Former Prenda Law Counsel Loses Appeal in Minn.

Former Prenda Law Counsel Loses Appeal in Minn.

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota appeals court today found that former Prenda Law attorney Paul Hansmeier should be held liable along with others for defendants’ attorneys fees and costs stemming from a porn piracy case.

The case involving Hansmeier stems from sanctions imposed and affirmed last year.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals had ruled on a decision affirming a district court’s $63,000 judgment for attorneys fees against Guava LLC, a company that held copyrights for a number of adult films.

The court agreed with a lower court that Guava and the Alpha Law Firm’s suit against the defendants misused the subpoena process and ended up as an attempt to “harass and burden non-parties through obtaining IP addresses to pursue possible settlement rather than proceed with potentially embarrassing litigation regarding downloading pornographic movies.”

Afterward, a judgment creditor moved to add Hansmeier as a judgment debtor because of the Prenda Law attorney’s ties to the Alpha Law Group.

The district court granted the motion after new evidence that came to light in the debtors’ examinations showing that Hansmeier had intentionally defunded the Alpha Law Firm’s bank account and that his testimony to the court had been inconsistent.

His actions, the district court said, necessitated it to “pierce the corporate veil” and hold him jointly and severally liable, along with the copyright holder and the Alpha Law Firm, which initially filed the case against the original defendant. Hansmeier, meanwhile, appealed the court’s finding.

In its decision today, the appeals court ruled that the district court did not abuse its discretion by piercing Alpha Law Firm’s corporate veil to hold Hansmeier liable as a judgment debtor.

The appellate panel wrote that “Hansmeier knew of the possibility of sanctions in this action, transferred Alpha’s money away, and terminated Alpha to avoid paying the judgments in this action.”

“The record supports those findings, which clearly show that Hansmeier abused the corporate-liability shield to avoid paying sanctions in a bad-faith lawsuit for which he was responsible,” the appeals court said. “Neither the judgment debtors’ motion to post funds nor John Doe’s opposition to that motion undermines the conclusion that Hansmeier operated Alpha in an unjust manner."

View today's ruling

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

NextGen Payment Joins ASACP as Corporate Sponsor

NextGen Payment has signed on as the latest corporate sponsor for the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP).

Lauren Phillips, Derek Kage Cap AEBN's Top Stars for 3rd Quarter of 2025

AEBN has revealed its most popular performers in straight and gay theaters for the third quarter of 2025.

XBIZ 2026 Conference to Debut All-New Company Lounges, Community Track

The event website for XBIZ 2026 is now live, unveiling details for North America’s largest adult industry conference, including two all-new show features: Company Lounges and a Community Track.

Mymember.site Integrates VR Functionality

Mymember.site has added virtual reality playback capability to its website management platform.

Texas Patti to Launch Fetish Platform 'EmpireDom'

Performer and content creator Texas Patti is launching a new platform for doms and fetish creators, EmpireDom.com.

Ohio AG Threatens Action Against 'Major' Adult Sites Over AV Law

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced today that his office is sending "notice of violation" letters to 19 adult websites for failure to comply with the state's recently enacted age verification law.

Chaturbate Announces 2025 Music Contest Winners

Chaturbate has revealed the winners of its 2025 music competition.

2026 XBIZ Exec Awards Pre-Noms Open With Debut of New 'Impact' Honors

XBIZ is pleased to announce that the pre-nomination period for the 2026 XBIZ Exec Awards, the adult industry’s premier career honor, begins today and runs through Oct. 14.

MYM Rolls Out New Traffic Features for German Creators

German platform MYM has launched a new traffic system for its creators.

Ukrainian Content Creators on Hook for Nearly $10M in Back Taxes

Content creators in Ukraine owe the equivalent of $9.3 million in back taxes, according to the country's State Tax Service.

Show More