We think Judge Grimm was asking Aaron Walker "are you serious?" when this picture was snapped
We like to think Judge Grimm was asking Aaron Walker “are you serious?” when this picture was snapped

As we have said before, defendants in Brett Kimberlin’s federal RICO case do themselves no favors by not taking it seriously. Today, Judge Grimm promulgated an order denying defendants’ motions to dismiss. Mr. Kimberlin has been ordered to explain his mistake in the summons for Twitchy.com, but that is less important than the fact he was given leave to file another amended complaint addressing all of the issues defendants have raised up until now. In terms of legal strategy, this is like a poker game where Mr. Kimberlin gets to see everyone else’s hole card prior to making his next bet. Judge Grimm also seems to be seriously thinking about the RICO case, so Mr. Kimberlin has his work cut out for him, but Grimm expressed annoyance at the behavior of defendants Aaron Walker and William Hoge.

I close by noting that the deluge of filings in this case has rendered the docket almost unmanageable. I remind the parties that the issues in this case, as framed by Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint, revolve around Plaintiff’s allegations of a RICO conspiracy to defame him as well as various other tort claims alleged against Defendants. And at this early stage, the only question before the Court is likely to be whether Plaintiff validly has stated a claim or whether dismissal is appropriate to some or all Defendants.

It is clear to me that the animosity between and among the parties in this case runs deep and that at least some of the parties here have been feuding with one another for some time. But the role of this Court is no more or less than to address the actual and concrete controversy that Plaintiff has brought before it in this case, as well as any defenses and counterclaims raised by Defendants. This Court is not “a trampoline for the excess energies of litigants whose need to have the last word exceeds the boundaries of fair briefing of issues.”

We like the phrase “actual and concrete controversy.” Grimm has so far dismissed all attempts to prejudice the court by calling Mr. Kimberlin “libel-proof,” a strategy that Mr. Walker pioneered and his fellow defendants have all tried in turn. They do not want to admit an actual or concrete controversy exists because they really do not have any other defense. Some of them continue to provide actionable evidence of malice in their blogs all the time in seeming expectation of a miraculous result in court. For instance, here is a paragraph from Mr. Hoge’s reaction to our post Friday on Ace of Spades:

gleeatlosses1

Mr. Hoge and his fellow defendants set out to destroy funding for Mr. Kimberlin’s nonprofits through systematic defamation and character assassination, including attempted perjury. Mr. Hoge has eagerly chronicled the resulting financial damage to Mr. Kimberlin’s organizations, gleefully affirming the plaintiff’s claim of financial damages. But he thinks the plaintiff is “evil,” and should not be allowed to claim those damages in a courtroom, because of all the horrible things that he and his fellow defendants keep saying about the plaintiff. So far, all the defendants have echoed this losing strategy. Judge Grimm has put them on notice that this road does not lead to victory, and that their political views do not provide an excuse for libel.

Grimm Order – 21 February 2014

15 thoughts on “Grimm Determination: Federal Judge Tells RICO Defendants To Settle Down, Get Serious”
  1. Curious why Hoge left out the important parts to the order and instead only concentrated on the part he felt was more important. What is clear here is that the Judge has already tired of Hoge’s and Walker’s incessant stupid filings to the point of telling them to sit down and shut up. Same went for Walker who showed how much he wasn’t a legal scholar by the Judge having to remind Walker about filings and receipts thereof. Looks to me like Hoge and Walker have been sent to the time out chair without supper once again. Par for the course. They have been made to sit in time out chairs so many times by so many different Judges that they don’t even know when they are losing and when to fold their hands.

    I assume if they continue their course of conduct that the judge might find them in contempt and just throw the lot of them in jail to cool their heels for a bit.

  2. Hoggy cherry picked one paragraph out of this whole 7 page document and claimed victory. A lie of omission is still a lie, Hoggy.

  3. Judge Grimm is a serious and respected judge. This latest order of his is a warning not only to Mr. Hoge and Mr. Walker but to all the defendants in the case that they need to get to the merits rather than trying to knock it out on a motion to dismiss. Mr. Kimberlin’s bar is very low in getting past the defendant’s motions and I know, as a lawyer, that the reason the lawyers are even filing them is to pad their bills. They are telling their clients that they have a chance of winning the motions, when in fact their chances are in the single digits. These lawyers will bill hundreds of thousands between them before they settle this case.

    Let me say it this way–Judge Grimm could have thrown this case out rather than allowing an amended complaint, but he sees that it has merit on its face. So it will move forward. My advice to Mr. Kimberlin is to go through the motions already filed and amend the complaint to address every single item the defendants object to. That way, they will have very little to respond to later.

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