The Bullet Point: Oh. My. God.
When Judge O'Kelley took his seat after lunch two things happened. The first was that Chintella's witness made his way to the stand, and the second was that Judge O'Kelley waved him back."Sit down, Mr. Syfert, I've got a couple of things that I'd like to say that might make further testimony unnecessary."[Pause]"In an effort to expedite this hearing I have decided to issue some partial findings..."O'Kelley then launched into a now-familiar spiel about how the case had gone on too long and but that he was very concerned about the issues raise. However, he continued, his case load was too heavy for this hearing to go into a second day. So, in hopes of expediting matters, he was going to break tradition once more and issue some partial findings.
Long speech short, Judge Wright's findings of fact (specifically paragraphs 1-6, 8, & 11) have been adopted by the court. Their associated evidence is also in by preclusion. Judge O'Kelley then asked, in a tone that was almost grandfatherly, if that made a difference to how Chintella wanted to proceed.
Chintella, Yes. Absolutely. Ummm...what's the docket number Judge Wright's case again?Five minutes later, with Chintella having still not been able to remember the order O'Kelley was talking about, a ten minute recess was called. To be clear, O'Kelley wasn't angry. He'd just dropped a bombshell and it was only reasonable that Chintella would need a few minutes to regroup. I, on the other hand wasn't feeling so reasonable. As soon as he was out the door, I went over to Chintella and hissed, "It's the Star Trek Ruling!".
Chintella: "Oh yeah!"No sooner had I returned to my seat he looks at me and asks,
Chintella: "What's the docket number on that?"
Me: "IDK! Google it. It's on Popehat!"
Chintella: There's no wi-fi in here. But I've got it on my computer. I just can't remember which one it is.
Oh, FFS. I so didn't want to be seen loitering around the defense desk, but...
O'Kelley then turned the floor over to Duffy who made his patented statements about how he wasn't involved in this case and how that wasn't actually his signature on one of the documents Chintella had admitted into evidence. O'Kelley took Judicial notice of these things and that was it. There were no questions about the copyright assignment but it clear (by his own omission) that he didn't have it with him. Then it was Nazaire's turn.
Judge O'Kelley asked how much time would Mr. Nazaire need. Nazaire said he requested/required equal time as Blair Chintella had used. The man was STEAMED.
At this time it was almost 2pm. Heh.
Nazaire's first witness was Graham Syfert. While Nazaire didn't request to treat Graham as a hostile witness he was a very hostile attorney. One of his first questions was:
Me: What Operating System are you on? 7? Okay, hit start. You see the search feature...type in....A couple minutes later we have a Star Trek Ruling.
Chintella: Sorry, I'm just so exhausted.The next few of minutes were quite productive. Chintella requested that a couple of items be admitted. One was paragraph 7 of the Star Trek ruling. The other was a document showing that the Anti Piracy League Group (signed by Duffy) was part of Prenda. These things were accepted into evidence. With that, the Defense rested.
Me: Would you like a Mountain Dew? I've got one in my bag....
Chintella: Love one. But maybe after the hearing.
Marshall: All Rise!!!!
O'Kelley then turned the floor over to Duffy who made his patented statements about how he wasn't involved in this case and how that wasn't actually his signature on one of the documents Chintella had admitted into evidence. O'Kelley took Judicial notice of these things and that was it. There were no questions about the copyright assignment but it clear (by his own omission) that he didn't have it with him. Then it was Nazaire's turn.
Judge O'Kelley asked how much time would Mr. Nazaire need. Nazaire said he requested/required equal time as Blair Chintella had used. The man was STEAMED.
At this time it was almost 2pm. Heh.
Nazaire's turn....
[I must apologize in advance. My notes are a bit shaky where this portion of the hearing is concerned. Partly this was because of the speed at which questions were asked, partly because of the content, but mostly because I was so caught up in the action, I kept forgetting to take notes.]Nazaire's first witness was Graham Syfert. While Nazaire didn't request to treat Graham as a hostile witness he was a very hostile attorney. One of his first questions was:
"Are you licensed to practice law in Florida?"
"Yes I am."
"Are you licensed to practice law in Georgia?"
"Yes I am."
Well now, THAT was not what Mr. Nazaire was expecting. You could almost hear his mouth snap shut. It took him a moment to decide how to proceed. Then the questions started coming faster than I could take notes. We really need to get a hold of the transcript.
Nazaire wanted to know about the crowdfunding project. Only he called it the "crowdfunder". Syfert said he wasn't aware of any "crowd funders" but, after a pause, he answered the question that he knew Nazaire was asking. Yes, there were a couple of crowd funding projects. No, he didn't know how much was raised and he didn't know the inner workings.
Nazaire wanted to know about the crowdfunding project. Only he called it the "crowdfunder". Syfert said he wasn't aware of any "crowd funders" but, after a pause, he answered the question that he knew Nazaire was asking. Yes, there were a couple of crowd funding projects. No, he didn't know how much was raised and he didn't know the inner workings.
Then, this happened
Nazaire: Do you know who those two young women are over there? (This was said with a look and gesture in our direction)
Inner me: Oh shit.
Syfert (clearly taken aback): Ummm..I know who one of them is. The other is barely an acquaintance. I think her name is, uh, Kat?
Nazaire: Is SHE a donor?
Chintella: Objection...
Syfert and Chintella at the same time: I/he has no personal knowledge of this.
Judge: Sustained.
Then the floor is returned to Nazaire who moved onto questions about Twitter. Did Graham use twitter? Yep. Did he tweet to Chintella? (Yes) About Nazaire? (No) Did he ever tweet under Chintella's account? (No!)
Then he walked around to the bench to show the image to the judge, which allowed me to get a glimpse of the screen. It wasn't a photograph. It was one of John Henry Lawyer's images. I believe it was this one. I could be wrong. Judge O'Kelley was somewhat nonplus at the image. He was expecting an actual photograph. Nazaire pointed out that it was "blackfaced because apparently African Americans can't be good lawyers2." Judge O'Kelley didn't entirely buy that argument and Chintella objected based on authenticity, but it got admitted into evidence none the less.
Then Nazaire called Chintella to the stand. Chintella didn't want to go. He'd testified back in January. The Judge was in agreement with him. Judge O'Kelley said that he has a problem with case lawyers taking the witness stand but, in the end he acquiesced. However, he also cautioned Nazaire to keep his focus narrow and specific.
As I said before, Nazaire had a lot on his mind.
About those two fundraisers...how exactly did that work? [Kat note: One was for the transcript; the other, discovery]. How much was requested? Raised? Who was K'Tech? Did he ever tweet from the Chintella Law account?
Nazaire then accused Chintella (to the judge) of double dipping. Of raising money for the transcript and intending to "sell copies of the video taped deposition out of the trunk of his car." He said that Chintella was telling his friends [presumably me, Syfert, Oralia, and Andrew Norton] to point and laugh and say mean things about him on Twitter so that the courts would think he is a bad guy and sanction him.
There was then a long discussion about meta data with Nazaire insisting that multiple people could handle and modify the file without "author" portion of the meta data. Chintella, in one of his better contributions of the afternoon, pointed out that meta data changes when you convert a file's format.
Nazaire: I saw you speaking with Mr. Chintella during the recess.The judge interrupted and wanted to know what Nazaire's point was. Nazaire said that if he was going to be sanctioned for receiving assistance with the case then Chintella should be as well. Okay.
Syfert: Yes...
Nazaire: What were you talking about?
Syfert: I was giving him advice.
Nazaire: Legal advice?
Syfert: Advice on how to conduct himself in the courtroom.
Things get a little Crazy(ier)
The next topic of discussion was DieTrollDie. Nazaire wanted to know who ran it. Then he asked, "Have you ever seen me on that site?" Once again, Syfert was taken aback and said he hadn't. Oh really, Nazaire said. Let me refresh your memory. He brought out his laptop and showed Graham a picture that we in the gallery couldn't see at first. Graham pointed out that this wasn't the DieTrollDie website. Nazaire corrected himself. It was FightCopyrightTrolls.Then he walked around to the bench to show the image to the judge, which allowed me to get a glimpse of the screen. It wasn't a photograph. It was one of John Henry Lawyer's images. I believe it was this one. I could be wrong. Judge O'Kelley was somewhat nonplus at the image. He was expecting an actual photograph. Nazaire pointed out that it was "blackfaced because apparently African Americans can't be good lawyers2." Judge O'Kelley didn't entirely buy that argument and Chintella objected based on authenticity, but it got admitted into evidence none the less.
Then Nazaire called Chintella to the stand. Chintella didn't want to go. He'd testified back in January. The Judge was in agreement with him. Judge O'Kelley said that he has a problem with case lawyers taking the witness stand but, in the end he acquiesced. However, he also cautioned Nazaire to keep his focus narrow and specific.
As I said before, Nazaire had a lot on his mind.
About those two fundraisers...how exactly did that work? [Kat note: One was for the transcript; the other, discovery]. How much was requested? Raised? Who was K'Tech? Did he ever tweet from the Chintella Law account?
Nazaire then accused Chintella (to the judge) of double dipping. Of raising money for the transcript and intending to "sell copies of the video taped deposition out of the trunk of his car." He said that Chintella was telling his friends [presumably me, Syfert, Oralia, and Andrew Norton] to point and laugh and say mean things about him on Twitter so that the courts would think he is a bad guy and sanction him.
Sanity, thy name is Judge William O'Kelley
It was around this time that O'Kelley had had enough. This wasn't relevant and it wasn't going anywhere and he had had it.Judge O'Kelley: In 45 years on the bench I have never seen such acrimonious personalities in my court room. I want to sanction and admonish everyone in this room. You're acting like children in a sandbox.Then Judge O'Kelley started asking Nazaire questions about the preparation and submission of documents. Nazaire stuck to his story about him getting the boilerplate from Duffy and then filling the content in himself.
Jacques Nazaire: I apologize, Your Honor.
Judge O'Kelley: That's another $100.00.3
There was then a long discussion about meta data with Nazaire insisting that multiple people could handle and modify the file without "author" portion of the meta data. Chintella, in one of his better contributions of the afternoon, pointed out that meta data changes when you convert a file's format.
Then there was another question about the copyright. Where precisely did Nazaire get it again?
Nazaire said that Brett Gibbs (?) had sent it to him.
Judge O'Kelley: Oh so you did have other attorneys working with you.
[Wait, was that a zinger? Yes, I think it was.]
To be concluded in Part 3.
1 I was sitting next to Oralia.
2 Edited to add: If your reaction to reading this was, "wait a minute....Nazaire is black?", you are not alone. Everyone who got the extra abbreviated version of the story the night after the hearing said the Exact. Same. Thing.
3 The next time Nazaire "apologized", O'Kelley looked like he had just sucked a lemon.
2 Edited to add: If your reaction to reading this was, "wait a minute....Nazaire is black?", you are not alone. Everyone who got the extra abbreviated version of the story the night after the hearing said the Exact. Same. Thing.
3 The next time Nazaire "apologized", O'Kelley looked like he had just sucked a lemon.
JohnHenryLawyer here. Incredulous.
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