Continuing our walkthrough of the Bragg vs Linden Lab filings, we get to some more 7 November filings, now in the Federal Court (the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania).

Philip Rosedale files papers to the District Court asserting that it lacks the jurisdiction over him for him to be a defendant in this case. Is there anything that's more fun than digging through court filings?


So, basically Bragg named Philip Rosedale as a separate defendant in this case, because of assorted public statements he has made. Statements that Bragg considers to be false representation. Lies and damn lies, essentially.
Now Philip is opting out. There's more to it than just this, though. There's also a motion to compel arbitration, and if that fails, the gist of this filing is that Philip wants to be unplugged from the case as a defendant.

So, how do you opt out of a case like this? Nuts. I was hoping you wouldn't ask. Okay, here goes....

Three things are required for a court to render a valid judgement: Personal jurisdiction, notice, and subject-matter jurisdiction.

Personal jurisdiction is being able to summons a defendant (or subpoena a witness) to appear before the court.

Notice is actually being aware that an action involving you or your rights is in progress (Notice is enforced and/or reinforced by the fifth, sixth and fourteenth amendments to the Bill of Rights, under Due Process), the initial complaint filed by Bragg constitutes notice.

Subject-matter jurisdiction deals with the courts right to render judgements on a particular kind of case. There are many types and grades of court in the USA. As we saw yesterday, Linden Lab asserted that the court in which the complaint was filed did not have subject-matter jurisdiction over the case, and requested that the case be moved to a court that has subject-matter jurisdiction to render a valid judgement.

Now, this is a civil case. Traditionally under USA law for civil actions, the defendant must be present in the state when served with the Summons. There are a couple of exceptions. One involves car accidents and out-of-state motorists and is clearly inapplicable here. The other involves a "long arm" statute (as in the proverbial long arm of the law) which has been enacted in some US states.

The "long arm" statute allows a summons to be served on an entity (a company or a person) that regularly does business within the state or with the plaintiff within the state. In that respect Linden Lab is subject to the "long arm", as it certainly transacted business with Bragg in Pennsylvania. Philip Rosedale however is a horse of a different color.

In his filing and affidavit, Rosedale points out that he doesn't live in Pennsylvania, doesn't employ staff there, doesn't do business there, has no land there, has paid no taxes there, hasn't got or applied for a drivers' license there, hasn't applied for a business license there, has no bank accounts there, has never been there on Linden Lab business.

What about dealings with Marc Bragg? "I have never had any business communications with Plaintiff Marc Bragg," avers Rosedale. And he probably hasn't -- quite likely he never heard of Bragg until after Bragg's account was closed. Philip's got a nice signature, by the way. Just as incomprehensible as my own and even more sweeping.

The onus falls to Bragg to demonstrate the necessary contact or connections to establish personal jurisdiction over Rosedale, and the requirements are fairly steep. You can't just have bumped into him in the street, or been at a Town Hall meeting with him in Second Life, or sort of accidentally-on-purpose rubbed your tummy up against him in an airport, or have backed him into a corner for a smooch on New Year's Eve.

We're talking "continuous and systematic contacts" sort of requirements. Rosedale hasn't said anything in Bragg's direction that he hasn't said as a matter of public speaking, so demonstrating personal contacts or business contacts is going to be quite a stretch.

Unless Bragg can pull something out of the hat, which doesn't seem likely, he's got no case to maintain Rosedale as a defendant at all. So -- why call him in the first place? Both Bragg and Archinaco must have known that it wouldn't stick, except by the wildest chance. It makes it look like a stunt to force Linden Lab to a settlement, or a procedural mistake.

If it's the latter, Linden Lab are going to have a fairly straightforward time on this case.

Here are Philip's filings in PDF form. The motion, and the affidavit.