Request Sanctions Against Transamerica in Lawsuit — Moniker to
Moniker and Oversee to ask for sanctions against Transamerica over cybersquatting lawsuit.
Domain name registrar Moniker and parent firm Oversee.net intend to request sanctions against Transamerica for a lawsuit the insurance firm filed against them, as stated by a legal filing.
The filing requested an extension to the time the defendants have to respond to the lawsuit, and notes:
…the Defendants will soon be serving a motion for sanctions pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 11 on Transamerica. Pursuant to Rule 11, Transamerica is entitled to a twenty-one (21) day safe harbor period to decide if they want to withdraw (or amend) the offending pleading (i.e., the Complaint). Therefore, Defendants seek a thirty (30) day extension of time to allow them sufficient time to complete the Rule 11 motion, serve it on Transamerica, and allow the twenty-one (21) day safe harbor period to expire.
The judge granted the extension.
Attorney Enrico Schaefer of Traverse Legal (which is not involved with the case) explains that rule 11 sanctions are requested when a plaintiff files a lawsuit with false statements and other deficiencies:
Rule 11 sanctions are sought when an adversary fails to investigate the basic facts, or makes false statements of facts which they ought to have known through reasonable investigation were untrue. While the Rule 11 motion has not yet been filed, it appears they will be arguing that the Plaintiff’s attorneys failed to reasonably investigate their allegations ahead of they filed. It does appear that the complaint, on its face, evidences a pretty serious lack of understanding of how the registry, registrar, registrant, privacy system works.
A rule 11 complaint shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, given that both Reglike’s previous article on the lawsuit, and comments on the article by one reader, dispelled multiple allegations in Transamerica’s complaint. If the 30 minutes I spent on the article and a little time by one lawyer unearthed many errors, there are likely more.
Schaefer states that sanctions are rare “but are sometimes awarded when it is clear the complaint is based on false statements of fact which ought to have been known.” Sanctions could include dismissal of the case or an award of attorneys fees.
A copy of Moniker’s filing is available here (pdf).
