Legal Shakedown in Oregon

All I can say to this story is Wow, somebody's gotta stop these folks.  It seems that a law firm in Salem, Crowell Law, is filing "illegal downloading" lawsuits against ordinary citizens alleging they used Bit Torrent to download movies, thus avoiding paying for them.  Anybody who has rented a movie knows that you can probably get any title you want for less than $20, but the lawsuits are demanding $7,500 in the next two weeks, or risk facing a judgment of as much as $150,000.  One of the movies in question was a bloody Steven Seagal title "Maximum Conviction", which needless to say was not considered for an Oscar.

Apparently this breed of lawsuit is relatively new in Oregon but Crowell has now named over 1,000 people in Oregon in nine different suits since Fedruary.  This is being described in the Oregonian article as a "reverse class-action in which hundreds of defendants are named. That allows plaintiffs pay a single filing fee -- typically a few hundred dollars -- as opposed to filing and paying for hundreds of individual suits".

This is a fear tactic plain and simple.  Lawyer Kelly Rupp who represents one of the accused said "This movie is worth $12.99 on Amazon. But these cases don't seek that. If all 371 'John Does' on this lawsuit ultimately pay $3,000 or $2,000, they're shaking down Oregon residents for more than a million dollars."

UPDATE:  05/14/2013.  A Federal Judge in Medford isn't buying into their shakedown, she dismissed 34 suits in Southern Oregon.  Good for her.

The judge said cases such as Voltage's allow plaintiffs to "use the courts' subpoena powers to troll for quick and easy settlements." She cited a letter sent to defendants that asks $7,500, saying that amount would increase up to $150,000 without prompt payment.