(no subject)

[nita]

Anime voice actor Vic Mignogna loses big as judge drops final claims that Dallas-area studio and colleagues defamed him

Vic Mignogna's Civil Case Against Funimation, Voice Actress Monica Rial, Ron Toye Dismissed

When a defendant successfully invokes the TCPA during a lawsuit, the plaintiff must pay court costs, attorney fees, and other expenses resulting from defending against the lawsuit. The court must also issue a fine to the plaintiff that is "sufficient to deter the party who brought the legal action from bringing similar actions..."

The defendants will be able to submit evidence to the court to support claims for attorney fees, costs, and other expenses and an appropriate sanction against Mignogna within the next 30 days.

Just what I expect.  Mediations would fail, and the judge would dismiss everything. 

Mignogna is going to be out big bucks here.  At least half a mil, so I hear.  Probably more since there will be fines "sufficient to deter" similar actions in the future.  Unfortunately, this decision won't  slow all the online drama.  The IstandwithVic crowd are going to keep going off for a while yet.  Which is really kinda of sad.

Mignogna's voice acting career is officially dead at this point.  Who's going to hire him now with both the reputation of an harasser and the reputation of someone who will sue.  But don't despair.  I predict that he will eventually find work in the Christian entertainment industry where he'll portray his situation as Christian persecution and martyrdom.  The Christian entertainment industry loves that kinda of thing, whether it's true or not.
 

Comments

[phosfate]

He's gonna sue his own lawyers next. He may even have a case.

[nita]

He ought to sue them.

Actually, one of his lawyers ought to be disbarred or at least sanctioned. The guy submitted - then retracted - some affidavits that had been notarized over the phone with forged signatures. You can’t notarize over the phone. Let alone forge signatures.

[phosfate]

Is he the same guy who's in charge of Vic's trust fund and probably has some serious conflicts of interest going, too?

[nita]

What I understand is that Nick Rekieta started the GoFundMe for Mignogna's legal war chest. The handling of the funds was passed onto Beard Harris Bullock Hughes - law firm of Ty Beard Vic's attorney in the defamation case. So, yeah there might be a conflict of interest there.

What I suspect happened originally is that YouTube "lawsplainer" Nick Rekieta persuaded Mignogna to sue. "Sue them for defamation. You'll win easily. You'll get money and revenge. I'll set up a GoFundMe so you won't be out a dime...." (I have head that Rekieta hasn't actually passed the bar, but I don't know for sure.)

Rekieta meanwhile pumps out many, many videos on the case, profiting thanks to YouTube monetization and the idiots who eat up this crap. Rekieta also suggests his buddy Ty Beard to represent Mignogna in Texas (after other lawyers turned the case down). So now Rekieta and his bud make money off Mignogna.

Rekieta makes money off it. The crappy lawyer makes money off it. And the people he sued will get money above their legal costs. The only complete loser is Mignogna.

[phosfate]

I'm thinking that taking advice from YouTube celebrities is not the best idea when it comes to law or inpatient surgery.

[nita]

Well, it certainly convinces me that Mignonga isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.

It does seem to me the Rekieta and Beard snookerd him for fun and profit.

[phosfate]

While he's not the worst person it could have happened to, sitting him down and telling him to stop feeling up children would have been a better strategy.

[nita]

But that would require ethics. And you can't make money off of that.

[phosfate]

Yeah, ethics were probably never on the table during this whole clusterfuck.