Ripple Lawsuit Tracker (March 2020 Update)

Guys,

Below is your March 2020 update on the lawsuits filed against Ripple Labs, Inc. As of today, March 20, 2020, there are two (2) open or active cases Ripple Labs, Inc is involved with and litigating. 

TL;DR - A new lawsuit was filed against Ripple Labs, Inc. on March 12, 2020.
 

The open or active cases are in bold:

1.) 2014 - Ripple v. LaCore Enterprises    (closed)
2.) 2015 - Ripple v. Kefi Labs   (closed)
3.) 2015 - Arthur Britto v. Jed McCaleb   (closed)**
4.) 2016 - Bitstamp v. Ripple, Jed McCaleb, Stellar   (closed)
5.) 2016 - Ripple v. Pixel Labs   (closed)
6.) 2017 - R3 v. Ripple (Delaware)   (closed)
7.) 2017 - Ripple and XRP II v. R3 (California)   (closed)
8.) 2017 - R3 v. Ripple (New York)   (closed)
9.) 2017 - Tony Petrucci v. Ripple   (closed)
10.) 2018 - Ryan Coffey v. Ripple, XRP II and Bradley Garlinghouse (California)   (closed)
11.) 2018 - Ryan Coffey v. Ripple, XRP II and Bradley Garlinghouse (U.S. Federal Court)  (closed)
12.) 2018 - Zakinov v. Ripple, XRP II and Bradley Garlinghouse (California)  (closed; consolidated w/ #17)
13.) 2018 - David Oconer v. Ripple, XRP II and Bradley Garlinghouse (California)  (closed; consolidated w/ #17)
14.) 2018 - Avner Greenwald v. Ripple, XRP II, Bradley Garlinghouse, Christian Larsen, Ben Lawsky (California)   (closed)
15.) 2018 - Avner Greenwald v. Ripple, XRP II, Bradley Garlinghouse, Christian Larsen, Ben Lawsky (U.S. Federal Court)  (closed)
16.) 2018 - Avner Greenwald v. Ripple, XRP II, Bradley Garlinghouse, Christian Larsen, Ben Lawsky (U.S. Appeals Federal Court)  (closed)
17.) 2018 - Zakinov et al v. Ripple et al (U.S. Federal Court)  (open/active)
18.) 2019 - Cooperative Entertainment, Inc. vs. Ripple  (closed)
19.) 2020 - Simmons vs. Ripple Labs, XRP II, LLC, and Bradley Garlinghouse (U.S. Federal Court)  (open/active)

Notes on active cases:

#17, #19 (above) There are now two different securities related lawsuits filed against Ripple labs, one in U.S. Federal Court in California (#17) and one in U.S. Federal Court in New York (#19). The case in New York (#19) was filed last week on March 12, 2020. 
 
#18 (above) was recently dismissed with prejudice. My guess is that Ripple Labs settled this lawsuit in order to avoid going to trial. If true, this was more likely than not a good move on Ripple Labs' part (avoid discovery and trial if you can). 

June 2018 Update:
https://www.xrpchat.com/topic/24386-ripple-lawsuit-tracker/

August 2018 Update:
https://www.xrpchat.com/topic/26151-ripple-lawsuit-tracker-august-2018-update/

October 2018 Update:
https://www.xrpchat.com/topic/27832-ripple-lawsuit-tracker-october-2018-update/

December 2018 Update:
https://www.xrpchat.com/topic/29587-ripple-lawsuit-tracker-december-2018-update/

November 2019 Update:
https://www.xrpchat.com/topic/33506-ripple-lawsuit-tracker-november-2019-update/

 @WillGetThere @Pablo @Snoopy @vlad_got_it @jcdenton @Mrsrippley @xrpisking

44 minutes ago, brjXRP17 said:

#18 (above) was recently dismissed with prejudice. My guess is that Ripple Labs settled this lawsuit in order to avoid going to trial. If true, this was more likely than not a good move on Ripple Labs' part (avoid discovery and trial if you can). 

Could it be that Ripple just wanted a quick end? I thought that case had more to do with the IP regarding Ripple's DLT-based solution (i.e. xCurrent at the time). I guess, what I'm trying to get at is 17 and 18 are related to XRP not Ripple's DLT-based tech stack. If they wanted quick resolution of these two couldn't/wouldn't they try and settle them as well just to get them out of the way instead of prolonging the process?

@King34Maine, the problem with settling #17 and #19 is that it opens up the door to other securities-related lawsuits being filed by anyone, knowing that Ripple Labs, Inc. is just going to pay you to go away. If that were the case, the two of us should combine our resources and file another lawsuit right now to make a little extra cash, knowing that Ripple would just settle our case. 

The securities-related issue can (and should) be resolved by the courts. My guess is that more lawsuits are on the way. The issue could also be resolved the SEC and/or the U.S. Congress, which is arguably the quicker and cheaper route to go for Ripple Labs, Inc. to put this issue behind them (lobby the SEC and/or Congress). However, any new cryptocurrency law that does come out is going to be challenged in the courts as well.  

Again, there is no easy way out #17 and #19. This is going to take longer than people think (and it already has). #17 above was filed in 2018. It could be another year or so before #17 goes to trial, and then there would probably be an appeal after that.

Imagine all the money Ripple Labs, Inc. is spending or has spent on legal expenses fighting these lawsuits, including settlements. It has to be quite a bit of money. 

Money talks in the legal system, and Ripple has a lot of money and some political influence.  They should be fine, unless US federal regulatory agencies are influenced by those in power politically and financially with a stronger ability to affect the system than Ripple for an agenda that is incongruous with Ripple's vision for XRP.   

11 hours ago, brjXRP17 said:

@King34Maine, the problem with settling #17 and #19 is that it opens up the door to other securities-related lawsuits being filed by anyone, knowing that Ripple Labs, Inc. is just going to pay you to go away. If that were the case, the two of us should combine our resources and file another lawsuit right now to make a little extra cash, knowing that Ripple would just settle our case. 

The securities-related issue can (and should) be resolved by the courts. My guess is that more lawsuits are on the way. The issue could also be resolved the SEC and/or the U.S. Congress, which is arguably the quicker and cheaper route to go for Ripple Labs, Inc. to put this issue behind them (lobby the SEC and/or Congress). However, any new cryptocurrency law that does come out is going to be challenged in the courts as well.  

Again, there is no easy way out #17 and #19. This is going to take longer than people think (and it already has). #17 above was filed in 2018. It could be another year or so before #17 goes to trial, and then there would probably be an appeal after that.

Imagine all the money Ripple Labs, Inc. is spending or has spent on legal expenses fighting these lawsuits, including settlements. It has to be quite a bit of money. 

I believe first 17 and 19 have to be merged. 17 is a class action lawsuit on the same subject matter.

As to the actual trial, it may take a very long time to finish and I don't think Ripple has any hurry either. Keep in mind what the judge has suggested for case #17, that even if it turned out to be that Ripple's sales of xrp at the time were deemed securities, the actual claim for losses should be proportional to Ripple sales in the market/total market sales volume which ends up being a fraction of the amount asked. This by itself suggests that legal fees on this won't make any sense for the plaintiffs if they continue with the case. 

4 hours ago, enrique11 said:

Money talks in the legal system, and Ripple has a lot of money and some political influence.  They should be fine, unless US federal regulatory agencies are influenced by those in power politically and financially with a stronger ability to affect the system than Ripple for an agenda that is incongruous with Ripple's vision for XRP.   

If SEC thought XRP was used as part of unregulated securities offering, they would have already acted on it. They have the power and as we can see from this example, intent to do so on digital assets.