Can I Sue You People? Troll Lawyer Sues The Charities The Oatmeal Supports

So here’s a nice twist to the whole Oatmeal saga: the FunnyJunk lawyer who has been aggrieved by the Internet is now suing the National Cancer Society and the National Wildlife Federation.

Yes. He’s suing the bears. And the cancer.

Popehat dug up the lawsuits. Some highlights:

1. The lawsuit is captioned Charles Carreon v. Matthew Inman; IndieGogo Inc.; National Wildlife Federation; American Cancer Society; and Does [Does are as-of-yet-unnamed defendants], Case No. 4:12 cv 3112 DMR.

2. Charles Carreon appears as “attorney pro se,” meaning “I am attorney but am representing only myself” and “I will continue to wreak havoc until forcibly medicated.”

3. CNS included the following description of the case, which is most likely drafted by CNS upon review of the complaint: “Trademark infringement and incitement to cyber-vandalism. Defendants Inman and IndieGogo are commercial fundraisers that failed to file disclosures or annual reports. Inman launched a Bear Love campaign, which purports to raise money for defendant charitable organizations, but was really designed to revile plaintiff and his client, Funnyjunk.com, and to initiate a campaign of “trolling” and cybervandalism against them, which has caused people to hack Inman’s computer and falsely impersonate him. The campaign included obscenities, an obscene comics and a false accusation that FunnyJunk “stole a bunch of my comics and hosted them.” Inman runs the comedy website The Oatmeal.”

The lawsuits are not yet on legal search site PACER, but it should appear next week.

Essentially, FunnyJunk’s lawyer, Charles Carreon, is suggesting that The Oatmeal’s Inman pulled an Anonymous and destroyed Carreon’s professional website (but sadly not this website that he runs with his wife and includes an excellent cartoon thing featuring George Bush having sex with Condoleeza Rice). He’s also charging Inman with pretending to be “Santa” by sending all of the cash to worthy causes. In an discussion with another blogger, Nick Nafpliotis, Carreon said:

“You might think of it as the ‘Pseudo Santa’ law,” he explained. “Anybody can get a Santa suit. Then around Christmas time, you can probably make pretty good money wearing one outside of Macy’s, ringing a bell, and saying you’ll give the money to the Salvation Army. But you can’t do that.”

Sadly, Inman isn’t helping much with Tweets like this:

This is all going too far. The Popehat recommends just sitting back to watch this trainwreck, donating to Inman’s cause, and not harassing Carreon, a tactic that will help people with cancer, lovers of bears, and allow this lawyer the opportunity to fade back into the woodwork.

I leave you with this commentary on frivolous lawsuits.