"Many, if not all, of these lawsuits are flagrant abuses of the federal court system adding up to a massive misuse of court resources," the complaint alleges.
In the Bay Area, a coordinated response to these practices is being developed, as a loose-knit group of public-interest lawyers pools resources to fight what they see as a misuse of the court system.
"No one is obliged to settle a lawsuit," he said, adding that he would not allow "a misuse of a court proceeding for the airing of hard feelings that understandably exist between the defendant and the remaining plaintiffs".
And has used it in respect of defamation laws, data protection, RIPA, computer misuse, contempt of court, bribery etc.
"We cannot allow the misuse of out-of-court disposals in serious cases to continue.
We are reducing the misuse of our crowded courts which wasted time and talent to prosecute cannabis "crimes".
"By all accounts," wrote Stanley Lubman in The Wall Street Journal, the campaign "involved misuse of both the courts and the police".
In 2000 the environmental groups, including the No Spray Coalition and the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, asked the court to prohibit further spraying, but Judge Martin denied that request.
A joint statement issued Tuesday by over a dozen organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Advancement Project and Arch City Defenders, condemned the action as "a blatant violation of constitutional rights and an appalling misuse of our already overburdened court system".
Lagarde is accused of negligence leading to misuse of public funds by improperly approving a decision to allow an out-of-court arbitration in the dispute with Sarkozy supporter Tapie.
In its response, filed in United States District Court in Manhattan late Monday, SoundExchange denied doing anything improper, and accused Sirius of misusing the courts.
