TexasRose22
Junior Member
Hello,
I received a certified letter from my cable provider (Time Warner Cable) notifying me that they have been served with a court order compelling them to disclose my identifying information based on an IP address they have and a particular downloading date and time stamp. The information is being requested due to a mass lawsuit being filed by Maverick Entertainment Group, Inc. They state that they are excused from responding if I have filed the necessary legal papers by May 27, 2011.
Apparently, this has to do with the following case:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/mass-suing-pirates-gets-shot-170403
After this letter from TWC, there is a copy of what appears to be a legal court document that states, "UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT" as a title and toward the middle states, "SUBPOENA TO PRODUCE DOCUMENTS, INFORMATION, OR OBJECTS..." and below that a paragraph titled "Production" has been checked off.
This paragraph has the following in bold "YOU ARE COMMANDED" and then states:
"To produce at the time, date, and place set forth below the following documents, electronically stored information, or objects, and permit their inspection, copying, testing, or sampling of the material: Pursuant to the attached orders, provide the name, current (and permanent) address, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses [...] of all individuals whose IP address are listed in the attached spreadsheet."
The last page in the set of documents is another letter that states:
"If you want to prevent being identified, you have 30 days from the date of this notice to file a motion to quash or vacate the subpoena."
So I would like to know how do I go about doing that? Also, I'm not at all versed in legal matters so if this could be explained thoroughly and with a lot of detail, I'd really appreciate that.
Finally, there is a section entitled, "OTHER ISSUES REGARDING THE LAWSUIT AGAINST YOU" and that section states:
"To maintain a lawsuit against you in the District Court for the District of Columbia, the court must have personal jurisdiction over you. You may be able to challenge the District Court for the District of Columbia's personal jurisdiction over you. However, please not that even if your challenge is successful, the Plaintiff can still file against you in the state in which a court has personal jurisdiction over you."
So my question about this is, I am not part of their jurisdiction (which is Virginia - I live in Texas). Do I personally have to challenge this jurisdiction of when/if they get my information will the court itself drop the suit and try to re-file in Texas. What is the likelihood of them re-filing in Texas, and overall, what kind of consequences can a lawsuit of this kind (being waged, I believe, against 1000+ people) have for the individual people such as myself?
Thank you very much!
- Helga
PS:
Lastly, I forgot to mention that right now financially I cannot afford to retain an attorney. Is there a way to get some kind of FREE help for this? And about how much does it cost to file the motions that I may need to file (listed above)? Thank you again!
I received a certified letter from my cable provider (Time Warner Cable) notifying me that they have been served with a court order compelling them to disclose my identifying information based on an IP address they have and a particular downloading date and time stamp. The information is being requested due to a mass lawsuit being filed by Maverick Entertainment Group, Inc. They state that they are excused from responding if I have filed the necessary legal papers by May 27, 2011.
Apparently, this has to do with the following case:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/mass-suing-pirates-gets-shot-170403
After this letter from TWC, there is a copy of what appears to be a legal court document that states, "UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT" as a title and toward the middle states, "SUBPOENA TO PRODUCE DOCUMENTS, INFORMATION, OR OBJECTS..." and below that a paragraph titled "Production" has been checked off.
This paragraph has the following in bold "YOU ARE COMMANDED" and then states:
"To produce at the time, date, and place set forth below the following documents, electronically stored information, or objects, and permit their inspection, copying, testing, or sampling of the material: Pursuant to the attached orders, provide the name, current (and permanent) address, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses [...] of all individuals whose IP address are listed in the attached spreadsheet."
The last page in the set of documents is another letter that states:
"If you want to prevent being identified, you have 30 days from the date of this notice to file a motion to quash or vacate the subpoena."
So I would like to know how do I go about doing that? Also, I'm not at all versed in legal matters so if this could be explained thoroughly and with a lot of detail, I'd really appreciate that.
Finally, there is a section entitled, "OTHER ISSUES REGARDING THE LAWSUIT AGAINST YOU" and that section states:
"To maintain a lawsuit against you in the District Court for the District of Columbia, the court must have personal jurisdiction over you. You may be able to challenge the District Court for the District of Columbia's personal jurisdiction over you. However, please not that even if your challenge is successful, the Plaintiff can still file against you in the state in which a court has personal jurisdiction over you."
So my question about this is, I am not part of their jurisdiction (which is Virginia - I live in Texas). Do I personally have to challenge this jurisdiction of when/if they get my information will the court itself drop the suit and try to re-file in Texas. What is the likelihood of them re-filing in Texas, and overall, what kind of consequences can a lawsuit of this kind (being waged, I believe, against 1000+ people) have for the individual people such as myself?
Thank you very much!
- Helga
PS:
Lastly, I forgot to mention that right now financially I cannot afford to retain an attorney. Is there a way to get some kind of FREE help for this? And about how much does it cost to file the motions that I may need to file (listed above)? Thank you again!