Kent Hovind sues Rationalwiki.

bruto said:
I love that the plaintiff intends to obtain John Doe's address during discovery. That's bound to go well.
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smartcooky said:
Yeah. I looked at that, and thought to myself "Good luck with that!"
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Actually, (if I'm reading it right), that isn't as weird as it sounds. When he filed, Hovid didn't know the name of the author of the RW article about him. However, the author is a reasonable defendant. So he included the author under a made-up name, with the intent of serving the author once he gets the name. He other option would have been to just sue RW, ask for the author's name in discovery, then petition the court to join the author to the original suit.

Dissolution said:
So he's complaining about a reference to the actual charges that he's locked up for right now?
What a fantastic example of ludicrous litigation.
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Again, this may be me misreading things... The suit isn't about RW calling him a crook for the crimes he was convicted of. From the RW article and the complaint, it looks like he put liens on his property to keep the government from seizing it because of his fraud conviction. (If there is a mortgage on the land, the "owner" of the land isn't Hovid; it's the entity that holds the mortgage.)

Maybe putting those liens was the fraud that landed him in prison; I don't know.

jsfisher said:
I don't think he demanded a jury trial in his complaint. Odd.
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He didn't. That is weird, now that you mention it.
 
BardKesnit said:
Maybe putting those liens was the fraud that landed him in prison; I don't know.
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He's locked up for 50+ counts of tax code violations.

His complaint argues that RationalWiki called him a "tax fraudster", but he was not convicted of tax fraud. While technically true I suppose, I hope the courts have the good sense to realize that words aren't narrowly defined as having just one meaning, and that meaning isn't solely what's printed in Black's Law Dictionary.

Hovind's issue with the liens is similarly twisted around the word, fraudulent, having a singular, legalistic meaning.

IANAL, NDIPOOTI
 
BardKesnit said:
Again, this may be me misreading things... The suit isn't about RW calling him a crook for the crimes he was convicted of. From the RW article and the complaint, it looks like he put liens on his property to keep the government from seizing it because of his fraud conviction. (If there is a mortgage on the land, the "owner" of the land isn't Hovid; it's the entity that holds the mortgage.)

Maybe putting those liens was the fraud that landed him in prison; I don't know.
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No, his fraudulent liens (so described by the US government lawyers) are a new-ish matter that should extend his jail time somewhat.
 
The first thing that came to my mind was Arkell v Pressdram.
 
Ahead of his time.

Hovind has also stated an opposition to democracy, saying: "If Evolution is true, there is no Creator, so laws come from man's opinion. That is called a democracy, which is a terrible form of government. Democracies always degenerate into dictatorships. In America, it is sad to say, has become a democracy."[122] Hovind also stated: "democracy is evil and contrary to God's law"[103] and "democracy is a horrible form of government."
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Dissolution said:
Going by that link, did Hovind ever hear a conspiracy that he didn't like?
The guy will believe anything, as long as there's no evidence to support it.
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Evangelical truthers who hate democracy, and think "certain people" were warned about 9/11. PressTV, I think I just found your next correspondent.
 
I hope this doesn't cost RW too much time/money before getting laughed out of court.
 
catsmate1 said:
RW have wiki-ed the lawsuit. It's amusing how pathetic and incompetent "Dr." Dino is.
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FWIW, the annotation challenging Hovind's residency claim for diversity purposes isn't valid. You don't lose your domicile by involuntary residency in another state (as with penitentiary prisoners). I ran across several cases on this point in a recent LRW project.

But the annotation is correct to challenge the diversity claim given that several defendants are unidentified. The burden is on the party seeking diversity.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
FWIW, the annotation challenging Hovind's residency claim for diversity purposes isn't valid. You don't lose your domicile by involuntary residency in another state (as with penitentiary prisoners). I ran across several cases on this point in a recent LRW project.

But the annotation is correct to challenge the diversity claim given that several defendants are unidentified. The burden is on the party seeking diversity.
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IANAL. What is 'seeking diversity'?
 
I was going to ask why Hovind would deny in his complaint that he filed the liens when the Escambia clerk records referenced by RationalWiki has the lien documents clearly bearing Hovind's signature.

Then it occurred to me: He must be using his private dictionary again. I wonder what exactly "to file" means in his world.

By the way, Hovind's SSN is displayed on at least on of the older clerk records. If his identity was actually worth stealing, the number might be worth something.
 
Hovind seems to be a horrific collision of the YEC and the FMOTL movements. A Freeman on the Young Earth, I guess.
A massive bag of both the nut and the douche varieties.
 
jsfisher said:
And then there is this. Won't anything go Kent's way?
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The holding isn't fatal to Dr. Dino's suit.

First, if he could show negligence on RW's part, he can win.

Second, Florida is in the 11th Circuit. The holding you linked to is from the 9th. The federal district court where he filed suit is not bound by the holding of a federal appeals court of a different circuit. (Had that holding been an 11th Cir., the district court would be bound.) Even if Hovind's case gets heard on appeal, the 9th Cir. holding isn't binding. Federal circuit courts may give deference to the holdings of another court, but they are not bound by them.
 
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