Sequoia lawsuit: Sequoia removes lawsuit to Federal Court

[Land Shark]

They want to make a federal case out of this!

They have the "right" to do so, subject to our motion if we choose to make it to remand it to state court, and seek attorney fees and costs for the removal to federal court.

This has the effect of delaying discovery somewhat, but ultimately discovery goes faster in federal court because both sides are obligated to show their cards so to speak (through "laydown discovery") representing evidence of their claims and defenses without waiting for a request of some sort to do so.

However, if trade secrets are not part of Sequoia's claims or defenses they wouldn't have to produce them without receiving a request to do so....

We will weigh the ups and downs of federal court. The lawsuit is entirely state-law based though, and Sequoia is relying on brief reference to HAVA in a single state law claim, as well as the fact that we brought a federal law Magnusson Moss WArranty Act claim, but in order to bring such a thing in federal court there has to be over $50,000 at issue and we specifically pled that it was worth less than $50,000 (this concerns ONLY the denial of testing of Sequoia machines on the grounds it would "void" the warranty). Such damages (even though they would be ultimately donated or waived) are only whatever the denial of testing is worth, plus the injunctive relief (which is not a type of "damage") to void the contract because of its impact on public policy. Despite the narrower scope of the claim, Sequoia is claiming in its initial briefing that $5 million is at issue, so perhaps they think the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act claim is much bigger than planned.

The removal notice and their short brief is posted at www.votersunite.org (hit sequoia lawsuit link and scroll down, and also hit their link to give them a donation)

Really, all the claims in the complaint are just different ways or reasons to void the contract, if one looks at the relief requested at the end. Damages are purely incidental and beside the point in many ways.

[Amaryllis]

1. kick

[Wilms]

2. n/t

[Melissa G]

3. kickin' n/t

[rigel99]

4. My GUT Says keep it as state based and local as possible

I don't understand all of what you posted, but I get the gist.

Just got back from Ohio Teach-in and really got the gravity of the situation there..

guess who's going to win.. lawsuits in the very deep and dirty county trenches... when you sue local folks it tends to get personal about how fraud percolates down to individuals responsible for perpetrating it.

My gut, landshark, is that they want to make it federal, don't give them what they want.. I believe Bush has more control federally than statewide and there is implied strategy here for your to keep it as you have filed it, in the state of Washington. The increased discovery is not worth the risk of having federal judges all considering making career moves in a fully GOP government for the next 20 years (the judges are not stupid they know what's happened and any solidly democratic judges will be weighing their career choices federally)...

ok, so that's my 2 cents worth.... don't be fooled by their tactics remember, what they want, we have to resist.. when they try to reframe we have to keep the same frame...

good luck and we're all rooting for you Landshark....

[Land Shark]

5. some important considerations in the post above n/t

[Melissa G]

6. My gut rumbles to the same tune as yours..

Know your judges...

[rigel99]

7. Hey landshark?

does it have to be Sequoia? (or can it be any DRE vendor)

also, would you like me to get some Ohio folks to bind to your cause, I'm pretty sure they have one county, Lake, which uses Sequoia which we could do it under... but the question is what do we need to do, must we first get open records data or can we just do the declarative judgement without a written report of irregularities?

I have made great OH contacts and their teams are ready for legal actions like what you have done... how can I facilitate this?

later...
do you need attorneys that know election code or what else must we do...

[rigel99]

8. Oh Yeah...

for friday afternoon comic relief..
Here's the usual Image

and of course the music to go with it...
http://www.sharkattackphotos.com/Sounds/jawstheme.wav