Re Parler and its very underprepared attorney

Thu Jan 14 20:50:59 UTC 2021

> Per reporting by Katherine Long of the Seattle Times, during
> that hearing Parler's attorney:
> 
> 	- forgot the name of Parler's CEO
> 
> 	- stated that he's unfamiliar with some of the terminology
> 	because he's not on social media
> 
> 	- admitted that he filed a day late because he needed to
> 	update his PACER account

This is because, if reports can be believed, Parler's own lawyers abandoned ship a few days ago.

> I am not an attorney but my general understanding is that if you wish
> to file a civil complaint against multiple defendants that you should
> actually go through the trouble of naming them all as defendants on the
> complaint (and serving them).

It's actually not uncommon to include unnamed defendants  - however, in order to do so, and in order to reserve the ability, one needs to include in the list of defendants something  like "And Does 1-10', or such (or request leave to amend the complaint).

Given everything everything, I'd say it's pretty clear that this attorney took the case at the 11th hour.  He is a patent and other IP issues attorney - which this case is not.

Anne

--
Anne P. Mitchell,  Attorney at Law
Dean of Cyberlaw & Cybersecurity, Lincoln Law School
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