Judge Says Frauditor Troll Suit Not Frivolous

In a stunning blow to those who don’t believe that Christopher “Denver Metro Audits” Cordova and that Randall S. “The Unhinged Attorney” Newman, Esq., have a chance to succeed in their on-going litigation against the man known as Frauditor Troll, a California court granted their motion to file a subpoena of Google for the information behind the Frauditor Troll channel.

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70449983/cordova-v-huneault/

In a decisive decision by United States Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi, Cordova was granted the ability issue a Rule 45 subpoena to subpoena Google/YouTube for information relating to the owner of the Frauditor Troll channel. She also affirmed that the complaint is valid and that the action against Frauditor Troll would withstand a motion to dismiss.

Judge DeMarchi wrote: “Mr. Cordova has demonstrated that (1) he can identify the defendant with sufficient specificity such that the Court can determine that the defendant is a real person or entity who could be sued in federal court, (2) he has identified previous steps taken to locate the defendant, (3) his action against the defendant could withstand a motion to dismiss, and (4) there is a reasonable likelihood of being able to identify the defendant through discovery such that service of process would be possible.”

Frauditor Troll’s identity has always been an industry secret that has been protected by fans or those fond of Troll based on his background as a family man who has small children at home to protect.

When YouTubers Doctor Dave and Audit Them have threatened to expose his identity in the past, they’ve met with resistance from fans and even their own supporters, who have accused the men of attempting to dox Frauditor Troll to cause harm to his family.

The same sort of accusations have been made in this case, where some fans claim that the entire lawsuit by Cordova is intended to dox Frauditor Troll’s identity and expose him to those who might cause him harm though the use of his information.

In her ruling, Judge DeMarchi said, “Mr. Cordova has sufficiently demonstrated that, while the case was originally filed against a named defendant, this name and the information associated with it may be fictious and discovery is needed to identify the correct individual for service. See Dkt. No. 11-1, Declaration of Randall S. Newman. Additionally, Mr. Cordova’s application indicates that he has satisfied the registration requirements under 17 U.S.C. § 411(a) for commencing a copyright infringement lawsuit.”

The Judge was referring to the fact that the “Jonathan Huneault” name given in the DMCA counterclaim filed by Frauditor Troll may not be real. It also refers to Frauditor Troll knowingly or unknowingly leaving off the suite number of the address he provided where he could be served with a lawsuit, essentially preventing that service.

The ruling by Judge DeMarchi also put some limitations on what Cordova could ask for when seeking the information about Frauditor Troll. She was concerned about a request seeking information about those users “who posted, uploaded, downloaded or modified the data at the following URL.”

Judge DeMarchi ruled that require YouTube to provide information on those who downloaded the video was overly broad and ordered that request to be removed from the subpoena to be served to Google/YouTube.

She further ordered Cordova to include her ruling with the subpoena and give Google/YouTube at least 30 days to respond. She further ordered Google/YouTube to issue service a copy of the subpoena and order to the users whose information is required to be disclosed within 15 days of being served by Cordova.

Responding to the ruling, Attorney Newman issued the following statement to Really Cool News: “The judge didn’t just greenlight our subpoena (which we could have filed under 512(h) anyway), she made it clear this case isn’t going anywhere. While Mailroom Boy and his merry band of trolls mocked the lawsuit as ‘frivolous,’ the court found it legally sound and likely to survive a motion to dismiss. That’s not just a procedural win; it’s a public gut punch to the trolls’ narrative that this is some kind of joke case. The only joke is thinking you can hide behind anonymity while committing copyright infringement and not get unmasked.

We sought this subpoena through an ex parte application for early discovery because the defendant is anonymous and we need to confirm who actually owns and operates the Frauditor Troll channel. That’s standard and appropriate in federal litigation. The trolls keep crying ‘doxxing,’ but the judge specifically invited the defendant to seek a protective order if there are real privacy concerns. More importantly, I will keep the identifying information in strict confidence, as required by the court’s order, and will only use what’s necessary for the purposes of the litigation. What they fear isn’t exposure, it’s accountability. The trolls should stop taking advice from a glorified Mailroom Boy that has zero experience litigating federal copyright claims.”

Newman received more good news on Thursday, as the first donations were made to his Help us Sue the Exposer for DMCA Violations GoFundMe campaign. The campaign took in $25.00 in donations to come in third place in the crowd sourcing race for Thursday.

SeanPaul “Long Island Audit” Reyes took the top two slots with a $40.00 take for his Support the Fight Against Tyranny & Corruption campaign and a $5,078.00 take for his Stand with me to Hold Bryan Fahey Accountable campaign.

No other campaigns received donations for Thursday.