There has been confusion in recent weeks as to which Strike 3 Holdings, LLC attorney has authority to represent the Strike 3 Holdings LLC client. Is Lincoln Bandlow in charge? Or John Atkin of The Atkin Firm, LLC?
Why do Strike 3 Holdings cases need a Kingpin?
In bittorrent-based copyright infringement lawsuits, in order to run a multi-state set of cookie-cutter lawsuits, an attorney behind the scenes or “kingpin” is often needed (or, found). This “kingpin” attorney directs each of the other local attorneys who file Strike 3 Holdings copyright infringement lawsuits in federal courts across the US.
A central figure, or “kingpin” is also useful to keep the Strike 3 Holdings settlements uniform. That way, whether you are a John Doe Defendant dealing with New York Strike 3 Holdings cases or California Strike 3 Holdings cases, the settlements are generally* the same.
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- NOTE: Strike 3 Holdings settlements are not uniform. Each case has its own list of titles allegedly infringed, and the settlement amount that the Strike 3 Holdings attorney asks for is some per-title settlement number multiplied by how many titles there are.
- For example: If there are 20 titles and the plaintiff is asking for $750/title (they do go lower), they would be asking for a $15,000 settlement. Strike 3 Holdings settlement amounts, however, are not the subject of this article.
Returning to the concept of a “kingpin,” the Strike 3 Holdings cases have been run behind the scenes by Lincoln Bandlow, until now, a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP. Thus, whether your plaintiff attorney was Shireen Nasir, [or, John Atkin, Jacqueline James, Andy Nikolopoulos, or David Grant Crooks (all local attorneys to Lincoln Bandlow working at Fox Rothschild LLP)], Lincoln was the attorney behind the scenes directing each of the Strike 3 Holdings lawsuits across the US.
The Strike 3 Holdings Attorney Shake-Up
Over the past few weeks, however, there has been a shake-up (perhaps a power struggle) between the attorneys at Fox Rothschild LLP. Rumors have been told to me that attorneys at Fox Rothschild and Lincoln Bandlow have been experiencing “tension.”
It wasn’t clear to me whether the issue was that Fox Rothschild LLP did not want to be known for suing thousands of bittorrent users in a copyright troll-like fashion, or whether there was a power struggle between Lincoln Bandlow, a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP, and the other @foxrothschild.com attorneys from other offices across the US who were filing bittorrent-based copyright infringement cases under Lincoln’s direction.
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PERHAPS the Strike 3 Holdings local attorneys wanted to be compensated for the time they spent in filing the cases — for example, in their annual billable hours requirement that attorneys working for a law firm often face.
Or, PERHAPS there was a disagreement about MONEY, namely, which attorneys would be financially compensated when a Strike 3 Holdings settlement is paid. MAYBE one attorney “owned” the Strike 3 Holdings LLC client (my guess, Lincoln), and PERHAPS only he was compensated on a contingency basis for each of the clients who settled.
Who knows what was really going on behind the scenes.
THE FIRST DEFECTION: JOHN ATKIN.
A few weeks ago, I noticed that John Atkin (one of Lincoln Bandlow’s local counsel) broke away from Fox Rothschild and started his own law firm — The Atkin Firm, LLC.
Atkin then started filing Strike 3 Holdings LLC cases using his own law firm as the attorney representing Strike 3 Holdings, LLC. It occurred to me that PERHAPS John Atkin’s flight from Fox Rothschild LLP could be a defection because he was taking the Strike 3 Holdings LLC client with him.
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Alternatively, as many copyright troll attorneys have done in the past, they calculate how much money they could make in commissions (contingency fees) if they themselves take a percentage of every settlement amount paid by a Strike 3 Holdings John Doe Defendant.
They calculate how quickly they could “get rich” from collecting settlements and they decide to represent the “dark side” of copyright trolling; in representing the copyright troll, they become a copyright troll attorney themselves (a plaintiff attorney who files cookie-cutter lawsuits in federal court with the purpose of collecting settlements from each and every defendant who is sued, regardless of whether the defendant actually did the download or not).
With my potential apologies to John Atkin (for whom I do not yet know the circumstances behind his defection from Fox Rothschild LLP), my initial thought was “here is another copyright troll attorney who thinks he could get rich suing defendants.” However, to my surprise, a week ago, I saw a second defection from Fox Rothschild LLP which was a surprise to me.
THE SECOND DEFECTION: LINCOLN BANDLOW.
To my shock, this past week, Lincoln Bandlow (partner) left Fox Rothschild and started his own law firm — “Lincoln Balndlow Law (BandlowLaw.com),” or the “Law Offices of Lincoln Bandlow, P.C.”. The “kingpin” left the law firm which [presumably] he worked many years to climb the ladder and become a partner. Why?!?
The answer is that I simply don’t yet know. I could only assume that the other Fox Rothschild LLP partners did not allow him to run the Strike 3 Holdings cases the way he wanted to run them. Or, perhaps the other partners were taking a large share of the settlement profits, all of which Lincoln could take for himself if he was not tethered to a law firm who pays him a salary.
Thus, Lincoln Bandlow, partner of Fox Rothschild LLP defected too, and started his own law firm… and he took the Strike 3 Holdings LLC client with him (or so it seemed).
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CONFUSION: WHICH ATTORNEY HAS ACTUAL AUTHORITY TO REPRESENT STRIKE 3 HOLDINGS?
The confusion as to which attorney had authority to represent Strike 3 Holdings, LLC became apparent on the court dockets of the hundreds of Strike 3 Holdings LLC cases across the US.
The new cases now list John Atkin of The Atkin Firm, LLC as the “lead attorney – attorney to be noticed” on the court dockets. This implies that JOHN ATKIN’S FIRM has authority to represent Strike 3 Holdings, LLC in these cases and NOT FOX ROTHSCHILD.
However, until now, Fox Rothschild LLP has been running ALL of the Strike 3 Holdings, LLC cases with with Lincoln Bandlow (partner) as the known “kingpin” of the Strike 3 Holdings, LLC cases.
Two sets of attorneys, each one claiming that they alone are representing the Strike 3 Holdings LLC client.
Then when Lincoln Bandlow left Fox Rothschild LLP, the problem compounded itself. Now on dockets across the US, names like Shireen Nasir of Fox Rothschild, or Andy Nikolopoulos and David Grant Crooks of Fox Rothschild, are STILL LISTED as the attorney of record, but their “kingpin boss” Lincoln Bandlow no longer works for the firm.
Lincoln presumably took the Strike 3 Holdings LLC client with him when he left, and even now, he is still representing the Strike 3 Holdings LLC client.
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With different attorneys claiming to each represent the same client, and apparently the “wrong” attorney is listed on the case dockets across the US, there was (and in some cases, still is) confusion as to which plaintiff attorney is authorized to represent Strike 3 Holdings LLC.
THE PROBLEM: THE WRONG ATTORNEYS ARE LISTED ON STRIKE 3 HOLDINGS DOCKETS
Honestly, I don’t care if attorneys have a “turf war” over a client, but there is a duty to properly list the attorney representing the client on the court docket. Otherwise, how would we know who to contact when sending over a letter of representation to the “other side”?
If the former attorney [of Fox Rothschild LLP] is no longer representing the client, that attorney needs to either withdraw as that client’s attorney, or they need to replace themselves with the attorney having actual authority to represent the Strike 3 Holdings, LLC client.
It is an confusing problem to have one attorney represent the Strike 3 Holdings client on the court docket, and to have another attorney claim to be Strike 3 Holdings’ attorney.
THE SOLUTION: FRACTURED DECENTRALIZED AUTONOMY OF DIFFERENT STRIKE 3 HOLDINGS ATTORNEYS
Just so that we are clear, I am pretty sure this “turf war” within the Strike 3 Holdings attorneys is probably still going on.
I think that at the moment, Lincoln Bandlow and John Atkin are negotiating with Emilie Kennedy, the General Counsel for Strike 3 Holdings, LLC (and former attorney to Keith Lipscomb, the former “kingpin” of the Malibu Media, LLC cases) to determine which of them have AUTONOMY to handle which Strike 3 Holdings, LLC cases in which federal courts.
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I also assume that Jackie James (in NY, NJ, CT) also is in the process of (or has already negotiated) autonomy in deciding how to run the cases and how to be compensated for her efforts in the cases she has filed.
Thus, I suspect that we will soon be seeing multiple attorneys each with authority to negotiate the claims on behalf of Strike 3 Holdings, LLC.
RECENT STRIKE 3 HOLDINGS CASES (AS OF 4/1/2019)
Recent Cases filed in the Florida Middle District Court (as of 4/1/2019)
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber… (6:19-cv-00629), (6:19-cv-00631), (3:19-cv-00492), (3:19-cv-00495)
…IP address 172.5.54.85 (3:19-cv-00493)
…IP address 184.88.18.146 (5:19-cv-00216)
…IP address 184.89.213.178 (5:19-cv-00217)
…IP address 47.196.188.17 (8:19-cv-00779)
…IP address 47.199.238.60 (8:19-cv-00781)
…IP address 47.199.239.139 (8:19-cv-00782)
…IP address 47.199.247.145 (8:19-cv-00783)
…IP address 67.174.8.201 (5:19-cv-00215)
…IP address 67.190.196.212 (3:19-cv-00504)
…IP address 70.126.192.176 (8:19-cv-00784)
…IP address 71.199.255.8 (3:19-cv-00505)
…IP address 73.171.208.61 (3:19-cv-00506)
…IP address 73.224.41.91 (3:19-cv-00507)
…IP address 97.101.29.186, an individual (3:19-cv-00509)
…IP address 97.101.82.7 (5:19-cv-00218)
…IP address 98.231.74.245 (3:19-cv-00508)
…IP address 99.42.93.24 (3:19-cv-00496)
…IP address 99.5.68.72 (3:19-cv-00502)
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Recent Cases filed in the Michigan Eastern District Court (as of 4/1/2019)
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. John Doe subscriber assigned IP Address 108.223.196.143 (2:19-cv-11251)
…subscriber assigned IP Address 162.228.98.144 (2:19-cv-11256)
…subscriber assigned IP Address 23.117.52.196 (2:19-cv-11257)
…subscriber assigned IP Address 75.38.255.135 (2:19-cv-11259)
…subscriber assigned IP Address 76.243.106.115 (2:19-cv-11260)
…subscriber assigned IP Address 99.120.227.28 (2:19-cv-11261)
…subscriber assigned IP Address 99.186.113.152 (2:19-cv-11263)
Recent Cases filed in the New Jersey District Court (as of 4/1/2019)
Strike 3 HOLDINGS, LLC v. JOHN DOE SUBSCRIBER ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 100.1.31.190 (2:19-cv-10239)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 100.8.22.2 (2:19-cv-10240)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 108.35.12.169 (2:19-cv-10242)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 108.35.139.176 (3:19-cv-10278)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 108.35.80.90 (2:19-cv-10244)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 108.53.110.45 (3:19-cv-10279)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 108.53.238.210 (2:19-cv-10246)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 173.54.58.54 (2:19-cv-10248)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 173.63.118.229 (2:19-cv-10249)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 173.63.201.22 (3:19-cv-10281)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 173.63.37.82 (3:19-cv-10282)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 24.0.8.134 (2:19-cv-10227)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 73.10.213.127 (2:19-cv-10229)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 73.194.88.76 (3:19-cv-10265)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 73.195.21.87 (3:19-cv-10270)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 73.80.191.41 (3:19-cv-10236)
…ASSIGNED IP ADDRESS 96.234.70.188 (2:19-cv-10258)
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Recent Cases filed in the New York Eastern District Court (as of 4/1/2019)
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe (2:19-cv-02469), (2:19-cv-02472), (2:19-cv-02473), (2:19-cv-02474), (2:19-cv-02476), (2:19-cv-02480), (2:19-cv-02481), (2:19-cv-02482), (2:19-cv-02483), (2:19-cv-02485)
Recent Cases filed in the New York Northern District Court (as of 4/1/2019)
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe (1:19-cv-00482), (1:19-cv-00483), (5:19-cv-00484), (5:19-cv-00485), (5:19-cv-00486)
Recent Cases filed in the New York Southern District Court (as of 4/1/2019)
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe (1:19-cv-03713), (1:19-cv-03714), (1:19-cv-03715), (1:19-cv-03716), (1:19-cv-03717), (1:19-cv-03718), (1:19-cv-03719), (1:19-cv-03720), (1:19-cv-03721), (1:19-cv-03722), (1:19-cv-03723), (1:19-cv-03724), 7:19-cv-03725), (7:19-cv-03726), (7:19-cv-03727), (7:19-cv-03728), (7:19-cv-03729), (7:19-cv-03730)
Recent Cases filed in the New York Western District Court (as of 4/1/2019)
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe (1:19-cv-00534), (1:19-cv-00535), (6:19-cv-06302)
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