A FEDERAL JUDGE IN Illinois recently denied anti-spam blacklisting group The Spamhaus Project's motions to dismiss an $11.7 million default judgment against it.
The case is headed to appeals court next month.
Spamhaus' new lawyer Matthew Neumeier went before judge Charles Kocoras Oct. 31 to get the default judgment thrown out on the grounds that the Illinois court has no jurisdiction over the group, which is based in the United Kingdom.
Kocoras denied three motions: one to dismiss the default judgment against Spamhaus; another to stay enforcement of the judgment pending appeal; and a third to quash enforcement of a citation to discover Spamhaus' assets.
“Now Spamhaus is going to have to come back to court with a list of all its assets,” said David Linhardt, CEO of e360 Insight, the company suing Spamhaus in Illinois. Some believe Spamhaus tried to have discovery of its assets nullified to avoid revealing its volunteers' identities.
In September Kocoras ordered Spamhaus to pay e360 Insight $11.7 million in damages and just under $2,000 in litigation costs.
The ruling barred Spamhaus from causing e-mail sent by e360 Insight or any of its affiliates to be blocked. Spamhaus maintains a blacklist many e-mail inbox providers use to screen incoming e-mail for spam. In its suit, e360 claimed Spamhaus falsely labeled it a spammer.
Kocoras issued a default ruling against Spamhaus because after the group argued to have the venue moved to federal court from state court, Spamhaus failed to show up to defend itself.
Spamhaus executive director Steve Linford dismissed the ruling, saying he would only abide by a court decision handed down in the United Kingdom and that Kocoras' decision simply showed how easy it is for some U.S. judges to get “bamboozled” by spammers.
E360's Linhardt countered by trying to get the judge to sign an order requiring the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and/or Web site registrar Tucows to shut Spamhaus' domain down, but Kocoras refused to sign it, saying it was too broad.
The two litigants offered very different interpretations of what went on in the Illinois court.
Linhardt said the judge obviously was exasperated with Spamhaus. “He basically struck down all of their motions flat out. The judge was visibly upset at the ridiculousness of the argument and said, ‘You tell [Spamhaus] I'm expecting them to comply with this order.’”
Someone posting under Linford's name on an anti-spam discussion group, however, said the judge merely indicated he was through with the case because it had been moved to appeals court. Linford was confident the ruling would be overturned on appeal.
