Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Carlo Longino




Judge Tells Jack Thompson He's Gotta Play By The Rules

from the law-school-101 dept

Last week, notorious "blame the video game" lawyer Jack Thompson added game site Kotaku to one of his many lawsuits, because of some comments a reader left on their site regarding him. However, that amendment quickly got tossed after a judge noted Thompson didn't follow proper procedure. Thompson tried to add Kotaku and its parent, Gawker Media, to the suit again, and Tuesday the judge smacked him down again, noting that he can't keep adding unrelated claims to a single action. This isn't the first time a Thompson suit has mentioned Kotaku, as the site was one of a gaggle Thompson accused of racketeering in another case, though he quietly later dropped them from the action. If Thompson's highly litigious track record is anything to go by, he'll probably file against Kotaku again, despite the extensive protection that section 230 of the CDA affords site owners for comments left on their site by readers. Also, don't be surprised when Thompson sues the judge, adding him to the laundry list of legal entities Thompson says are conspiring against him.

30 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    May 3rd, 2007 @ 9:17am
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Jack Thompson just needs to cease to exist. Or fight a cause that is worth fighting. The guy is a joke. It is hard to make other lawyers look good, but he does it. He makes all the other lawyers look like saints.

    /rant

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 9:32am
  • by doh

    Someone should register a domain along the lines of;
    jackthompsonisadouche.com
    destroyjackthompson.com
    jackthompsonisscum.com
    killjackthompson.co m

    And proceed to populate it with information on how ignorant this man is.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 9:39am
  • by Joel Coehoorn

    Careful you guys... you'll get techdirt sued :rolls eyes:

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • May 3rd, 2007 @ 1:11pm
    • Re:

      Careful you guys... you'll get techdirt sued :rolls eyes:

      Ahem.

      Jack Thompson is an outrageously vulgar blackguard and a miserable, toe-sucking proof that test tube experiments can go horribly wrong. He is living proof that man can live without a brain, and is so narrow minded that if he fell on a pin it would blind him in both eyes.

      Bring it on, Jack!

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    May 3rd, 2007 @ 9:40am
  • The Lawsuit industries

    by ansientwun

    All we really need to do is make jerks like this start paying defendants costs when they loose. In todays court system, there's no downside to sticking it to anyone you want to.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 9:51am
  • Ignore him

    What we need to do is stop caring about Jack Thompson so much. I know there's a delicious schadenfreude we all experience when a bad guy gets what's coming to him, but widespread infamy can only help his cause. He's a loser, a hack, and a terrible lawyer, and everybody knows it and therefore should be ignored rather than even discussed.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 9:54am
  • by Shteevie

    "All we really need to do is make jerks like this start paying defendants costs when they loose. In todays court system, there's no downside to sticking it to anyone you want to."

    -Do this, and retainer's fees jump even higher. If the lawyer thinks he can win, he can charge whatever he wants because if he does win, you aren't paying. And when you lose? You pay the overinflated fees for both lawyers.

    -This would make it more difficult to keep lawyers in Public defender positions, whose fees are mandated by what the city/state will pay. This disadvantages the poor even more in our legal system, which already makes it difficult to win civil cases without big bucks.

    The correct response is for all of the people ever accused by JT of 'wrongdoing', 'slander', or 'racketeering' to form a class-action lawsuit against him and/or sue for damages and legal fees.

    Or, for some GTA-addled misguided youth to fulfill JT's prophecy and put a hit out on the shmuck.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 9:59am
  • Florida Bar must be easy to step over

    by Beefcake

    Why hasn't JT been disbarred? Isn't continuous, habitual, and knowing abuse of the legal system grounds?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 10:04am
  • he still here

    by BillGod

    I heard a judge in Texas was trying to disbar him and he was moving to canada? I swear I read that somewhere.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 10:05am
  • by Anonymous Coward

    "conspiring against him"

    perhaps a mental evaluation is in order, followed by the revoking of his leagal licence.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 10:08am
  • why?

    by dav3

    Why is this nutcase allowed to continue wasting our tax dollars with his obviously personal vendetta that is taking the courts time and abusing the legal system of the people?

    Some people will do anything to have their name in headlines, even if it ruins their career and makes them look like a looney in the process.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 10:13am
  • Two Words

    by dav3

    Joke Thompson

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 10:23am
  • JT

    by SPR

    JT has picked video games as his forte' just as John Edwards picked natural childbirth as the cause of "cerebral palsy" as his forte' and made millions off of that in North Carolina.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 10:58am
  • by Disgusted

    Jake Thompson is a fag and takes it in the ass....I think he should be drafted into Iraq and given the job to personally diffuse all IED's in person with no protective suit. Ever seen his picture, he looks like a fudge packer!!!!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 10:59am
  • by Disgusted

    Where is dophus when you need him?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 11:03am
  • 'Fess up

    by JackedbytheMan

    One of you people out there punked Jack Thompson's online RPG alter ego, and it has really chapped his tender ass.

    Give the man back his brownie points and virility.

    (he's the little cross-dressing cinderella character, remember?)

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 11:26am
  • Well

    by Anonymous Coward

    Didn't want to pass up the opportunity to make fun of Jacked Johnson.... What a tool, plz sue tech dirt so we can all make fun of you some more. P.S. The world hates you.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 11:36am
  • This guy...

    by Angry Rivethead

    Is the lawyer equivalent to that "God Hates Fags" lady that shows up at funerals.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 12:03pm
  • by wtf

    I bet million this guy has religion background.. Usually are religion people want relegate shit because god said so.. JT fuck you and I will let my my son play some GTA just piss you off.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • May 3rd, 2007 @ 12:16pm
    • Re: by wtf

      by Anonymous Coward

      "I bet million this guy has religion background.. Usually are religion people want relegate shit because god said so.. JT fuck you and I will let my my son play some GTA just piss you off."

      My god, I could not let that one go. Did you fail all of grade school? Pluralize and read your reread your damn posts people.

      PS: You might want to rephrase your post to target extremists rather then just people who are religious. There are extremists from all the groups. In fact, I think you would have a larger pool to pick from going after political targets (per participant they have far more extremists). Hell, PITA is a great one to point at...

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    May 3rd, 2007 @ 12:11pm
  • JT

    by SPR

    A Republican Conservative Christian Lawyer!!
    Wow, what a contradiction!!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 5:24pm
  • by Pseudonym

    Seems to be worth a plug for Denialism. The conspiracy theory is one of the hallmarks of a true crank, as you will read there...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 3rd, 2007 @ 10:15pm
  • You guys are MORONS

    by ya right

    The problem isn't Jack Thompson at all. Our legal system, with the unchecked fees, loop holes and bullshit is the problem. Until the government makes it impossible for Civil Suits, we will always be at the mercy of the rule makers which are the attorneys and lawyers in America.

    Attorneys and Lawyers have single handedly bankrupt America. Don't believe me? Do you live in a fucking cave?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 4th, 2007 @ 7:35am
  • Just stop, please

    It's not nice to make fun of the mentally challenged. Jack's retardation should not be used for our amusement. It's just not right. Poor boy needs some help, that's all.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 4th, 2007 @ 7:09pm
  • Yay JT

    by thebacchant

    JT is like an antibody training our system to fend off others like him. At least we can hope. Yada yada.

    Somewhat ironic, but YAY Jack Thompson!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 6th, 2007 @ 6:04pm
  • He is the perfect opponent

    THank god for Jack THompson. If we actually had someone competent, sane , intelligent , and actually able to communicate advocating the things that Jack THompson does, then there would be some fear.

    Actually anyone who is sane, competent, intelligent, and actually knows the law wouldn't be advocating any of that anyways.

    But anyways. Working in the games industry I used to thank karma that the most famous fearmonger was such a publicly despised and utterly a failure as one.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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