Overview
Updated: Saturday, April 07, 2007 08:23:17
There are now eight separate lawsuits involving Robert Novak that have been noted since this ugly episode began.
In Novak 1 A group of aquarium hobbyists who frequent the Internet Aquatic Plant Digest have been sued in Federal Court for $15,000,000 by Robert Novak d/b/a petswarehouse.com. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. All of the defendants reside outside of New York. The lawsuit involves allegations of defamation for certain messages that were posted to the Aquatic Plant Digest. A number of named defendants have settled with Novak leaving only Mark Rosenstein and his business Active Windows as defendants. Some preliminary discovery efforts have been allowed by the Court to focus on certain issues that may involve dismissal of Novak's complaint
In Novak 2 another Federal lawsuit was filed by Novak naming approximately 15 defendants including other aquarium hobbyists. Novak makes some claims about damage to a registered trademark. There are several dismissal motions pending in this case which are now scheduled for presentment.
Novak 3 involves a lawsuit against Novak as the result of a defamatory message that was posted claiming a Bar Complaint was pending on November 2001 against John Benn. A judgment has been rendered against Novak in that case.
View court docket for Novak 3 lawsuit.
Novak 4 involves another Fedral lawsuit filed by Novak against Google and other Internet web sites and services. There are dismissal motions pending in this case which are now scheduled for presentment.
View court docket for Novak 4 lawsuit.
Novak 5 - Just when you think Novak has filed just about everything he can, on June 2, 3003 he filed a bankruuptcy petition. He also has sued Tucows, Inc., an Internet Registrar as well as the Circuit Court of Colbert County, Alabama.
View court docket for Novak 5 lawsuit.
Novak 6 is a Bankruptcy Adversary Proceeding Novak filed in an effort to regain control of the Internet domain "www.petswarehouse.com."
View court docket for Novak 6 lawsuit.
Novak 7 is another Federal proceeding which is being followed. This one involves a judgment against Novak by his attorneys for services that were rendered during his bankruptcy in the 1990s. Novak is appealing the amount the Bankruptcy Court ordred him to pay $27,603.00 to these attorneys.
View bankruptcy appeal docket for Novak 7
Novak 8 is another $40 million dollar lawsuit Novak filed against Tucows for the loss of his "petswarehouse.com" domain name.
View documents from Novak 8:
Choose any of the links on this page to learn more about these lawsuits
If you have had any problems with Pets Warehouse or PetsWarehouse.com, I would like to hear about it.
Email me at jbenn@jblaw.org
Notes from an Attorney/Aquarist
The following letter was received by John Benn on Monday, February 3, 2003 from Steve T. Dixon.
"In connection with a Settlement Agreement between Robert Novak and me in Case No: 02 Civ. 2978 (DRH) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, I write to request and instruct that you immediately remove from any Internetbased bulletin board, chat room, message group, web site or similar medium controlled by you any publicly available message concerning or relating to Robert Novak, d/b/a PetsWarehouse.com, Robert Novak, Pets Warehouse, PetsWarehouse.com and any litigation relating to any of them that I have previously posted or authored, and not to re-post or re-publish those messages."
As per Steve's request the PetsForum Group, Inc. has removed the text of Steve's commentary about Novak's lawsuit from this spot.
The lawsuit noted above still remains active for Novak's claims against John Benn, John Benn d/b/a petsforum.com and forums.Compuserve.com, Active Window Publications, Inc., Mark Rosenstein, Cynthia S. Powers, Thomas Barr, Erik Olson d/b/a Thekrib.com, Vince Chan, Ann Hahn, Gregory Gooden, Annex.com, Inc. d/b/a Myfishbox.com and Thedefensefund.com, Robert Hudson d/b/a Aquabotanic.com, "John Doe" and "Mary Roe".
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Novak Down In Flames
On November 24, 2003 Judge Denis Hurley dismissed nearly all of the Novak 2 lawsuit filed by Robert Novak.
Read the docket entry dismissing Novak's claims.
Read the full Memorandum and Opinion. |
Novak Files Bankruptcy
On June 2, 2003 Robert Novak d/b/ Pets Warehouse and d/b/a petswarehouse.com filed for bankruptcy in the E.D.N.Y. Novak's bankruptcy plan is due by 9/30/03. His Disclosure Statement is due by 9/30/03. The bankruptcy petition was docketed as case 8-03-83733-sb.
This is the second time Novak has filed for bankruptcy since 1990. |
Novak Files 3rd Lawsuit
Apparently not willing to accept several set backs in his initial lawsuit, Novak has filed a THIRD Federal lawsuit. |
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Novak Shenanigans
Novak has recently been involved in some very questionable court filings. In one he denies altering a court-filed document he filed to show proof of service. View document. In another he stated that he served court pleadings for a hearing when he actually delayed serving the documents till after the court hearing. View this example.
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Novak Settles with Steve Dixon & Bechtel
A confidential settlement in the Novak 2 lawsuit has been reached between Novak and defendants Steve Dixon and Bechtel . The Court confirmed the settlement on January 17, 2003. The remaining named defendants have refused to offer any settlement and are pursuing efforts to obtain a dismissal of Novak's second lawsuit.
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More Articles Online
Read the article on MSNBC.com about the lawsuit. Also, check out the article on TechTV.
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Salon.com Article About Novak's Lawsuit
Read the article "Free Speech and the Internet; a fish story at Salon.com
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Novak Enjoys "Hobby" In Suing!
Read about Novak's comments concerning his "hobby" in filing pro se lawsuits in an article in the Long Island Business News.
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Novak's Cease & Desist Letters
Last week Robert Novak mailed out several cease and desist letters to folks who were supporting the APD Defense Fund. Read one of his letters.
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Novak Settles Part of Lawsuit #1
Novak has settled his lawsuit against Dan Resler, Jared Weinberger, Sean Carney, Mark Barnett and JoAnn VanDersarl. Read the Stipulation of Settlement document.
Novak has been ordered to amend his lawsuit by March 22, 2002 should he elect to proceed against the remaining defendants Active Window Publications, Inc., Mark Rosenstein, Cynthia Powers, Thomas Barr, John Benn, PetsForum Group, Inc., Robert Hudson, and "Offy".
In a message posted on his web site Novak is claiming he intends to also pursue his lawsuit against CompuServe and the Long Island Better Business Bureau.
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What Started This All
Read the various messages posted to the Aquatic-Plants mailing list in May 2001 that apparently prompted Novak to file a lawsuit against aquarium hobbyists.
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PetsWarehouse Latest BBB Rating
The Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York, Inc. has provided an unsatisfactory rating, the Bureau's lowest, for PetsWarehouse. The BBB site states:
"This firm operates an affiliated business on the internet offering products through its Copaigue location. This firm has received 21 complaints in the last 36 months, of which 11 of those 21 complaints were filed in the last 12 months. Complaints to the Bureau have alleged: 1) nondelivery of ordered merchandise and 2) credit or billing problems. This firm has a pattern of not responding to complaints to its attention by the Bureau."
Click here to check the BBB rating for PetsWarehouse.
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Lawsuit Issues
John Benn offers some comments about the lawsuit and the recent amendment.
Issue #01: Personal Jurisdiction
Issue #02: Real Party in Interest
Issue #03: Pleading Clarity
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Discuss the Lawsuit
Do you have any comments about the lawsuit? If so, please share them with other aquarists in the "Aquarist and The Law" message section of ThePetsForum's Aquaria/Fish Forum.
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