Hey Lawyers: Catch ’em all: Poke-Plaintiffs are everywhere.

Posted By Cliff Tuttle | August 3, 2016

No. 1,276

Image: theringer.com

Lawyers sometimes take cases because they get publicity.  I recently read about a law firm in Florida who was suing in behalf of Pokemon hunters because the rules were grossly one-sided and absolved the company of any liability for anything.  The post speculated that this firm had grown too large over past years by performing servicing of delinquent mortgages and  that the decline in mortgage foreclosure activity had left them looking for something else to do.

Pokemon Go will not go away soon.  Thus, it is only a matter of time before electronic trespass suits start appearing on the dockets. One eager plaintiff wrote to AVVO about this this morning, looking for a lawyer to do something about uninvited persons walking across his/her land. You can bet this potential client has a contingent fee in mind.  A tall fence might be a better investment than a lawyer in the long run. This is especially true if there is something on the land worth keeping trespassers away — like a large garden.

Of course, you could sue the little urchins for walking onto your land, but they are minors (who cannot be sued directly in many states) and they probably don’t have any real money anyway.  Even if they did,  the damages would most likely be nominal.  Better to sue a large corporation for multiple trespasses, preferably in a class action.  You know the drill.

But then again, lawyers who bring such cases run the risk of being portrayed in the media as some kind of Scroogy spoilsport or otherwise ridiculed. Unless you subscribe to the maxim that all publicity is good publicity, that could be a negative.

I don’t intend to take any Poke-cases myself, but I will gladly write about them.  To that end, I just initiated a new category in this blog: “Pokemon Litigation.”

Anyway, here’s the AVVO inquiry:

Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

Subscribe to our feed