Riddick and Imageline sued in Federal Court

[SoylentGreen]

Here's a question for Oscar:  Imagine that a company or person(s) sent letters, made calls, etc in the spirit of these "extortion letter" schemes, and the recipient simply disagreed with their claims.  How far can the company or person(s) sending such letters escalate the issue before it becomes "harassment"?  If the recipient of the letters says, "I've made note of your claims, please don't harass me further" does the sender of the letters have to stop their actions?

Isn't there a point wherein the company or person(s) have to either give up, or seek a solution through litigation?

Thank you!!

S.

[Oscar Michelen]

Good question SG.  I guess it will depend on the state, but most states say repeated phone calls (or texts or emails) are "harassment" if they are for "no legitimate purpose."  So how is that defined? Its a case by case analysis usually. The best way to try to turn phone collectors into criminal defendants would be to issue a clear statement (preferably in writing) that says something like:   "I have received repeated phone calls from you on this issue. In each of those calls I have advised you that  I have no intention of settling this matter with you. Therefore I insist that you no longer call me about this. Any further call will serve no legitimate purposes and will constitute harassment. Therefore if you call me again, I intend to refer your name and behavior to the appropriate authorities."

Will it work? I don't know. Prosecutors are likely too busy to try and turn boorish collection behavior into criminal conduct.  But if it gets bad, you never know.  Also, you can try and refer the matter to your State Attorney General. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act  prohibits repeated phone calls after they've been told to stop and prohibits calls before 8AM or after 9PM.

[riddickvictim2]

Apparently, domain squatting did not pay off for Mr. Riddick.  His Islandview company website is down for non-payment (as of this post).
www.islandview2.com
I also see that the corporate website upgrade for Imageline is right on schedule.
www.imageline2.com

[Oscar Michelen]

Thanks for the update!

[Matthew Chan]

It sounds like we are kindred spirits.  Oscar and I appreciate informed contributors such as yourselves because you guys provide extra eyes and ears to the situation.  And yes, there is a significant number of people caught up in all this.

This website averages nearly 4000 unique visitors per month (not hits).  That is a LOT of readers for such a niche subject. And nearly 17% of our readers spend from 5 to 60+ minutes reading the content of our website. When they visit, they are reading 6 pages or posts per visit.  People certainly are hungry for information.

However, a tiny minority actually post or participate on the discussion forums.  LOTs of readers though.

MatthewC

SoylentGreen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> I'm a lot like you, I think.  I can tell you that
> when a situation like yours arose, I fought them
> every step of the way like an immovable object.
> Of course, there's always a possibly that they
> could have won, but they would have had to go
> through every single step of a very annoying and
> torturous route, and I made that clear.  I'd never
> just "give" them anything just because I got few
> letters and calls.  They should "prove their
> case", and if they can't actually go to court,
> then they can't be very confident in their
> position.
>
> You and Oscar have definitely set up a great
> resource!!  There's nobody else to turn to; nobody
> else took the time to do it.  How many people have
> stopped having so many sleepless nights after
> coming to the site - we may never really know.
> But, it's probably a significant number of people.
> No wonder the site's so popular.  Thank you!!
>
> S.

[stevep]

According to recent court documents, Riddick is having difficulty finding an attorney and thus represented himself against Bernina's attorneys in Federal Court. The judge issued a temporary restraining order against Riddick, and ordered the parties back to Court for August 31.

The highlight of the court transcription was this classic exchange between Riddick and a Senior Federal Court Judge with 30+ years experience on the bench:

MR. RIDDICK: I said I don't really appreciate that, because I do know what I'm talking about, having worked on this for 25 years. However, I know --

THE COURT: You know, I'm glad you've been at this 25 years. I guess I had a misspent youth, because I've been 30 years at the bench here just last month; and I appreciate your education, but I've got to tell you, it doesn't seem to work the way you seem to think it does. So, you'd better have something professional in the way of a response.

[riddickvictim2]

OMG! Classic Riddick! He has respect for no one other than himself.

Thank you, stevep. Please keep us posted. Is there any way to get a look at the transcripts?

[SoylentGreen]

The courtroom scene described above reminds me of a scene in the Wizard of OZ movie.  You know, the part wherein The Wizard is projected as a scary, powerful, malevolent monster of a man.  But then, from behind a curtain, the real wizard is revealed.  In reality, he's a weak, powerless pathetic little douchebag.  In the courtroom, the "curtain" has been pulled aside to reveal... Riddick.  Without an attorney.  By the way, he's so 'correct' that he doesn't need an attorney.  Anyone who received a threatening letter from him or "his team" and paid him money was a sucker.

S.

[YetAnotherRiddickVictim]

Some people told Riddick to go piss up a rope. He then came back with a lawyer and sued them. He filed 9 or 10 law suits over the last year and change.

He got the SIAA to back some of the suits, got contingency lawyers on others. Whether or not he can win, he can force you into bankruptcy just paying for the legal team to fight him, which has allowed him to get settlements from companies and individuals just happy to be done with it. And he appears to count a settlement as a win, even if all he got were pennies and promises.

The sad thing is that our laws make it possible for Riddick to terrorize small players without repercussions, simply because they can't afford to fight back the way Bernina is doing. I hope Bernina wins, wins any appeals, and wins hard enough to put Riddick out of business for good.

[Matthew Chan]

Yes, I have a number of documents that have been sent to me that I need to review and post to our website.

I am currently out of town for 2 weeks and will be slower than normal in responding but rest assured as I get the court documents, they will be posted here on this website.

MatthewC

riddickvictim2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OMG! Classic Riddick! He has respect for no one
> other than himself.
>
> Thank you, stevep. Please keep us posted. Is there
> any way to get a look at the transcripts?

[Matthew Chan]

This is a broad general statement I am making here but. the reason why many people "lose" is they were never taught to fight by their own rules, not your opponents rules.

Somehow, people have it in their heads that there is a "proper" protocol in fighting someone. Now, I am not condoning breaking the law or doing anything illegal. Outside of that, ANYTHING goes. Even if lawyers are involved, too many people do not understand how lawyers and courts work in the fact that they are people too and whatever they do hinges on what the plaintiff wants.  In other words, you find a plaintiff's weaknesses, use it to your advantage, and legal actions can fall away pretty quickly.  But there has to be an incentive for the plaintiff to stop what they are doing.

I almost never go out of my way to pick a fight. But over the years, I have learned to represent my own interests and fight back in ways my opponents absolutely hate.  And in most cases, they did not involve hiring a lawyer. One day I may find time and a way to share some of the info I have but I don't think I will be doing it in a public format because of the sensitivity of the information and the potential for abuse.

The best analogy I can give anyone is think "guerilla warfare", "street fighting", and "going personal". I know it might be cryptic and it is meant to be. And NONE of it is to imply getting violent despite my references.

Having said all that, for most people, I publicly recommend attorney Oscar Michelen. He is best suited for most people's sensibilities. You do not have to go broke defending yourself, you have to get educated.  I get emails from people who are too lazy to read the contents of this website or post their stories. I have no inclination to type a customized response when people have not done their homework. Whereas Oscar gets paid to do the work, I don't.  My contribution are primarily through the articles I have written, my occasional posts, and overseeing this website and online community. I have to draw the line somewhere.

MatthewC

YetAnotherRiddickVictim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> He got the SIAA to back some of the suits, got
> contingency lawyers on others. Whether or not he
> can win, he can force you into bankruptcy just
> paying for the legal team to fight him, which has
> allowed him to get settlements from companies and
> individuals just happy to be done with it. And he
> appears to count a settlement as a win, even if
> all he got were pennies and promises.
>
> The sad thing is that our laws make it possible
> for Riddick to terrorize small players without
> repercussions, simply because they can't afford to
> fight back the way Bernina is doing. I hope
> Bernina wins, wins any appeals, and wins hard
> enough to put Riddick out of business for good.

[SoylentGreen]

YetAnotherRiddickVictim, Thanks for the info about the Riddick lawsuits.  However, I'm having difficulty finding any references on the Web about the lawsuits mentioned.  I'd like to know how many lawsuits he has actually brought forth and how many lawsuits he has won. Can anyone point me in the right direction?  Oscar mentioned in a separate post that in reality, Riddick wasn't suing hardly anyone:

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/read.php?3,429

Obviously, people (lawyers included) cannot live on bankrupting companies and "collecting pennies and promises", as you say; so what's the point of suing?  If he's never won any lawsuits, but people are paying him anyway, I'd personally consider them to be suckers; but that's just my opinion.  By that yardstick, what's to stop me from suing people for treading on my lawn, and making them pay just because it costs a lot to fight my allegations in court?  

From his recent court behavior, he certainly doesn't sound to be legally savvy.  I mean, here's a litigious guy who's allegedly sued people ten times this year.  But, he arrives in federal court without an attorney?  It just doesn't add up up for me.  It doesn't sound like he's been to court before.

I totally agree with Matthew.  It's time to fight.  I can't say too much about my fight either; but I can tell you that making it incredibly painful and labor intensive for your adversaries to deal with you is essential.  Stay quiet at first, but if they come after you, study everything that you can and make it clear that you're the most educated person on the planet on the subject.  Never, ever show fear.  They want money?  Fine... show them that it'll cost them ten times what's allegedly owed just to get it.  Every minute that they spend harassing or chasing you costs them money.  Every piece of paper, fax and phone call costs them money.  You owe 10,000 dollars they say?  Surely they'll come after you relentlessly?  Maybe for a while.  But, not as long as they can make 11,000 by chasing other people who don't fight back.  People who pay without much of a fight are like "low-hanging fruit" in the jungle... guess which gets eaten first?

S.

[riddickvictim2]

Can not wait to see them, Matthew!  Thanks!

[stevep]

As far as lawsuits, near as I can tell, he won one, lost one, and settled three or four. This link should provide a list:
http://dockets.justia.com/search?q=Imageline

Most of these appear to be people who were selling clipart.

[SoylentGreen]

Thanks for the link!!  It seems that Riddick/Imageline were quite busy in 2009.  It'll be interesting to see if he will come out ahead monetarily after all is said and done with Bernina.  If he loses money in the end, then his efforts would seem to be pointless.  Time to get a real job, maybe?

S.