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Los Angeles based United States District Judge Otis D. Wright, II, has issued an order assessing $81,320 in legal fees against Prenda Law, Inc., four lawyers, John Steele, Paul Hansmeir, Paul Duffy, and Brett Gibbs, and other related companies.  Judge Wright’s sanction order states he will ask the US attorney’s office, Internal Revenue Service and federal and state bar associations to look into the operations of Prenda Law Inc. and its associated attorneys.

Prenda accused individuals of illegally downloading pornographic videos, and then offered to settle for just under the cost of a bare-bones defense.  Judge Wright essentially found this was a scam to shake down individuals by making an offer they could not refuse.

A number of Star Trek references appear in the opinion, including a quote from Spock: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”  As well as the directive: “though Plaintiffs boldly probe the outskirts of law, the only enterprise they resemble is RICO. . . [t]he federal agency eleven decks up [the U.S. Attorney’s office] is familiar with their  prime directive and will gladly refit them for their next voyage.”  Judge Wright states: “copyright laws originally designed to compensate starving artists allow, starving attorneys in this electronic-media era to plunder the citizenry.”  Judge Wright requested Morgan Pietz of The Pietz Law Firm in Manhattan Beach, Calif., who brought the matter to Judge Wright’s attention, file a report within 14 days listing every state and federal bar the attorneys are admitted to practice in front of, and every judge before whom they have cases.