WOOSE, WOOSIE or WIZARD?

DIY (Do It Yourself). If hacked, and your attorney, local, state and federal officials don't know what to do, or do nothing, the last resort is you. The paper by Aaron Kornblum, in previous LEGAL tab, outlines the legal process to identify an unknown (John Doe) hacker. With a hacker's email or IP address, and as part of the legal Discovery process, get a Court Case assigned and then Subpeona the email provider and/or Internet Service Provider (ISP) to identify the user of their service.

 

Below applies to Arizona's judicial and legal process, and your state will likely have a different process:

 * Civil or Criminal Case: A Civil case may be the most effective way to start. As discovery (or investigation) progresses, it's important to understand differences between Civil and Criminal cases, since a Criminal case may eventually apply.

   > Civil Case: Can start and complete without an attorney. At best, it can settle out of court with an agreement on liability between the plaintiff (you) and defendent (unknown John Doe) -- and return of what was stolen.

   > Criminal Case: Can have more sever penalties such as liability (including legal fees) plus fines and jail time -- depending on hack (or theft) details.

        >> Theft is stealing something of value (property or service) from another person -- through identity theft (fraudulent representation) for an unathorized period of time. Theft of property could include something taken from your home or car or a purse stolen while shopping. Theft of service could include use of a stolen credit card, or fraudulent access to email to subsequently steal contents of a bank account, bitcoin wallet, ... without authorization.

        >> Penalty for a Criminal Case depends on classification as a Misdemeanor (M) or Felony (F). Penalty for a first time offense is shown below -- with penalty increasing for repeated offense e.g. Class 1 Misdemeanor (1M) increasing to Class 6 Felony (6F), or 6F to 5F and so on.

             CLASS     THEFT                       LIABILITY        FINE                JAIL TIME

               1M      < $1,000 (Petty Theft)    Yes            <$2,500            <6 months

               6F          $1,000 to <$2,000       Yes            <$150,000        4 months to 2 years 

               5F          $2,000 to <$3,000       Yes            <$150,000        6 months to 2.54 years

               4F          $3,000 to <$4,000       Yes            <$150,000        1 year to 3.75 years

               3F          $4,000 to <$25,000     Yes            <$150,000        2 years to 8.75 years

               2F          $25,000 or more          Yes            <$150,000        3 years to 12.54 years

               1F          (Not applicable)

 

 * Justice or Superior Court: A Justice Court can be used for a Civil lawsuit <$10,000. Otherwise a Superior Court would apply. Also, a Justice Court may have easier forms and process than a Superior Court. In Arizona, the number of Justice Courts depends on number of counties and county population. Maricopa county, for example, has 26 Justice Courts. There are 15 Superior Courts, one for each of 15 Arizona counties. Make sure a case is filed in the appropriate court. Otherwise, getting a case number can be delayed, and time and money can be wasted just getting the legal process started.

 

 * Case Number: The first step in a legal process. Without a Case Number, nothing happens. For a Justice Court, Civil Complaint form CV 8150-100 R: 2/15/13 and Summons form CV 8150-100.01 R: 3/14/13 applies. Download or get the forms and instructions at a Court house. Read instructions, don't expect too much help from the clerks, and be nice -- as the clerks do talk to the Judges.

 

 * Subpoena for Appearance or Production of Documents:

    ** Arizona Corporation Commission and Statutory Agent: While an email provider or ISP may be out-of-state, it's important to know the Arizona Statutory Agent for the related Company. Getting the right Statutory Agent will help get correct information on the Subpoena and allows use of an in-state process service. 

    ** Subpoena: For a Justice Court, Civil Subpoena on form CV 8150-112.02 R: 3/4/13 applies. It has 2 options. One is for the Defendent to appear in court. The second is for Production of Document (Duces Tecum). For legal Discovery to learn identity of John Doe, production of documents would apply. Allow at least 30 days for response to Subpoena. When filing out forms initially, allow another 15-30 days for delays in court processing. It may take a few days for the Judge to review and the Judge may have questions, or the Judge may provide instructions for an update before signing the Subpeona.

    ** Process Serving: An advantage of using the correct Company Name and Statutory Agent is that a local in-state Process Service company could be used vs. a more expensive out-of-state company. Check the web to get locations, costs and reviews from others. Fees can vary and when the Subpoena is served, you should get a record of both what was charged and Process Service (time, date, location of what was served, who served and who received).

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