NOTE: This piece first appeared on FLGulfNews.com.
By Richard Luthmann with Michael Volpe
Hales Blows the 90-Day Shot Clock
YouTuber Jeremy Hales’s legal gambit is faltering. The Ohio-based YouTuber missed his 90-day window to serve legal nemesis Richard Luthmann in a federal defamation case. Hales first named Luthmann as a defendant on April 28, 2025; by rule, he had until July 27 to officially serve him.
He failed.
In a desperate scramble, Hales bragged online about serving Luthmann multiple times – even serving the wrong “Richard Luthmann” by mistake.
“In his desperate attempt to cover up for a previous lie, Mr. Hales got sloppy and served the wrong Richard Luthmann,” investigative journalist Michael Volpe reported, noting that “close only counts in atom bombs, torpedoes, and missiles” – not in proper legal service.
Hales’s attorney, Randy “Pocket Rocket” Shochet, attempted a late Hail Mary. He mailed Luthmann a consent-to-service form and even tried emailing him after the deadline. Luthmann says the mail went to the wrong address, and the email stunt was flatly rejected.
“He has not served me,” Luthmann said. “He had 90 days under Rule 4 of civil procedure to serve me… he blew his time.”
Co-host Michael Volpe explained why this misfire matters: “Service is generally boring, but this is important because Hales constantly claims he’s already served Luthmann,” Volpe said. “He lies and lies and lies”.
Despite the bluster, Hales’s legal shot clock expired with no valid service on record – a potential knockout blow to his case.
Luthmann’s Legal Smackdown
Luthmann isn’t just a defendant – he’s a former attorney and legal commentator who knows the rules. And he’s coming out swinging. In an August 18 email to Shochet and Hales (brazenly CC’ing Florida’s governor and attorney general), Luthmann gave a scathing response laced with legal citations.
He pointed to Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which sets a 90-day service deadline, and cited the Eleventh Circuit to crush any hope of a do-over.
“Rule 4(m)’s 90-day time period runs from the filing of the complaint that first names a defendant,” he noted, quoting Cioffe v. Morris. An amended complaint “does not restart” the clock when no new parties are added, he added, citing Goodstein v. Bombardier.
In short, “that dog won’t hunt” – Hales doesn’t get to reset the timer with a routine amendment.
Luthmann’s response dripped with ridicule. He reminded Hales that the YouTuber had publicly boasted of serving him “at least three times” without actually doing so. Now, after bungling the job, they wanted him to consent?
“INCONCEIVABLE!” Luthmann thundered. The flamboyant New York transplant even riffed on The Princess Bride: “I do not think service means what he thinks it means,” he quipped.
Luthmann scolded Hales for begging for a favor on an untimely complaint “that you cannot legally serve me with under Rule 4.”
He had already given Hales “one way out” in an earlier email – fire Shochet and he’d consider waiving service. Hales ignored that ultimatum. Now Luthmann smelled blood.
“I will proceed with all available legal avenues,” he warned, “and I will win because I, like our great President Donald J. Trump, am a WINNER. You, Germ, are a CLOWN.”
Luthmann taunted that the burden was on Hales to explain “why I should even consider” excusing the lapse – and to “try to use BIG BOY WORDS” while at it.
In Luthmann’s eyes, Hales’s legal circus had already crashed and burned.
Mercy Ultimatum: Drop ‘Bonecrusher’ or Burn in Hell
But in a final twist, Luthmann dangled a mercy deal – with a moral gut punch. In a postscript dripping with righteous fury, he offered to accept service despite the blown deadline if and only if Hales shows mercy to co-defendant Ray “Bonecrusher.” Bonecrusher is an elderly YouTuber (a retired veteran in Iowa) whom Hales sued under a pseudonym.
The man’s wife is gravely ill – she “almost died over the last few days,” Luthmann revealed.
Yet Hales’s lawsuit drags this ailing senior through court. Luthmann blasted Hales for effectively trying to “put Ray and his wife… into the grave” with stress, snarling that “he’s going to Hell for that.”
Luthmann’s challenge is clear: Drop “Bonecrusher” from the lawsuit as an act of compassion, and then he’ll consider letting Hales serve him without a fight.
“What would Jesus do?” Luthmann asked – pointedly invoking the moral code Hales claims to live by. Hales once preached from a pulpit; now he’s being preached at.
“If Jeremy can’t find it in his heart to show mercy to a dying old man, then he is NOT A CHRISTIAN, period,” Luthmann declared.
He even urged Hales to publicly announce Ray’s release “for reasons of mercy.” Otherwise, Luthmann warned, both Hales and his lawyer can “burn in Hell” for their cruelty.
Co-host Volpe backed up the sentiment, calling Hales’s case “frivolous” and cruel.
As Luthmann put it, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” – but if Hales refuses, he’ll get no mercy from Luthmann or the law. The ball is now in Hales’s court, and the hourglass of mercy is running out.
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