Location: I am in Colorado, the suit is in United States District Court for the District of Nevada

TL;DR:

• Plaintiff has been following me and trying to sue me over a Reddit post about him for 7 years
• Asking for over $100,000 for damages I believe are extremely weak
• Suit was previously dismissed from state court on jurisdictional grounds before any facts were considered, and has been re-filed in federal court
• I previously hired a lawyer for the state case, but I can no longer afford one

Full version:

A little over seven years ago, I made a Reddit post about another Reddit user, and that post got somewhat big. Other reddit users who saw the post contacted parties related to that post -- most notably, a potential employer, who did not hire them. I did not participate in that and did not know any of their personal details or even their state when that happened, and only found out his personal details when he tracked me down and tried to sue me.

Since 2021, the subject of that post has been continually monitoring me on the internet in order to find my address and open lawsuits against me for damages in the six figure range, alleging libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress. These were first filed in the plaintiff's state of Nevada, and were repeatedly dismissed, appealed, dismissed, appealed, and dismissed again up to the State Supreme Court. The exact details of what was filed when and which cases were separate are kinda too much for me to keep track of, so I can't go into a great deal of detail there.

The plaintiff has filed all lawsuits and motions pro se, having only to pay the filing fee. At the time, I was in a financial situation where I could hire a lawyer, and we successfully had the lawsuits dismissed on jurisdictional grounds (although we also argued the merits, they were not considered, as they were mooted by the jurisdiction ruling). However, they kept filing responses upon responses and new motions, to the point where the lawyer's fees became very burdensome. The plaintiff has now reopened the suit in federal court in an attempt to get around the jurisdiction issues, and has been granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis. Money is much tighter now, and I really cannot afford to hire a lawyer again. The case is (IMO) just as weak as it has always been, but... I am not a lawyer, and I really don't know how to deal with any of this on my own.

I was served earlier this week after he found out my address, and I have until March 23 to respond. What exactly am I supposed to do in this situation? How can I make this person stop using the courts to harass me without bankrupting myself? It's been seven years at this point and it seems like there's really not much of a vehicle for someone abusing the legal system to be stopped. Any advice would be appreciated.