Judge furious at inexcusable P2P lawyering, nukes subpoenas

There are three quick steps to angering a federal judge: first, launch the country’s largest file-sharing lawsuit against 23,322 anonymous defendants, even though most of them don’t live where you filed the suit. Second, request expedited discovery in the case, allowing you to quickly secure the subpoenas necessary to go to Internet access providers and turn those 23,322 IP addresses into real names. Third, don’t even bother to serve the subpoenas you just told the court were so essential to your case.

Federal Judge Robert Wilkins of Washington, DC this week blasted the conduct of Dunlap, Grubb, and Weaver, the attorneys behind the lawsuit, calling it inexcusable. Dunlap, Grubb, and Weaver helped kickstart the current frenzy of P2P lawsuits last year after filing cases under the name US Copyright Group. The 23,322-person case, their largest to date, involves the film The Expendables — via redwolf.newsvine.com