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Michael

@sqfreak.bsky.social
82 followers 164 following 305 posts

Legal Risk Analyst for an Investment Research Company, Lawyer, Technophile, Eurovision Fan, <>

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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
What possible justification can there be for this? Especially because the same data is available without registration from tons of other sources, like Google Patents and the EPO's Espacenet? Are they experiencing some bot floods or DDoS attacks?
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
FYI, it's Karem v. Trump, 960 F.3d 656 (D.C. Cir. 2020).
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It may also be the photos that the parking enforcement officer who issued the ticket took at the time.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Do you think this is an appealable TRO under the "in substance a preliminary injunction" rule under Edudata v. Scientific Computers, 746 F.2d 429, 430 (8th Cir. 1984) (per curiam)?
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
It also prohibits participating in consolidated or coordinated actions. So I guess you have to voluntarily dismiss if the court consolidates or coordinates over your objection and notwithstanding this agreement. And if the court coordinates without you knowing, I guess you're screwed.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Seems like an attempt to tread on the inherent authority of a court to manage its docket. There's definitely an in terrorem effect to these sorts of clauses for potential plaintiffs though. (I feel the same way about overbroad non-competes. Unenforceable but effective.)
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Point taken, but I don't think a contract overrides § 1407. What's a plaintiff to do if the JPML or another court centralizes or coordinates the action even if everyone objects? Do they have to dismiss or be in breach?
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
MDLs are not class cases (class cases can be in an MDL) and a case in an MDL "retains its individual character" even after being consolidated into the MDL for pretrial proceedings. In re Nat'l Rx Opiate Litig, 956 F.3d 838, 841 (6th Cir. 2020). I don't think this would prevent § 1407 centralization.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I am in a restaurant in Rockville, Maryland that played Daði Freyr's "10 Years" immediately followed by "Save Tonight" by Eagle-Eye Cherry. Do they just play Scandipop?
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
It used to be quite difficult to go to Bhutan. You still need a visa but you now don’t need to use a local tour operator. Also, note that the U.S. doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Bhutan, which puts it in the same category as Iran and North Korea.
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Reposted by Michael
ACARS Drama @acarsdrama.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Air to Ground Message: LIFE IS NOT A FAIRYTALE. IF YOU LOSE YOUR SHOE AT MIDNIGHT YOU ARE DRUNK. Area: Philadelphia, PA, USA Type: Airbus A220-300 A: #a86f5f377ec F: #f09d73efe6d
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I know you meant this as a joke but... pacer.uscourts.gov/find-case/ph...
pacer.uscourts.gov
Phone Access to Court Records | PACER: Federal Court Records
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
They say the letters are in the record and incorporated by reference. But is the only way to see the record by looking in person in Baton Rouge?
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
So few people actually know how to type them, though.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
The answer—and they may be betting on voters believing this—might be short term pain, long term gain, because the goal is for all autos and auto parts sold in the U.S. to be made only in the U.S., which would mean more auto manufacturing in the long term, in theory, all else being equal.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
He frequently doesn't put his in-person proceedings on Zoom. Sometimes he does, but less frequently than other N.D. Cal. judges, in my experience.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Ah, so you'd be in favor of extending § 1983 to cover acts by federal officials in addition to state officials or otherwise expanding the scope of Bivens?
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
My employer, an investment research firm, goes by four letters. There is also a franchisee of IHOPs that uses the same. No reasonable consumer would ever confuse ABCD for investment research with ABCD for restaurant services. Yet every year employees of the restaurant call us asking for W-2s.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Well, yes, but that would be disobeying a valid law, and then nobody has standing to enjoin the illegal spending. (Which is indeed a problem.) There's a separate question if riders like "no money for ICE facilities if there isn't on-demand inspection by Congressmembers" is constitutional.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Here's a question that came to me reading *Slaughter*. Because the court won't tolerate impingement on Article II authority, including on the Take Care clause, would spending restriction prohibiting certain actions (say, immigration-related?) be unconstitutional? They could make the argument.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
As a lawyer whose job it is to research the law for investors and focused significantly on Roundup litigation, there was a lot of concern in the market about this case. (And an odd amount of focus on the settlement.) But I too was surprised by the magnitude of the reaction.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
#eurovision?
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
See on tee.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Any time I get a news alert about the results of a "say-on-pay" vote, I immediately respond, "Nad rändavad nii päevast päeva. Nad rändavad siis ajast aega." #eurovision #securitiesregulation youtu.be/gi0FEO2tFFA?...
Subject: *Match.com Stockholders Reject Advisory Say-on-Pay Provision, With 114M Votes Against and 85.3M in Favor
*Match.com Stockholders Reject Advisory Say-on-Pay Provision, With 114M Votes Against and 85.3M in Favor
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
The motion argues at pages 18 and 19 that it is the government alone that has standing and authority to sue, and thus if the DOJ chose not to challenge the fiduciary breach, it would impinge on the separation of powers for anyone else to.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I helped lobby against a bill, then wrote a law journal article arguing the bill was unconstitutional, and years later the NC Supreme Court agreed. My editors did not believe it when I explained that there was no record made of the "subcommittee" meeting I attended. No agenda, no minutes, nothing.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
My experience in legislatures is 15ish years ago in NC. It amazes me that anything resembling sensible statutes comes out of Jones Street.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Fair enough, but it said to submit *pursuant to 684.115,* which speaks only of "service of legal process." If they wanted to just have it submitted, they should have said to submit it, not specify that it be submitted to the special agent specified by the bank under a code section about service.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
To be somewhat fair to the bar, the legislature required this, right down to the service requirement ("pursuant to Section 684.115 of the Code of Civil Procedure"). It's 2024 AB3279.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Weil Gotshal has now requested another ~$50m in this case for 1Q26. The average hourly rate for lawyers has increased to $1,611.62/hr. It looks like they're billing first-year associates at $975 and billing rates go up to $2,850. Three partners and one upper-level associate billed over $1m.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
I would like to know if Florida will be performing with his more famous Italian/Sammarinese duet partner Senhit. #eurovision
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I must know the context for this message.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
@lopatto.bsky.social Are y'all back in court today for the remedies (non-jury) phase of the Musk v. Altman trial? They created a live event on YouTube but haven't started streaming.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
The HIPAA hippo.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
And "addiction" claims can be brought against any service that tries to maintain customers through targeted messages. See Texas suing Netflix.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Fraud claims are dead now. They were deemed dismissed by the judge because of the conditional mealy-mouthed filing. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
Order – #497 in Musk v. Altman (N.D. Cal., 4:24-cv-04722) – CourtListener.com
Order
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
I talked to him about that after he was back in private practice and he defended it. It is absolutely incredible that anyone believed Charlie Ergen, but he did and so did Judge Marrero.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Really good article. I will be following your coverage closely. I think Judge Gonzalez Rogers will try to keep grandstanding to a minimum. One point: Musk is trying to drop the fraud claims, in a conditional mealy-mouthed way that the judge will likely yell about. See docket 485 at 2:12–16.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
This is worse than most courts. Normally the final jury instructions, verdict forms, and jury notes would be filed within a day. I don't know that the court staff is purposefully keeping us in the dark, but they're doing a good job of it.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Does the rail car say, "This is a seven thousand series bed," every time you get in or out of it?
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
This just raises further questions. Because they're a U.S. regulated exchange, they're also not supposed to do contracts related to "gaming." Yet, they make most of their money from contracts related to sports games.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Example of the mess. The work was so sloppy that when it was initially filed, I had suspicion that the attorney's identity had been stolen and a non-attorney was filing documents. But apparently not.
Twenty days later, Plaintiff’s counsel docketed an “Amended Motion for Default against
All Defendants except for Bowanje and for MotoBuddy.” Doc. 40. A charitable description of
the filing would be “disjointed,” a less charitable one, “schizophrenic.” A portion of the captionis lopped off. The filing is directed “TO CLERK.” A blank page appears. Then a “Proposed
Default Order,” with the undersigned’s name in the signature block. Misspelled. Doc. 40 &
Doc. 40-1.
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Counsel’s supporting declaration provides as the “Date: 9. 2025 [sic].” Doc. 40-2 at
unnumbered pg. 2. Its explanation for excluding Defendant “MOTOBUDDY” from the request
reads: “The Court’s Order No 7 allowed alternative service of the Summons and Complaint
which was accomplished as in Return of Service in Order No 7, excluding Defendant Moto
Buddy [sic].” Id. at ¶ 3. This, the Court will not attempt to decipher.
On the same day as Plaintiff’s filing, Defendants “ONDWAY,” “INPOOL US STORE”
and “POOLCLEAN US STORE” filed an Answer and Counterclaims. Doc. 42. That was on
September 9, 2025. The Court has waited, since, for Plaintiff to answer the Counterclaims.
It appears that, without prompting, that day may never come.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Judge Bissoon (W.D. Penn.) is very unhappy with very sloppy counsel in a Schedule A case. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... cc @design-law.bsky.social
storage.courtlistener.com
Order on Motion for Entry of Default AND Order on Motion for Preliminary Injunction AND Order on Motion for TRO – #45 in NINGBO DONGCHUAN SWIMMING POOL EQUIPMENT CO., LTD. v. ONDWAY (W.D. Pa., 2:24-cv...
ORDER. Plaintiff's request for default (Doc. [40] is DENIED, and its renewed Motion (Doc. [32]) for injunctive relief is DENIED. The Court directs Plaintiff's counsel to provide a written copy of this...
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Judge O'Malley was right in Suprema v. ITC, 796 F.3d 1338, 1368 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (O'Malley, J., dissenting): The ITC is "no longer [] a 'creature of statute,' but instead a creature of its own making, an ever-expanding hydra that can sprout new areas of authority with each new interpretation."
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Нет, это спецоперация. Не война. Спецоперация.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Oh, I see what happened. The judge ordered the parties to file the MILs that were redacted in unredacted form because she didn't find the material qualified for sealing (ECF 452 at 3 n.1). They just refiled these today. But these motions were previously filed (ECF 406 and 407 in redacted form).
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
They're not allowed to talk about the ketamine usage at trial. They're allowed to talk about the fact that Musk was at Burning Man, but not about the ketamine. See ECF 452 at 3:21–25, 4:2–4. And I am not looking forward to this trial. I want desperately for both Musk and Altman to lose.
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Michael @sqfreak.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
I'm sure it's way better than the one I built about 20 years ago for a university course taught by @timchartier.bsky.social .
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