Man Who Keyed Electric RAV4 Goes to Prison, Ending Bizarre Legal Saga
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 10. 5.09
Photo on left: Santa Clara County Department of Corrections
EV Vandal
Here's our strange story of the day: About 4 years ago, a man named Howard Herships (pictured above) keyed the electric RAV4 of Steve Kirsch, a silicon valley entrepreneur who, among other things, holds a patent for the optical computer mouse. The deed was done because Mr. Kirsch won a lawsuit against a friend of Herships for sending junk faxes (Kirsch is an anti-fax-spam crusader). Herships then proceeded to play amateur lawyer and file "a mountain of motions a foot tall" and the case eventually involved "seven judges, four prosecutors and more than 60 court appearances". All that for a keyed electric car.
The Mercury News reports:
Allegro told the court Friday that she viewed the matter not only as a case of vandalism but also as perjury, contempt of court and witness intimidation, McKeown said. [...]Herships has been declared a vexatious litigant, or legal pest, by the San Francisco courts for filing repeated frivolous claims, meaning he cannot file any new actions in any state court without permission of the presiding judge. But no such restrictions apply in federal court. Kirsch said Herships "had the gall" to promise in a Sept. 5 e-mail that he would drop a federal lawsuit he filed against Kirsch over the car if Kirsch paid him $1.8 million.
"However, I am open to a counter-offer," Herships wrote.
Kirsch said Friday that he did not make a counteroffer. "However," Kirsch said, "the state has now made Howard an offer he can't refuse."
The sentence?
1 month in jail and 1 year on probation, paying $5,000 in legal fees to Kirsch, three months of anger management classes, and a complete psychiatric counseling.
Via Mercury News
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