Youngson would have to give Higbee the okay to file, which i doubt he will do, based on the fact that he's in the UK and won't show up, and based on the fact that his honeypot experiment has been exposed. I think the odds of him winning a lawsuit would be very slim at this point. Higbee will continue to attempt to extract monies with the veiled threat of an impending suit to get whatever he can from those uneducated. Such a slimeball Higbee & Associates

[Matthew Chan]

There is precedent here about copyright extortionists blindly following lawsuits against parties getting poor results. Masterfile did just that for a few years. By my estimate, they spent several tens of thousands of dollars of filing fees and attorney fees filing lawsuits against defendants where many did not bother to respond.  More importantly, Masterfile abruptly stopped filing ridiculous amounts of lawsuits. I believe they stopped not because they were "being nice". They stopped because it was expensive, not working, and resulting in a net loss for their efforts. The only people who profited were the lawyers. I think Masterfile lost a good amount of money from the endeavor.

It seems Higbee & Associates are on a similar path. They take pride in bragging about their growing "copyright litigation".

As my friends report over at fightcopyrighttrolls.com (they report on porn demand letters & lawsuits), the more lawsuits are filed, the more "unintended consequences" are likely to happen to the plaintiffs and lawyers themselves. What happens is a hornets nest is stirred among anonymous readers and they work in unorthodox and nasty ways to bring down the lawyers and the plaintiffs.

The stuff we discuss here is tame comparatively speaking. But if Higbee and their other lawyers are foolish enough to believe that their firm's growing aggressiveness will go without consequence from their victims, they might be in for a rude surprise. Smart people are reporting to me various cracks/flaws in their little collection system and I suspect these will be turned against them somewhere down the line.

Many abusive players that tried this have been put down over the years. RIAA, Righthaven, Prenda (Steel & Hansmeier), Timmy McCormack firm (ex-outside Getty counsel), Linda Ellis, and many others suffered greatly for their abusive ways. It always happens when they go after the wrong folks. When they hit the wrong targets, bad things seem to happen to the plaintiffs. 

As Robert said elsewhere, Higbee might be the new Timmy McCormack. However, Timmy's primary client was Getty. Higbee appears to have a larger base of clients. And it will be interesting to see how one client's aggressive actions/inactions spills over to another client.

We have seen it happen before and we will see it again.

So I guess Higbee is still pounding sand on the Youngson cases despite all his 14 day deadlines etc.? I haven't found any filings for Youngson or RM Media. For the people dealing with this for a long time, is his last gasp the draft lawsuit? He probably doesn't want to eat the $400 filing fee for a plaintiff he knows won't show up. He seems quick to file like with that confidentiality clause filing in another thread so dragging his feet on these reveal a lack of confidence.

[icepick]

I think this job posting says a lot about how Higbee envisions his operation to work. He is hiring a LITIGATION attorney and trial experience is nowhere in the requirements. It is strictly filing complaints, get through discovery and motions, and then settle. The fringe, multiple infringement cases that go to trial are the outliers for him.

https://higbeeassociates.recruiterbox.com/jobs/fk0fqcj/

Has anyone seen an RM / Youngson filing yet? I haven’t checked pacer in a few weeks. I think a lot of the 15 day deadlines he has given people have lapsed over the last 12 months since he started.

[Matthew Chan]

In case he takes down his ad, I am preserving the text here with some of my own comments.

Copyright Litigation Attorney
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Full-time

National law firm seeks an Associate Attorney with a great work ethic to join its copyright litigation team in the firm's Las Vegas office. The copyright division's clients include top-rated photojournalists, visual artists, celebrity photographers, and high end-commercial photographers. The associate will work with a paralegal and law clerk to manage a significant caseload of federal court cases. (Be prepared to have your personal name turn into mud and get bar complaints like Righthaven and Prenda.)


DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

Evaluate copyright cases (Read at a 7th-grade level.)
Engage in pre-litigation and post-filing negotiation with opposing parties (Email and phone harass the victims)
Draft complaints for filing in federal court (Fill in boilerplate lawsuits)
Work with professional staff to insure that cases are maximized and handled in a professional manner ("Maximized"=Squeeze as much money as you can!)
Correspond with clients via email and telephone (Tell clients: I am working on getting your damned money but these fuckers won't pay up!)
Provide legal advice to clients (We need to lie and scare the shit out of people to get the money, okay?)
Draft various motions related (Attach fake template lawsuits to extortion letters)
Propounding and responding to discovery. (Surprise discovery! One day, your name becomes mud in Google searches when people complain and talk about you!)


REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Willingness to negotiate and argue with opposing parties (We need harass them for 3 years!)
License to practice law in ANY state (Any state will do. Just have your law certificate handy just in case.)
Be organized, detail-oriented, and able to work well under pressure and deadlines (You mean those 14-day deadlines that don't mean shit?)
The ability to always treat prospects, clients, co workers, court personnel and opposing parties in a civil, polite and respectful manner (We have to put on a good front since we are a NATIONAL LAW FIRM but really only have virtual/rent-an-address "offices".)
Be able to take initiative and work as part of a team (Find new ways to squeeze extra money out of people especially if we can get away with it!)
The ability to provide extraordinary customer service to all clients and prospects (Just get us the money, okay?)
Ability to act with honesty and integrity in all matters (You mean like saying you will file lawsuits on every victim but it is actually a scare tactic? Or "let me speak to the client" and see if they will accept your offer? That kind of "honesty and integrity"?)
Ability to respond positively to change (we do things different and are constantly evolving) (We do things differently and evolve because ELI members openly report on how we do things making it tough to squeeze money.)


SALARY AND BENEFITS:

Base $45,000- $70,000 annual, depending on experience (For that salary, it is totally worth fucking your online reputation over when pissed-off victims post your name online, talk about you like dogshit, and possibly get bar complaints. Yeah, it is totally worth that smoking salary.)
Bonus opportunity $30,000 annual, depending on performance (You are going to need the bonus money after you realize reputable law firms in the future won't touch people who fuck their reputation over by working for a "National Law Firm" that really is just a front for one California outfit.)
Medical, vision and dental benefits provided (If you last that long)
Paid vacation days (If you last that long)
401K benefits after one year (If you last that long)


IMPORTANT LEGAL MUMBO-JUMBO
We are an equal opportunity employer, meaning that we do not discriminate in favor of or against anyone based on age, race, religion, gender, ethnicity or any other legally protected class. Job description, duties and hours are subject to change. This is an at-will position.  (Paying on outrageous extortion letters is also an "at-will" position)