Appeals court: Prenda lawyer who drained cash from his law firm must pay up

A Minnesota court has ordered Paul Hansmeier, one of two lawyers considered the creators of the Prenda Law copyright-trolling scheme, to pay sanctions in a case where he and his colleague John Steele were accused of trying to collude with a defendant.

An order published Monday by a Minnesota appeals court describes how Hansmeier tried to dodge a $64,000 judicial sanction in the Guava LLC v. Spencer Merkel case by moving money out of his Alpha Law Firm then dissolving it. A district court previously found that Hansmeier's actions and inconsistent explanations warranted a piercing of the "corporate veil," and that court ruled that Hansmeier should be held personally responsible for the debt. Now, an appeals court has agreed (PDF) with that conclusion.

Show us your "co-conspirators"

The Guava LLC v. Spencer Merkel case was filed in early 2013. The lawsuit accused an Oregon man, Merkel, of downloading a porn movie entitled Amateur Allure—MaeLynn. Merkel called Prenda Law and admitted he did the downloading, but the man said he didn't have the $3,400 they were asking for as compensation.