ACS:Law is facing a hefty bill after a judge declared it was responsible for the legal costs of alleged filesharers.
The law firm sent out letters on behalf of Media CAT last year, informing users they needed to pay a hefty fine for illegally downloading material or end up in court.
Cases were dropped for the 27 accused who took ACS:Law up on its court challenge and now they have decided to use the system to try and reclaim their legal costs.
Judge Birss, who is residing over the case at the Patents County Court, yesterday helped the defendants on the first step to reimbursement after he ruled the application for wasted costs was justified.
He also took the opportunity to condemn the actions of Andrew Crossley, the only lawyer at ACS:Law, for his behaviour.
"ACS Law's conduct was chaotic and lamentable," he said. "Documents which plainly should have been provided were not provided."
"This was not the behaviour of a solicitor advancing a normal piece of litigation. I do not doubt that this led to unnecessarily incurred costs."
Despite this initial win for the defendants, ACS:Law will have another chance to prove it isn't liable for the costs before anything is awarded.
Both ACS:Law and Media CAT went out of business in February following the law suits, although neither cited them as the reason for closing their doors.
