MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

Several Internet Service Providers have filed for sanctions under Supreme Court Rule 137 against LW Systems claiming they have been harassed and intimidated with subpoenas in a St. Clair County lawsuit.

The movants are identified as John Does in their Aug. 29 motion. Represented by Laura K. Beasley of Belleville, they seek $14,962.28 and further relief the court deems appropriate for costs and sanctions.

The John Doe ISPs claim the subpoenas required them to provide the names and addresses of customers. In response, they say they had to file motions to quash in order to protect their customers’ private and confidential information.

The lawsuit, which was dismissed with prejudice by St. Clair County Circuit Judge Andrew Gleeson on July 23, accused Christopher Hubbard and his alleged co-conspirators of hacking into LW Systems’ computer system – which hosts and delivers content to adult Web site operators.

Prior to its dismissal, the court found twice that the subpoenas were not valid.

John Does also argue in their motion that LW Systems’ complaint was not warranted by existing law, was not well-grounded in fact and was not based on a good-faith argument for extension, modification or reversal of existing law.

On Sept. 10, Gleeson scheduled a hearing to address the motion for sanctions on Oct. 1 at 9 a.m.

In an earlier ruling, Gleeson ordered LW Systems to pay $17,625 to Comcast for expenses the company incurred in responding to the lawsuit.

LW Systems is represented by Kevin Hoerner of Belleville and Paul Duffy of Chicago.

Hubbard is represented by Adam E. Urbancyzk of Chicago and Joseph A. Bahgat of Columbus, Ohio.

St. Clair County Chief Judge John Baricivic signed an agreed discovery not long after the case was filed in January that allowed LW Systems subpoena personal information associated with certain Internet Protocol (IP) address from 325 Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 13-L-15