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The Courts Government Censorship News Your Rights Online

Novak Loses petswarehouse.com, Files For Bankruptcy 303

Posted by timothy from the barking-and-yowling dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Remember Robert Novak, the person who has filed several frivolous lawsuits in order to silence people who criticize his business. Well, Robert Novak has lost his domain (see here)in a countersuit filed against him, and has just filed for bankruptcy ."
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Novak Loses petswarehouse.com, Files For Bankruptcy More

Novak Loses petswarehouse.com, Files For Bankruptcy

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  • I have one word for him... (Score:5, Funny)

    by greg987123 ( 677841 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:26PM (#6144689)
    Mwuhahahahahahahahah!

  • Heh (Score:5, Funny)

    by Cipster ( 623378 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:26PM (#6144692)
    Karma's a bitch huh?

    • Re:Heh (Score:2, Funny)

      by greg987123 ( 677841 )
      Yeah, it is.
      Oh, you mean not just on Slashdot?
      oops.

    • Re:Heh (Score:4, Insightful)

      by JudgeFurious ( 455868 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:46PM (#6144817)
      Yep, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Thinking about things like this keep me warm at night. Every once in a while I get to read about someone getting exactly what they deserve. Yum.

      • Re:Heh (Score:3, Funny)

        by the gnat ( 153162 )
        Yeah, it's been a miserable weekend hacking away at web pages and watching the last of my creativity shrivel up as I'm forced to apply myself to yet another bullshit project in order to pay the rent, but news like this still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Thanks, Slashdot. You've just replaced Jack Daniels and Xanax.

  • Live by the Lawsuit... (Score:5, Funny)

    by netsharc ( 195805 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:28PM (#6144700)
    die by the lawsuit.

    When will this happen to the RIAA?

    • Re:Live by the Lawsuit... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Whenever someone gets a war chest big enough to sue them.

      It's remarkably hard to take down a huge coporation without a similar budget.

    • Re:Live by the Lawsuit... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by fidget42 ( 538823 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:47PM (#6144825)
      When will this happen to the RIAA?
      It may happen rather soon to SCO.

      • Re:Live by the Lawsuit... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by RLiegh ( 247921 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:52PM (#6144850) Homepage Journal
        It may happen rather soon to SCO.

        Actually, assuming that SCO dies [which is not by ANY means certain], it is signifigantly more accurate to say that their legal strategies are more of a dying gasp, instead of saying that their defeat [if they are, in fact, defeated] is a "deathblow".

        In short, if SCO dies, it's because no-one bought their shit, not because they lost in court.

    • Re:Live by the Lawsuit... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by The Tyro ( 247333 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @04:19PM (#6144997)
      This is the kind of maddening garbage that makes people sound the trumpet for tort reform... and rightfully so.

      I'd like to see some kind of penalty for filing frivolous/nuisance/totally-without-merit suits, preferably a monetary penalty (jail time might be going just a wee bit too far... though it would be very satisfying).

      This should really go for all types of torts, including medical malpractice (disclaimer: I am a physician). I have multiple colleagues who have been sued, and NOT ONE of these suits had real merit, or were for any sort of egregious breach in the standard of care. How do I know? I've looked at the charts and thought "I wouldn't have done anything different." I could never testify against any of these physicians, because what they did was objectively medically reasonable. Now, they all won their cases, but some were very close... frighteningly close.

      You always play the odds in medicine... and sometimes you lose. Every surgical procedure has a certain complication rate, no matter what you do. Every disease has a certain mortality rate, no matter what you do. The medical reality is that "sh*t happens," and it inevitably happens to a certain percentage of patients. It sucks to be in that small percentage, but attorneys and "hired gun" expert witnesses attempt to pin it on the doctor. The scariest thing of all is that you can lose everything you've ever worked for, just because "sh*t happens."

      Tort reform is a good thing... trick is, you have to do it while not taking away the poor man's keys to the court room. Even so, if the poor man files a nonsense suit, he should find himself even poorer.

      Seems fair to me...
      • preferably a monetary penalty (jail time might be going just a wee bit too far... though it would be very satisfying).


        Perhaps some form of "3 strikes" approach? Small fine the first time, big fine the second time, jail time the third?

        I mean, if it's just a fine, and they manage to pressure most into settling out of court, it's still financially sound for them.
      • You always play the odds in medicine... and sometimes you lose. Every surgical procedure has a certain complication rate, no matter what you do. Every disease has a certain mortality rate, no matter what you do. The medical reality is that "sh*t happens," and it inevitably happens to a certain percentage of patients. It sucks to be in that small percentage, but attorneys and "hired gun" expert witnesses attempt to pin it on the doctor. The scariest thing of all is that you can lose everything you've ever wo
        • you are absolutely correct... there are bad docs out there.

          The question becomes this: What do we do? Are you going to "profile" all doctors because a few are bad? Do you justify punitive actions against the whole group because of a few bad apples? Of course not... to say that good doctors "deserve" the collateral lawsuits is not justifiable.

          Doctors do police themselves to a degree... ask for the yearly minutes of any state's medical board, and look at the number of licenses they suspend/sanction/revo
      • I'd like to see some kind of penalty for filing frivolous/nuisance/totally-without-merit suits

        What you refer to is called "barratry", and it is in fact a crime in many areas, though I'm not sure where. Tort reform encompasses this and a variety of other problems. At the very least someone found to have engaged in this sort of behavior might be forced to pay his/her opponents' legal fees. New York does have an anti-SLAPP law, which could easily be used against Novak, but it probably won't be useful for
        • SLAPP would not have applied in NY. If I remember correctly, the NY SLAPP applies only towards government access.

          Each state's SLAPP laws are different. Some are only when you talk about the government process, others are much broader.

          There is also rule 11, that may apply, which is for filing a frivilous lawsuit. This is not used much, but it does get invoked on occassion. There was a case in California where a plaintiff was hit with a $500k rule 11 ruling.

          I'm not sure if the bankruptcy would discharge
      • First- disclaimer: IANAL, my wife is. What does that make me and my legal advice? WORTHLESS!
        That being said:

        At the discretion of the judge, based upon how frivolous the suit was, they can award attorney's fees.
      • Rule 11 of the Federal Civil Rules of Civil Procedure. Basically you aim at the attorney for wasting court time. It carries heavy fines and eventually the possibility of license revocation.

      • Re:Have you seen the cover of TIME? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Technician ( 215283 ) on Monday June 09, 2003 @12:44AM (#6147557)
        Any business when too risky, reduces entry into the field. 10 years ago the concern was who is delivering babies in small towns? This was due to excessive malpratice lawsuits for less than perfect babies. It had to be the doctor's fault, make him pay, he has insurance, yada... Doh, the insurance rates went out of sight to cover the increased risk. Small physisians simply could not afford it and left the small town practice, or simply stopped delivering babies to drop the high insurance premium.

        The problem has not improved. With managed healthcare, not only is the risk high, but the potential earnings are down with extreme workloads.

        This is one of the great reasons I went into electronics instead of the medical field. A failure is limited to replacement cost, not pain, suffering, potential income over lifetime etc. The pay is better for a surgeon, but the risk kept me out of the field.

        So tell me, where is the next generation of doctors comming from?

    • Re:Live by the Lawsuit... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by pjrc ( 134994 )
      Looks like someone finally turned around and countersued. That someone was John Benn [petsforum.com], who won $50,000 plus court costs.

      What does Novak immediately do... attempt to dodge payment by declaring bankruptcy. If you look at the last page of the 7-page PDF file, there's John Benn listed amoung the creditors, and if you flip back to page 1, on the bottom the $50,001-$100,000 box is checked for the estimated debt.

      Let's hope Johm persues this asshole further get gets a the court to impose a payment schedule so

  • And the doctor (Score:4, Insightful)

    by PirateDave -) ( 679653 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:28PM (#6144707)
    Gets a tast of his own medicine, one could say.

    Do we see here proof that unethical corporate practices (sueing everyone) will eventually be the destruction of your business? I for one hope so.

    • No. As I said earlier; this is the exception that proves the rule. The usual rule is that corporations have enough size and resources to withstand legal attacks [merited or otherwise].

      The less ethics you have, the larger legal department you have set up.

    • Do we see here proof that unethical corporate practices (sueing everyone) will eventually be the destruction of your business? I for one hope so.
      No. At most this gives us anecdotal evidence, which is not proof because I said so.

  • last post (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    last post for this company

  • Learn from this one kids... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:30PM (#6144732)
    Ya see what happens to your business when you don't have a cute sock-puppet character on your side? Oh, wait... nevermind. They didn't make it either...

  • All I can say is... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Cali Thalen ( 627449 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:31PM (#6144734) Homepage

    Cool...

    Though, it's too bad that filing for bankruptcy doesn't mean that the frivolous lawsuits will end.

    I don't think we've heard the last of Mr. Novak somehow.

  • Am we finally allowed... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:35PM (#6144755)
    Am we finally allowed to talk about the horrible rate of dead animal deliveries from this place?

    Seriously. This was one of the more common reasons he would sue. People would order fish, aquarium plants, rodents, etc. and they would arrive dead, not marked for paid-for weekend delivery, sent at slower than safe shipping speeds, not packaged to protect from temperature and normal handling, or even not delivered to the carrier the same day they were packaged!!!

  • Don't Fret... (Score:3, Funny)

    by telstar ( 236404 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:35PM (#6144760)
    For all of your pet purchases we've still got PETsMART.com and ePets.com where we can purchase pet-favorites such as the "Pet Stairs" [epets.com] for that pet that's just too lazy to jump ... and the "I Gotta Go Out Door Chime" [epets.com]. Word has it that petswarehouse.com will be selling that last item on clearance rebranded as the "I Gotta Go Out of Business Door Chime" so keep your eyes opened.
  • because usually, the system doesn't work.
  • A layperson's reading of the judgement seems to be, "You owe your attorneys a bunch of cash. We are seizing your property and auctioning it to help pay back what you owe."

    It's not clear to me why Mr. Novak can't just go out and buy his domain back on the open market. I can't imagine it is worth more than a couple of thousand dollars. And he shouldn't have any problems getting his hands on the cash since he in in bankruptcy protection.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) *
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Well, according to the letters (the one talking about how he has transfered the domain to TUCOWS in Canada, probably a last ditch attempt to keep the courts from getting their hands on the domain) the domain has been siezed in response to debts of $50,000 US

      Now, with all the bad press associated with petswarehouse.com, i very much doubt it will have any commercial value, except maybe as an animal-pr0n site.

      I'd laugh heartily if that turned out to be the case though.
      • Well, according to the letters (the one talking about how he has transfered the domain to TUCOWS in Canada, probably a last ditch attempt to keep the courts from getting their hands on the domain) the domain has been siezed in response to debts of $50,000 US

        That actually has no effect. The Canadian courts will enforce US judgements.

        The fact the defendant is in the US makes matters even easier, the court can issue an injunction ordering Novak to hand over the domain. If he fails to comply he is in conte

    • It's not clear to me why Mr. Novak can't just go out and buy his domain back on the open market.

      Maybe because it's being sold in Alabama [petsforum.com]?

  • marketplace confusion... (Score:5, Informative)

    by spazoid12 ( 525450 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:41PM (#6144790)
    "Petswarehouse.com" has long been a source of confusion in the marketplace. For many years a company known as "Pet Warehouse" (not "Petswarehouse") has been a trusted source of supplies for fish enthusiasts. Long before the .com retailer thing, Pet Warehouse was, IMHO, the best of the mail order catalogs. They were eventually bought out by "Doctors Foster and Smith" (www.drsfostersmith.com), but the good Drs continue to print the "Pet Warehouse" name on their catalogs because it's a well respected name. They even continue to operate via the same old tollfree number. I've been out of the hobby for years, but hopefully they're still good.

    It's been a nuisance that Novak and his pathetic activities has brought confusion via a similar name. Good riddance.

  • Ahhh... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by techturtle ( 528069 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:47PM (#6144819)
    From the link [petsforum.com]:

    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.

    So he's going off suing people because they are (I assume rightfully) complaining about his poor business practices in a public forum. Then he publicly defamates a LAWYER'S character and loses the whole business!!! What an ultra maroon! It's big time poetic justice that Mr. Benn will get his $50,000 settlement from the obliteration of the brand.

    • Re:Ahhh... (Score:3, Informative)

      by techturtle ( 528069 )
      I know it's not good manners to reply to my own posts, but did anyone read through the Google (and other search engines and companies) law suit that this guy filed? Amazing!

      He basically alleges that he lost tons of revenue and incurred damages to his brand because other companies that paid for advertising and ranking using keywords such as "pets" and "warehouse" unfairly got more hits/click throughs than his site. He sues the copanies that paid for the advertising AND the search engines like there was som
  • Time wounds all heals...

  • I want this domain! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by lewp ( 95638 )
    Think of all the hilarious hate mail this guy must get on a regular basis. I want it!

  • To quote nelson (Score:5, Funny)

    by Loosewire ( 628916 ) * on Sunday June 08, 2003 @03:57PM (#6144885) Homepage Journal
    HA HA
  • I hope this idiot stays down this time. People like him make it harder for the rest of us to do business. As a guppy, and an Endler's livebearer breeder, this guy really pissed me off.

    I can't wait to see how the rest of this works out, with his other suits.

    GuppyLog [guppylog.com]

  • Now if only... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by TWX ( 665546 )
    If only we could castrate him for being a dingus, to prevent him from breeding (assuming he hasn't already bred), and somehow deport him to a third world country that could use him for labor or meat (if he won't work), we'd be good off.

    I hope that the bankruptcy court leaves him with the lifestyle of a crackfiend. I've known people whose business practices are like this guy's, and I have no sympathy.

  • just another tool of legal abuse (Score:5, Interesting)

    by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @04:11PM (#6144953)
    and has just filed for bankruptcy

    Don't think for a minute that this means this guy is broke. He's likely just using the bankruptcy laws to shield himself from paying his obligation. The guy apparently abuses the legal system to sue everyone he can to make a buck, then when a law suit catches up with him he does this to not pay on the judgement against him. Pretty typical.

  • "The love you take is equal to the love you make"

    Methinks that Robert didn't make much in the way of love.

    Karma baby....INSTANT karma if you will.

  • Well... (Score:4, Funny)

    by PS-SCUD ( 601089 ) <.moc.oohay. .ta. .ttocsnamronretep.> on Sunday June 08, 2003 @04:12PM (#6144969) Journal
    At least we still have petsovernight.com Pets Overnight [rockstargames.com]

  • There are few people on this planet... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ... that I could care less if something horrible happened them. He's on the list. Suing people who contributed to the defense fund? Insanity. The guy deserves whatever bad things happens to him. He's got a mighty huge karma hammer swinging towards him.

  • Novak moved to a new domain. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Gendou ( 234091 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @04:19PM (#6144998) Homepage
    I've been following this story from the start, and it's been fascinating. Pets Warehouse is still up and operating. Novak switched over to a new domain shortly after the turnover of the domain was ordered, so he's managed to avoid any downtime despite losing his old domain. It's now located at Pets-Warehouse.com [pets-warehouse.com] (Novak just added a dash). Maybe it'll soon be gone too, but Novak has been through a couple of bankruptcies already. I hope he's learned a lesson, at least.

  • uh oh! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by scovetta ( 632629 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @04:21PM (#6145008) Homepage
    Pets Warehouse.com
    1550 Sunrise Hwy, Copiague, NY 11726
    Phone: (631) 789-5400

    I called, they're still open. The lady was kind of rude on the phone though. Anybody up for a class-action?

  • Def: Barratry (Score:5, Informative)

    by Remik ( 412425 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @04:22PM (#6145017)
    barÂraÂtry [reference.com]

    1. The offense of persistently instigating lawsuits, typically groundless ones.

    2. An unlawful breach of duty on the part of a ship's master or crew resulting in injury to the ship's owner.

    3. Sale or purchase of positions in church or state.

    What he's doing is illegal, he should be fined into oblivion or sent up the river to be married to some guy named Bubba.

    And, while we're at it, let's get the RIAA up on charges too.

    -R

  • petswarehouse.com? (Score:3, Funny)

    by SEWilco ( 27983 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @04:29PM (#6145043) Journal
    petswarehouse.com

    I think the self-storage business has gotten too specialized. First you could rent a storage area for your stuff, then your boat, then your car...

  • More (Score:2)

    by heli0 ( 659560 )
    There are several threads about this from tha past week in the compuserve aquaria forum here: Aquarists & The Law [compuserve.com]

  • Good Riddance to this guy. One of his lawsuits went so far as to say these forums and competition be barred from using his name in their websites, so much that he listed PETS and WAREHOUSE as words pet forums and pet warehouse-sized internet businesses would be unable to use them.

    He's one of those thousand lawyers who are a good start on the bottom of a lake, from that old lawyer joke.

    [plus, two times in bankruptcy in 13 years?]
  • Please contact me if you are there or close to there. I'd like to bid on the name and use you as a proxy.

  • Some may remember the deal discussion forum Fatwallet.com from when several retailers sued them because users posted Black Friday sales fliers ahead of time. They also got sued by a guy named Todd Short, who was running a fraudulent scheme where he was selling laptops, claiming you would pay him now and get your laptop several months later. Users did, never got their laptops, and posted their experiences on the forum. The forum, along with a user who created a website, got sued by Todd. Later, he declar

  • Seriously good Psychiatry case write-up (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 08, 2003 @05:59PM (#6145498)
    This guy it nuts and way out of his mind. As I recall, one of the big differences between the DSM III and DSM IV was the omission of the Passive Agressive Personality Disorder. Here are the criteria I could find:

    o Resist fulfilling their given responsibilities through procrastinating, "forgetting," sulking, or being argumentative
    o Protest, without justification, that unreasonable demands are being placed on them
    o Seem to work deliberately slowly or to do a bad job on tasks that they do not really want to do
    o Obstruct the efforts of others and fail to do their share; are uncooperative
    o Resent useful suggestions from others concerning how they might be more productive

    What I am getting at is Novak's actions are the most extreme example of passive agressive behaviors I have ever heard of. Maybe he has a personality disorder is is Psychotic out of his mind. He is using the court system as part of his psychopathology. Because of the grand scale of this, his case could easily be published in a major Psychiatric journal. Is there any way to force him to undergo a Psych eval ???
  • One of the reasons Mr. Novak may have declared bankruptcy is that filing the bankruptcy petition should result in an automatic stay of the Sheriff's Sale of the petswarehouse.com domain name. This may result in Mr. Novak being allowed to continue to use his domain name until the bankrutpcy is settled. Since the Sheriff's sale was schedule for tomorrow (seek the link at on the front page posting), it should now not take place until some time after the bankruptcy court's hearing schedule for September 30, 2

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