A New Jersey judge has quashed nearly a thousand subpoenas that were requested in a BitTorrent lawsuit involving "Dark Adrenaline", the most recent album by the Italian band Lacuna Coil, ruling that the case improperly joins mass defendants together.

US District Judge Faith S. Hochberg threw out all of the defendants with the exception of one John Doe for the claim. As a result, 943 unnamed defendants have been pared from the lawsuit filed by a New Jersey attorney on behalf of Century Media Records.

Hochberg, in her October 10 ruling, said that the cases reeked of misjoinder, finding that "there must be a connection between defendants beyond the copyrighted work and method of distribution, namely that defendants were involved in the same transaction with the same downloader at the same time."

In the case, Hochberg said that she would sever all Doe defendants except the first Doe of the lawsuit "without prejudice," permitting the plaintiff to bring the claim again in conformity with the rules set forth by the judge.