The RIAA has been suing file-swappers for more than three years, and its efforts are occasionally marred by high-profile, public relations disasters.
That includes a lawsuit against dead grandmother Gertrude Walton and 12 year-old Brianna LaHara, among several other embarrassing episodes. Perhaps those snafus are inevitable in a total targeted list that now surpasses 18,000, though each incident helps to paint the RIAA – and the major labels they represent – with a negative brush. And unlike the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which has adopted a somewhat softer legal tone, the RIAA generally carries a heavy and uncompromising legal hammer into most nuanced situations. Now, that attitude is about to be tested once again, thanks to a lawsuit that was recently issued to stroke victim John Paladuk.
Paladuk, an employee of C&N Railroad for 36 years and the victim of a severe stroke, could be begging for a danced-up story in a major media outlet. According to information supplied by industry attorney Ray Beckerman, a well-known RIAA opponent, Paladuk suffers complete paralysis on his left side, as well as major speech difficulties. Even with those disabilities, Paluduk managed to respond to an RIAA complaint, denying any file-sharing activity. Discussing the case, the RIAA noted that it had no knowledge of the disability in question, and showed no signs of softening its approach. “Neither the defendant nor the defendant’s counsel has contacted us to discuss medical or financial hardship in this case,” RIAA representative Jenni Engebretsen told Digital Music News on Wednesday. “Had the defendant’s counsel responded to any of the numerous calls we made to him prior to filing this lawsuit, we could have considered these issues then.” Whether a larger media relations problem emerges is unknown at this juncture, though the raw ingredients are certainly in place for another PR powder keg.