A lot of us love ml-implode, where we first got wind of the implosion in the subprime and Alt-A arena like LEND, CFC, IMB, AHM and more. This site is hosted as a labor of love by Aaron Krowne, one man against a corrupt and imploding REIC.
Well, now he's getting sued, in a frivolous lawsuit by a desperate lender, Loan Center of California, who was none too happy to show up on the implode-o-meter even though they were evidently imploding. But now Aaron needs to raise funds to fight these sons-of-bitches, and HP is asking you to give a buck or two. Yes, lawyers are expensive. Hopefully Aaron can counter-sue the bastards, but being a mortgage lender, one would imagine they'll have no assets soon.
So, HP'ers, help defend blogs, help defend the internet, and help defend someone who is simply standing up to the REIC. Let us know here if you contribute and how much.
Donate here. Even $5 would help. Blogging and free speech are on the line.
Lender bastards. If there's a hell, I hope lenders like this have a special area. And a special note to the little boys at Loan Center of California - KISS OUR BLOGGER BUTTS. Yes, this is America, and you can still say kiss my ass. It's called opinion, and it's called free speech. And I hope Aaron raises enough for something called a "counter-suit". Jerks.
HP special message for MSM reporter readers - report on this story.
31 comments:
these pricks are trying to break him by making him have to pay a large legal bill. he needs to make himself judgement proof, and learn how to be his own lawyer and then go and play with these twits and make them spend the money on legal help, make them come into court for hearings on motions, etc etc....it is the only way.....you cough up 50k for this thing , and you are doing nothing less than helping the plaintiff screw you around and in this case, there is no case really..these assholes just didn't like the bad publicity. heck he just needs to depose some good fact witnesses, under oath with a court reporter in attendance and he needs to serve various people with subpoenas. it is not rocket science. anyone can be their own lawyer if they just do some learning on the issue. they are going to try and prove that he harmed them financially and then they are going to try and get him to pay them a large sum of money and court and attorney fees. i wonder why they are going after him on this. i am sure they have done their homework and they would not be doing this if they did not think they could get paid. so aaron must have many assets for them to take.....
being in the business of dispensing rumors can be dangerous in some respects and he should have prepared for this day. surely he knew that it would come...
oh by the way, the old saying comes to mind........
you can beat the wrap but you can't beat the ride.....
Maybe he just should have used the money he spent on iamfacingforeclosure.com to pay his legal bills?
Looks like all the bloggers are getting sued. Infomercialscams.com just got sued too. Instead of paying a lawyer, Public Citizen took their case pro bono. Pass along citizen.org to Krowne- they may take his case for free.
Krowne is also the guy who bought imfacingforeclosure.com from Serin.
This makes me wonder how much money Serin got, seeing the financial troubles Krowne is facing.
VOTE RON PAUL...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRIqlOGb9_U
RON PAUL REVOLUTION
Now read this:
http://www.rescue-us.org/ronpaulrevolutionhome.htm
HOW TO MAKE YOUR SIGN
http://www.rescue-us.org/RPRinstruction.htm
A few comments in response to the above:
1. I always expected some heat with the web site, but no, I did not expect any lawsuits, because I've always been careful about retracting or correcting disputed information. Same goes for this case. Unfortunately, virtually all of my due diligence is being ignored.
2. I actually did anticipate getting the summary judgment with costs covered; that's why I went ahead with the IAFF purchase.
3. It's all debt anyway; it wasn't a matter of spending cash on the domain purchase instead of the lawsuit.
3. Yes, I'm much much more in debt now. But I think the IAFF web site has good prospects (and with any luck the revenue won't all go to paying for law suits!) Come on, it's a SWEET DEAL!!!
4. I can't disclose the purchase price, but it was higher than the price in the last publicly disclosed "deal" that fell apart with the site. That was $20k I believe.
5. I don't have any meaningful level of assets for a corporation to take. The joke will certainly be on them regarding that (I was one of those "born with debt" kids you read about).
6. Pro bono or close to it legal support would be appreciated.
7. I have a day job (unlike, say, Serin), plus ML, so I can't run this case by myself, with zero experience. Of course, I'm trying to learn as quickly as I can.
Some more info:
8. I bought IAFF because, unfortunately, I think foreclosure is a growth industry, and I think the site is a good piece of "virtual property". I also already have 5-6 times the traffic of IAFF so I can throw in a meaningful promotional kick myself.
9. Extra legal donations - While I don't anticipate having much if any extra (having to come back with the collection plate seems more likely), any surplus will likely go first to a legal defense warchest, and secondly to general operations.
10. Yes, I can't count. Dammit Jim, I'm a mathematician, not an abacus!
11. If I'm not making 00dles of money off all this, why am I doing it? Very good question. I ask myself that frequently. I have kind of a "first help get people true information which they need, ask questions later" attitude. Either that will run me into the ground or I will strike pay dirt on something, eventually.
"4. I can't disclose the purchase price, but it was higher than the price in the last publicly disclosed "deal" that fell apart with the site. That was $20k I believe."
You mean to tell me Casey for once in his life made a good business decision by not selling for $20k?
So that must by why it's raining frogs outside my window.
Wait a minute...you borrowed money to buy IAFF? More than $20k? I don't get it.
The only draw to that site was watching Casey get publicly humiliated...but hey, I guess we can watch that happen to you now.
If the 'Triumph of The Masses' we call the internet/blogging will continue to be viable then we ALL MUST SUPPORT EACH OTHER.
Certainly I have gotten hundreds of hours of entertainment and VALUABLE financial info from many many blogs and ML-IMPLODE.com is one of them.
I donated $20 to him 2 weeks ago and i'm ashamed at such a tiny amount now, I shall donate much much more.
Hey Aaron, keep up the fight!
FYI John T Reed was sued by 'guru' Russ Whitney four times and defended himself I think he consulted with lawyers about details how to defend himself. Of course John is a retired author and has the time for 'wars' like this.
Read about the case here.
http://www.johntreed.com/ReedonWhitney.html
Being judgement proof is second best to defending yourself successfully and cheaply and winning.
Good luck Aaron. All you people out there please get off your walletz and donate! Thanks!
Aaron,
Contact these guys for some advice, they are defending infomercialscams.com
http://www.citizen.org/litigation/
didn't casey sell the domain to someone else who announced others shouldn't buy it so that other buyers could not be bona fide purchasers?
$5 to ML-implode.
Typically, in a small start up environment, where a company has no cash, the best strategy is to do absolutely nothing with regard to a lawsuit. Just put them on ignore.
Only think about a lawyer when you have to walk into a court. Its unlikely you'll ever get to that point. I think the same approach will work with blogs.
Tune em out. They're probably going to run out of money soon anyways...
California has strong anti-SLAPP laws to protect citizens who are victims of malicious or frivolous litigation. He can file the forms for a dismissal hearing, no lawyer needed, and a judge makes the ruling. There is even a provision for reimbursement of legal expenses.
Let's all do our part to fight THE MAN. Just sent $25 so the pr***s can't silence free speech!
Donated $5.....
If this lender was one of the bad ones, I cannot imagine that they would want to proceed with the suit. I mean, do they really want to go through discovery? I would have to imagine that there are some former employees with a few things to say about their business practices and working environment. That said, if i were them, I would not proceed.
Yup. anti-SLAPP the whole way...probably be able to make some money out of this if the Loan guys weren't judgment proof.
@aaron krowne
The IAFF domain comes with so much negative goodwill that it tarnishes everyone involved. There is an automatic assumption that any business associated with it is a scam. Note Serin's notorious beg-a-thons and the uses to which those funds were put. 2 weeks ago I would have donated something to m-im. Now? It's going to have to wait.
Keith - you should post this thread at the top instead of "Bubbletalk" for a while so you can make sure even infrequent visitors see it. This is the most important thing right now and if the call for help is widespread enough they should rocket past 50k easy.
Catch:
"California has strong anti-SLAPP laws to protect citizens who are victims of malicious or frivolous litigation. He can file the forms for a dismissal hearing, no lawyer needed, and a judge makes the ruling. There is even a provision for reimbursement of legal expenses."
Aaron just lost his SLAPP motion. That surprised me, frankly, but there was a tiny bit of wiggle room on the facts that a wussy judge could latch onto, and he/she did.
@suspicious guy
The chances of Aaron putting up a 'we buy houses' fraudster site with IAFF domain are really small. In fact, he will probably tell us he wont do that.
I know they have a 'have you been defrauded' message/link to attornies on ml-implode. That would be an AWSOME use of IAFF domain. USE IT TO HELP VICTIMS SUE PREDATORY LENDERS(assuming they have a case)! and aaron collects a small referral fee, sweet!
I want lenders at every level to get the PISS sued out of them so they stop giving out 125% cash back at close predatory lending free money subprime 2/28's to everyone with a pulse. Then housing can return to affordable.
"he just needs to depose some good fact witnesses, under oath with a court reporter in attendance and he needs to serve various people with subpoenas"
OK, then let's do something really cool and raise a fund to fly Keith to the hearing! Much cheaper. Keith can blog about it, and it would show HP's support to Aaron.
BTW - a long-term question, what constitutes "in the red" on an implode-o-meter, has been answered. 100!
"Aaron just lost his SLAPP motion. That surprised me, frankly, but there was a tiny bit of wiggle room on the facts that a wussy judge could latch onto, and he/she did."
Yeah when I saw that I wondered if the judge was a Bush appointee.
I'm surprised this thing doesn't have enough ego currency to get some serious pro-bono talent behind it on Aaron's side of the fence.
And....
I have some mixed feelings about the whole predicament Aaron's in. Frankly I wondered if posting anonymous emails wasn't a bit reckless unless he had really deep pockets for a legal fight. Unfortunately being right doesn't put lawyers on the table.
On the other hand, if Aaron was the type of guy who didn't have a lot of "to hell with the consequences" balls we wouldn't have implode-o-metter at all. And that would be a true crime.
So all in all I come down on the side of sending him a few bucks for the fight...
And shame on the legal community for not stepping up to defend him (and really all of us if you get right down to it.)
someone with some I.T. kung fu fighting skills should be targeting them (LC of CA.) for some major web based mayhem.
california supreme court cases under review...
california anti slapp statute
http://www.casp.net/calcase3.html
from wikipedia
british columbia supreme court case
One of the first cases in Canada to deal with a SLAPP was Fraser v. Saanich (see [1999] B.C.J. No. 3100 (B.C. S.C.)) (QL), where the British Columbia Supreme Court struck out the claim of a hospital director against the District of Saanich, holding that it was a meritless action designed to silence or intimidate the residents who were opposed to the plaintiff’s plan to redevelop the hospital facilities.
uh oh....
Lieberman v. KCOP Television, Inc.
Cite as: 110 Cal.App.4th 156, 1 Cal.Rptr.3d 536
Fred L. LIEBERMAN, Plaintiff and Respondent
v.
KCOP TELEVISION, INC., Defendant and Appellant
California Court of Appeal, Second District, Div. 4
No. B161477
July 3, 2003
(Appeal from the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Edward A. Ferns, Judge.)
Sipple v. Foundation for National Progress
Cite as: 71 Cal.App.4th 226, 83 Cal.Rptr.2d 677
DONALD SIPPLE, Plaintiff and Appellant,
v.
FOUNDATION FOR NATIONAL PROGRESS et al., Defendants and Respondents.
California Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Div. 2
No. B120358
April 7, 1999
(Appeal from Superior Court of Los Angeles County, No. BC176755, Ernest M. Hiroshige, Judge
it would appear this is not a clear cut case.....hmmm......
well let's see. aaron lives in georgia and the complainant is in cali.......so...
they have to hold court where the defendant lives. so those assholes have to get on a plane and fly over to atlanta for court.
for motions etc, i think they might be able to use a phone hookup in judge's chambers since they are out of town....etc.......but aaron could have a lot of fun with this if he really wanted to.....
why is he using a cali lawyer? i would have used a atlanta lawyer if at all.
i say piss on them anyway. they are tying to shut him down. can you get blood out of a turnip?
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