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Old 3rd April 2008, 01:07 PM   #1
NoZed Avenger
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Subpoena Being Used As Intimidation Tool vs Vaccine Blogge

This could legitimately fit into several different sections, but I found this to be somewhat alarming:

http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/04/...nas-kathl.html

Quote:
Vaccine lawyer subpoenas Kathleen Seidel

By Walter Olsonon April 3, 2008


I've often linked in the past to the work of New Hampshire blogger Kathleen Seidel, whose weblog Neurodiversity presents a fearless, systematically researched, and frequently brilliant ongoing critique of autism vaccine litigation. A prominent plaintiff's lawyer in that litigation, Clifford Shoemaker of Vienna, Virginia, has just hit Seidel with an astoundingly broad and sweeping subpoena (PDF) demanding a wide range of documents and records relating to her publication of the blog. Seidel has been sharply critical of Shoemaker's litigation, and indeed the subpoena arrived only hours after she posted a new Mar. 24 entry, "The Commerce in Causation", critical of his legal efforts.
She has responded. I certainly hope that this is not only quashed, but leads to sanctions. She is not part of the attorney's suit, but he has sought personal bank records, etc. As an attorney, I find this a disgusting abuse of the legal system.
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Old 3rd April 2008, 01:17 PM   #2
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Hope it rebounds on Shoemaker...permanently. Apart from abuse of the process, would that not also be actionable? Does one instance constitute a "vexatious litigant"?
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Old 3rd April 2008, 03:38 PM   #3
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I am absolutely livid at the actions of this guy. I see he has made $500K in the last 18months alone just from vaccine litigation.Apologies to all decent attorneys/lawyers (eg nozed), but my feelings about the worst excesses of the profession is confirmed by this chap's antics.
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Old 3rd April 2008, 03:47 PM   #4
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Guys like this are why Dead Lawyer jokes are so popular.
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Old 4th April 2008, 06:17 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by Deetee View Post
I am absolutely livid at the actions of this guy. I see he has made $500K in the last 18months alone just from vaccine litigation.Apologies to all decent attorneys/lawyers (eg nozed), but my feelings about the worst excesses of the profession is confirmed by this chap's antics.
I actually see he has 577 vaccine cases on file for the last 15 years. At an average of $26k a pop, that's over $15 million, just for little old him. Nice sideline.
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Old 4th April 2008, 09:37 AM   #6
NoZed Avenger
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Originally Posted by Deetee View Post
I am absolutely livid at the actions of this guy. I see he has made $500K in the last 18months alone just from vaccine litigation.Apologies to all decent attorneys/lawyers (eg nozed), but my feelings about the worst excesses of the profession is confirmed by this chap's antics.
No apology necessary. I cannot express how angry this type of thing makes me. Not just about the abuse of the process, but how it paints our entire profession on top of it.

It's disgusting.
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Old 21st April 2008, 07:43 PM   #7
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Quashed!!!

http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/152/

Quote:
From the United States District Court for the District of New
Hampshire, Case No. 1:08-mc-00013-JM:

ENDORSED ORDER granting MOTION to Quash Subpoena.

Text of Order: “Granted. Attorney Clifford Shoemaker is ordered to
show cause within 10 days why he should not be sanctioned under Fed R
Civ P 11 – see Fed R Civ P 45(a)(2)(B) which requires that a
deposition subpoena be issued from the court in which the deposition
is to occur and Fed R Civ P 45 ©(1) commanding counsel to avoid
burdensome subpoenas. A failure to appear will result in notification
of Mr Shoemaker’s conduct to the Presiding Judge in the Eastern
District of Virginia.”

So Ordered by Magistrate Judge James R. Muirhead. (Entered:
04/21/2008)
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Old 21st April 2008, 08:16 PM   #8
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Yay!!
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Old 21st April 2008, 08:19 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Hydrogen Cyanide View Post
YES!!
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I pointed out that his argument was wrong in every particular, but he rightfully took me to task for attacking only the weak points." Myriad http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?postid=6853275#post6853275
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Old 21st April 2008, 08:36 PM   #10
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Thank goodness. I hope the Court awarded costs.
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Old 21st April 2008, 09:53 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Hydrogen Cyanide View Post
I was going to say, doesn't a court case have to be pending in order to issue a subpoena or else wouldn't a judge have to sign off on it?

This is helpful.
Quote:
which requires that a deposition subpoena be issued from the court in which the deposition is to occur and Fed R Civ P 45 (c)(1) commanding counsel to avoid burdensome subpoenas.
I think you can sue for frivolous legal actions. Seems this would fall into that category.

Last edited by Skeptic Ginger; 21st April 2008 at 09:55 PM.
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Old 22nd April 2008, 08:42 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by skeptigirl View Post
I was going to say, doesn't a court case have to be pending in order to issue a subpoena or else wouldn't a judge have to sign off on it?

This is helpful. I think you can sue for frivolous legal actions. Seems this would fall into that category.
More details are on the Kathleen's website, including this:
http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/150/

Quote:
A week ago yesterday, I was served a subpoena commanding me to appear for deposition and document production in Rev. Lisa Sykes and Seth Sykes’ $20,000,000 personal injury lawsuit, Sykes v. Bayer (Case No. 3:07-CV-660, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division).
Shoemaker filed his subpoena against Kathleen Seidel just hours have this posting on his getting a great deal of compensation even when he lost (all gleaned from public documents):
http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/149/

More on the Sykes flogging the legal system for about a decade here:
http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/144

Quote:
Rev. Sykes is associate pastor at Welborne United Methodist Church in Richmond Virginia; Mr. Sykes is an assistant dean at Virginia Commonwealth University. Their $20,000,000 lawsuit, Sykes v. Glaxo-SmithKline, was filed in March 2006. The original complaint alleged that their autistic son suffers from neurological and neurodevelopmental injuries caused by the mercury-based antimicrobial thimerosal, contained in vaccines he received during his first three years of life, and which was also contained in Rho(D) immune globulin administered to Rev. Sykes during pregnancy.
.....
....(snipped lots of stuff on dismissals, rebuttals, appeals)....
....
And thus the Sykes’ legal odyssey continues ad infinitum — a hydra-headed quest for revenge, for compensation, and for judicial validation of autism causation theories roundly rejected by the greater scientific community, by numerous courts, and by a great number of individuals and families whose interests they purport to represent.
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Old 22nd April 2008, 02:40 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by NoZed Avenger View Post
Thank goodness. I hope the Court awarded costs.
Not yet, but the magistrate judge ordered the attorney Shoemaker to show cause why he should not be sanctioned under FRCP 11. That rule authorizes a variety of different relief depending on what the Court finds.
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Old 2nd May 2008, 08:05 PM   #14
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The case that this was based on has been dismissed:
http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/155
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Old 19th May 2008, 01:48 PM   #15
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There is an amusing update:
http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/157

Read how Seidel and her husband have conspired to take over Wikipedia! See how they have caused Mark Geier to come under the scrutiny of FDA, his state's medical board and the company he gets the Lupron from! See also how Shoemaker still claims Kathleen is an agent of the a group because she could not have done the research alone because she is just a "mother and housewife"! Then read out the not so reverent Rev. Sykes is being questioned by her church on how fit she is to stay in the pulpit!
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Old 19th May 2008, 02:08 PM   #16
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Oh, if you hover your mouse over the links, you get some interesting editorial comments. The words "Internet Search Engines" goes to:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...term=google-fu ... the Urban Dictionary page on "Google-Fu".
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Old 19th May 2008, 02:11 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by dudalb View Post
Guys like this are why Dead Lawyer jokes are so popular.
Guys like this are why dead lawyers are so popular.

(rimshot, please.)
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Old 23rd June 2008, 09:17 PM   #18
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Sanctioned!

http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2008...athleen-seidel

Quote:
In the end, the judge didn't order Shoemaker to pay a monetary sanction, but he did order the Virginia lawyer to attend ethics training and directed his court clerk to notify the Virginia State Bar so that it could consider disciplinary action on its own.
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Old 23rd June 2008, 10:56 PM   #19
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More from the Super Librarian herself:
http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/164/
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Old 24th June 2008, 12:34 AM   #20
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I really wish I could break rule 10 right now but instead I'll tell a couple of lawyer jokes (no offense to NoZed )
Did you hear that they are using lawyers now instead of rats in scientific studies? They are doing this for two reasons:
1. There are some things that rats just won't do
2. Occasionally scientists become attached to rats
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Old 24th June 2008, 07:01 AM   #21
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I thought everybody knew that there are only three lawyer jokes.

The rest are true stories.
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Old 24th June 2008, 07:03 AM   #22
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So now isn't the lawyer is open to a civil suit against him? Easy money for his victim?
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Old 24th June 2008, 09:01 AM   #23
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Originally Posted by dudalb View Post
Guys like this are why Dead Lawyer jokes are so popular.
Or those equating sharks and lawyers (my fave: Why didn't the shark eat the lawyer who fell off a passing ship? Professional courtesy!!)
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Old 24th June 2008, 09:05 AM   #24
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Originally Posted by Hydrogen Cyanide View Post
Sanctioned!


Yess!
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Old 24th June 2008, 09:09 AM   #25
NoZed Avenger
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Originally Posted by casebro View Post
So now isn't the lawyer is open to a civil suit against him? Easy money for his victim?
Depends a bit on the state law that could be used, but there might be a potential for one.
If the sanctions covered most/all of the damage, then I doubt pursuing it would be worth the time and money involved. Best bet is probably a complaint with the state's bar association to go after his license.

[here's hoping his state bar association follows up with a hammer, as well]
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Old 24th June 2008, 09:47 AM   #26
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Ah, lawyer jokes.

A group of terrorists hijacked a plane full of lawyers. They called down to ground control with their list of demands and added that if their demands weren't met, they would release one lawyer every hour.

How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb?
Three. One to sue the power company for negligent failure to prevent the surge that made the bulb burn out, one to sue the electrician who wired the house, and one to sue the bulb manufacturers.
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