Do you remember that alleged case the Honey Badger Brigade was allegedly planning to bring against the Calgary Expo?
In case your memory needs refreshing: the Honey Badgers — a mostly female antifeminist “brigade” closely associated with A Voice for Men — were tossed out of the Expo earlier this year after they showed up flying the banner of GamerGate. The Badgers threatened to sue, and somehow managed to raise a little over $30,000 to pay for their possible legal expenses.
Then they went silent on the whole suit thing for a looong time.
Today they announced (archived here) that they’d hired a fellow named Harry Kopyto as their “legal council” [sic], paying him a retainer of $3500. As one of the Badgers — apparently head Badger Alison Tieman — explained on their web page:
Wait. He’s a what kind of lawyer, exactly?
Ohhh. A disbarred lawyer. A lawyer who is specifically prohibited from practicing law.
Huh. How exactly did Mr. Kopyto get disbarred? According to Wikipedia:
In 1989, Kopyto was charged with professional misconduct by the Law Society of Upper Canada for allegedly overbilling the province’s legal aid plan by $150,000 over a three-year period. …
Among the findings of the tribunal hearing the case were that it was physically impossible for Mr. Kopyto to have billed the sums he did as the times billed exceeded the hours in the day.
Kopyto’s defense? He hadn’t meant to overbill. It’s just that, you know, he didn’t really keep proper records, so when it came time for him to “guess” the amount of time he had worked for some of his accounts, he had just guessed wrong. Oops! Hey, in some cases he (probably) underbilled!
No, really. That was his argument.
Kopyto is also prohibited from working as a paralegal in Ontario. As Wikipedia explains:
In February 2015, the law society’s tribunal issued its decision denying Koptyo’s application for a paralegal license due to concerns that Kopyto is “ungovernable”[27] though conceding his generosity and devotion to his clients. Tribunal chair Margot Blight wrote in her decision that “Mr. Kopyto continues to be an enigma” in that “He insists that he supports the rule of law, while asserting that he, and his clients, are entitled to disregard legal rules willy nilly (sic) when conscience so dictates.”[28]
Though unlicensed, Kopyto continues to advise clients and seeks standing to represent them at tribunals and hearings
I can’t help but be reminded of the dynamic meth-making duo in Breaking Bad, who decided to hire a lawyer who was a criminal as their criminal lawyer.
Tieman has been kept busy trying to explain just why they hired a disbarred lawyer as their “legal council” [sic]. Her main argument? The case will take place in Alberta, where paralegal work is unregulated, so technically he can still research stuff for them, or something, even though he remains in Toronto. where he’s not legally allowed to do paralegal work. [UPDATE: Turns out her legal argument may not hold water; see end of this post for more.]
Tieman insists there really will be a case, honest!
It’s all so very ethical.
And pretty fucking hilarious. Though probably a bit less so to those who actually donated money to the Badgers.
Since we’re talking about the Badgers, I feel I should remind you all of The We Hunted the Mammoth “Legal” Fund to Spite the Honey Badger Brigade, which is still taking donations.
I pledge not to hire any disbarred lawyers. Instead, I will use the money for snacks and other important “legal” things, by which I mean things that as far as I know are legal for me to do (like buying snacks). I will also use some of the money to feed my “legal council,” one Sweetie P. Jonus, Esq.
If you donate, please specify that your donation is intended “to spite the Honey Badgers.”
The last I checked, I was only $39,529 short of my arbitrary $40,000 goal. THANKS TO ALL WHO DONATED. And to those who donated to charity instead of to me.
UPDATE: It looks like paralegaling in Alberta isn’t quite as unregulated as Tieman thinks it is. In the comments here, someone called J.C. has pointed me to a web page explaining How to Become a Paralegal in Alberta. Turns out that paralegals working in Alberta need to do so under the supervision of a lawyer. Here’s what the page says; I’ve bolded the especially relevant bits:
At this time, paralegals in Alberta are not regulated, meaning that they do not need to pass an examination or meet minimum training/educational standards to be able to work lawfully as paralegals. Thus aspiring paralegals may begin their careers through on-the-job training or by seeking post-secondary education.
However, paralegals are required to work under the supervision of a lawyer and avoid activities that might be regarded as unauthorized practice of law. For example, paralegals are not permitted to represent people in court. Paralegals may conduct legal research, submit registration documents to the appropriate agencies, and assist with certain types of legal matters, including trial cases, under the supervision of a lawyer.
Huh. Does Kopyto have a lawyer supervising his work for the Honey Badgers?
H/T — Sarah Nyberg (@srhbutts), whom you really should be following on Twitter
Poe’s law?
My only guess is that a real lawyer laughed them out of the office. What are the odds this guy directly defrauds them vs gathers evidence in a manner that makes a real lawyer unable to use it?
Apparently they also threatened to sue anyone who covered the story and made the Badgers look bad. Start getting worried David /s !
https://twitter.com/srhbutts/status/611016584790867968
So, the Honey Badgers raised $30,000 dollars to sue Calgary Expo because they were kicked out for being disruptive and violating the Expos terms, and then paid $3500 to a former lawyer who was disbarred for overbilling the provinces legal aid fund $150,000?
Sure. Sounds legit.
Would I be sued for posting about it in a comments section, or would they just call me a “femcommunazi cunt” and move on? It’d be amusing if they did try to sue someone for just reporting on the story, and posting the statement that the expo made. I mean, it’s not illegal to tell someone else what someone said about you.
And, as is customary with every Honey Badger article I comment on here’s my obligatory: Get the fuck out of my Hogwarts house you pitiful excuses for human beings.
Hufflepuffs want nothing to do with you and your ilk. We’re accepting of all people, unless they’re Class A Assholes.
Hahahahaha ah hahahahahaha
“Well, you see, we took the $30,000, put it in a duffle bag, and handed it to a man at the bus stop who said he was a lawyer. He’ll be back.”
I like stories like this because the people of Gamergate get to lose money and then the Honey Badgers don’t get the money either. It just goes directly into the toilet. Nobody wins but comedy. And I guess a disbarred lawyer known to have committed fraud in the past.
I worked for the Expo and watched this whole thing unfold. I can tell you that Expo execs are not even thinking about this matter, let alone thinking about settling. They laughed it off from day 1.
Oh. My. Gd. They collected thirty grand to sue somebody and hired a disbarred lawyer with it. With that, if they had a case, they could have hired a real attorney, and gotten to trial.
Why o why do they keep making themselves laughingstocks? Why can’t they just collect money and use it in some sane fashion? I give up, I can’t follow their hilarious logic.
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/mnlgh.gif
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/hhh.gif
They’re gonna be laughed out of court before they even get there.
Even in Alberta, ha ha.
I really hope Tieman has to spend the rest of her year figuring out how to send money back to everyone who donated.
So they want to silence any reporting on alleged wrongdoing? Interesting. #Gamergate
Is anybody from AVFM going to step in and help the poor, defenseless womenfolk who make up their women’s auxiliary group?
The funny part is the guy was an advocate for the poor and disenfranchised (i.e. gay people before it was fashionable) and what got him disbarred was more than likely just the establishment’s way of finding something to shut him up. Google him. But hey, manboobz has to play to his audience.
I’m very ignorant of legal matters, so maybe I’m not understanding these things right. I thought the OP said that the Honey Badgers paid Kopyto $3500, and Tieman tweeted she wanted to avoid paying $250-$500 for research, but isn’t that what she’s paying Kopyto for?
The weird thing, though, is that Kopyto has apparently spent his whole legal career advising left-wing causes (legal aid, opposition to racially discriminatory laws, etc.) Why work for these wingnuts?
OFF TOPIC: I just beat someone in Tavern Brawl in five moves.
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/tv1.gif
http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/zod.gif
(Nefarian totes OP; need nerf.)
I’m starting to think Tieman, like Paul Elam, is a Colbert-esque satirical character created to generate comedy fodder. Because seriously, how else do you explain their actions?
On a more serious note, you have to love how the HBs are shitting on their donors by calling their $30,000 donation “nothing” and using the amount to justify their actions in hiring a disbarred lawyer. Especially when you consider that their original goal was $40,000 and they achieved most of that. So by their own logic they asked for an absurdly low amount for their stated goal of mounting a legal challenge and were never serious (or honest) about their purpose.
David, you are kidding right? Not one nickel will be returned to donators. May I make a prediction? Expo will be asked to do some silly face-saving thing. Maybe a nuisance value “settlement” — I’ll guess five grand. Maybe a mushymouth statement that Tieman can come back. If Expo goes for this to get the doofuses out of their hair, it will be trumpeted far and wide as a “victory.” Then the Honeybadgers will take the 25 grand they saved out and use it on MRA biz. or am I giving them too much credit?
What a week!
Dolezal, Trump and now this.
It’s like a circus on crack.
Their whole attitude, both the Honey Badger and AVFM, is so self-important and serious when the reality is, as Boo says above, they are already forgotten. I’m still giggling over Jordan Owens Oh so serious directorial critique of the Jem movie which, for me, falls in the same category. It’s like they’re all a bunch of con artists, trying to find an angle. It amazes me that people actually send them money.
The Little haters did it Again….I think we can go and buy popcorn now 😉
Bazia, I don’t think it will ever get that far, its a nuisance suit. Temper tantrum because they were asked to leave the party when they weren’t actually invited.
Called it.
https://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2015/04/27/still-fuming-over-their-expulsion-from-the-calgary-expo-the-honey-badgers-demand-justice-and-money-lots-of-money/comment-page-1/#comment-747544 🙂
My guess is that “200-500$ on research” is them being billed by real lawyers to be told they have no case.
@Paradoxical Intention- Even Hufflepuff lands the occasional dud, i.e. Zacharias Smith. But he was just an asshole not an abusive turd bomb like any of the H.B.s.
—
Don’t you just love (by which I mean hate) when bullies play the righteous victim after being punished for bad behavior? (I’m looking at you, Christian Right and manospherians)
Also: Disbarred lawyer= TOTALLY LEGIT!
Good luck trying to sue anyone covering the story. I don’t know what the rules governing freedom of the press are in any other country but the US, but I’m guessing they’re strong enough for a lawsuit to be laughed out of any court anywhere.
I almost feel bad for this disbarred lawyer. Seriously. If their lawsuit fails, and it will, the manosphere is going to turn on him. I’m reminded of Manson family lawyer Ronald Hughes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Hughes
True ’nuff.
But it still sucks that we get stuck with these weenies.
Haven’t we ‘Puffs suffered enough by being mis-characterized as “dopey” and “losers” by the fandom?!