- Jack Thompson, call your office: FBI search turns up no evidence Virginia Tech killer owned or played videogames [Monsters and Critics]
- How many zeroes was that? Bank of America threatens ABN Amro with $220 billion suit if it reneges on deal to sell Chicago’s LaSalle Bank [Times (U.K.), Consumerist]
- Chuck Colson will be disappointed, but the rule of law wins: Supreme Court declines to intervene in Miller-Jenkins (Vermont-Virginia lesbian custody) dispute [AP; see Mar. 2 and many earlier posts]
- Oklahoma legislature passes, but governor vetoes, comprehensive liability-reform bill [Point of Law first, second, third posts]
- Good primer on California’s much-abused Prop 65 right-to-know toxics law [CalBizLit via Ted @ PoL]
- “Defensive psychiatry” and the pressure to hospitalize persons who talk of suicide [Intueri]
- Among the many other reasons not to admire RFK Jr., there’s his wind-farm hypocrisy [Mac Johnson, Energy Tribune]
- “Screed-O-Matic” simulates nastygrams dashed off by busy Hollywood lawyer Martin Singer [Portfolio]
- “Liability, health issues” cited as Carmel, Ind. officials plan to eject companion dogs from special-needs program, though no parents have complained [Indpls. Star; similar 1999 story from Ohio]
- First glimmerings of Sen. John Edwards’s national ambitions [five years ago on Overlawyered]
Posts Tagged ‘Jack Thompson’
Jack Thompson sues Gawker Media
The anti-game attorney cites reader comments on the Gawker site Kotaku that he considers personally threatening. (GamePolitics.com, Apr. 25; Kotaku, Apr. 23; earlier Kotaku post). Mark Methinitis at Law of the Game says that in his view the complaint “falls well beyond the norm of complaint drafting and more into the realm of a self-promoting tirade” (Apr. 25).
New low for Jack Thompson?
“In the wake of Monday’s horrific shootings at Virginia Tech, video game scourge Jack Thompson went on Fox News and argued that violent video games were probably to blame. … he went on TV to make the claims before anyone really knew anything about the shooter or his reason for doing what he did.” (Daniel Terdiman, Gaming Blog, Apr. 17; video clip; Brian Crecente, “Dissecting Jack’s Lies”, Kotaku, Apr. 17). More: Mike Musgrove, Post I.T., Washington Post.com; Geek.com; Palgn.com.au (Australian); Wired.com Game/Life blog (TV’s “Dr. Phil” takes same line).
April 11 roundup
- Chief exec of 1-800-ATTORNEY ended up needing one himself, pleading guilty to securities fraud charge [NYLJ, Lattman]
- Cost of providing liability insurance for Pennsylvania prison doctor greatly exceeds his pay [Shamokin, Pa. News-Item, Dr. Robert Hynick, Northumberland County Prison]
- “Scottish sociopaths sipping their single malt Glenlivet” — yep, Jack Thompson is suing Grand Theft Auto developers again [GameSpot]
- Anna Nicole Smith fee-ing frenzy: $4,265 for Bahamas cellphone roaming part of “fair and reasonable” lawyer’s bill [TMZ]
- Working in a prosecutors’ office? More about nailing ’em than making sure justice was done [Dean Barnett via MedPundit]
- Don’t forget imprisoned Egyptian blogger Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman [Palmer @ NRO, Doherty @ Reason]
- “Pretexting” to fish out adversaries’ secrets: yes, lawyers do it too, now that you mention it [Elefant]
- Which is more dangerous to kids, a house with a swimming pool or a house with a gun? Think carefully before answering [Stossel]
- For shame: Supreme Court of Canada gives go-ahead for British Columbia’s retroactive tobacco recoupment suit [Ottawa Citizen, CBC, Bader; earlier]
- Anti-biotech activists score, farmers squirm as judge halts sale of Roundup Ready alfalfa [Farmer-Stockman, Feedstuffs, Truth about Trade & Technology](more: Coyote)
- Soap opera actor sues after ABC writes his character out of the script [five years ago on Overlawyered]
Jack Thompson faces possible disbarment
Aw, that’s not fair. What would we do for material? “Thompson’s ire [at the alleged evils of videogaming] spread to several law professionals involved in the lawsuits he filed. The disbarment proceedings resulted from separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them, according to documents in the [Florida bar disciplinary] case.” (K.C. Jones, ” Grand Theft Auto Critic Faces Misconduct Charges”, InformationWeek, Feb. 6; “Jack Thompson Faces Florida Supreme Court Disciplinary Hearing”, GamePolitics.com, Feb. 3; Billy Berghammer, “Jack Thompson Faces Florida Disciplinary Hearing”, Game Informer, Feb. 5). More: Oct. 30, Oct. 20, and many others.
Jack Thompson: don’t you dare let gamers base characters on me
Jack Thompson, the Florida lawyer with a seldom-rivaled knack for keeping this site supplied with material (Oct. 20, etc., etc.), has fired off a cease-and-desist letter to the publisher of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon demanding that it stop publication of the game because participants can use it to create characters based on him. A Slashdot posting explains that Thompson’s “image is not actually a selectable character in the game,” but John Scalzo at the Gaming Target website (scroll down) has published instructions on how to use the game’s build-a-fighter mode to create a character based on Thompson, widely loathed among hobbyists because of his courtroom assaults on popular games (among the character’s features: “puffed out self-important look… Banshee Scream. …no victory pose because, let’s face it, he’s never won”). More: XBoxic, GameShout, CNet/GameSpot (& welcome Ron Coleman readers).
Jack Thompson, officer of the court
When anti-videogame crusader and perennial Overlawyered favorite Jack Thompson (Sept. 26, Oct. 15, etc.) lost his case over “Bully”, he dashed off the following letter to the judge who ruled against him:
Dear Judge Friedman:
Now that you have consigned innumerable children to skull fractures, eye injuries from slingshots, and beatings with baseball bats, without a hearing as to the danger, let me tell you a few things, with all respect for your office and with no respect for the arbitrary way in which you handled this matter. I can handle an adverse ruling by a judge. I’ve had plenty of those in my lifetime, and that’s fine. But the way you conducted yourself today helps explain why a great Dade County Judge, the late Rhea Pincus Grossman, could not abide you. She was not the only one . . . .
Next time you promise a “hearing,” I’ll bring a parent with me whose kid is in the ground because of a kid who trained to kill him or her on a violent video game. Try mocking that person, I dare you.
Full text of the letter here courtesy GamePolitics; via Lat who got it from ACSBlog. And a commenter at ACSBlog writes:
Jack Thompson did his part to inspire me to go to law school. I knew that if people of his mental capacity could succeed in the profession, I certainly could.
More: GamePolitics.com reports that lawyers for the game company are seeking to have Thompson held in contempt of court (further update here; h/t RebeccaFrog).
Truth in Video Game Rating Act
Correspondent and frequent commenter Louis A. Nick III writes us:
“Bully” update
Updating our Oct. 14 and Aug. 17 posts, Florida Judge Ronald Friedman, after viewing the game, chose not to censor it—this time. Whether that free-speech decision should be made by judges at all and whether Jack Thompson should be permitted to misuse public nuisance law in this way are, of course, the real issues. Needless to say, Thompson is dissatisfied with the ruling, protesting that the game was played by a Take Two executive in the one- or two-hour closed-door session with the judge, and that a longer session with a different player might have had a different result. (Bridget Carey, “Judge doesn’t object to video game ‘Bully'”, Miami Herald, Oct. 14) (via Bashman).
Update: “Bully” gets bullied
Following up on our Aug. 17 post: “Game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. was ordered to demonstrate an upcoming video game titled “Bully” for a judge to determine whether it violates Florida’s public nuisance laws. Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ronald Friedman issued the order yesterday. The move is a major coup for conservative Miami attorney Jack Thompson, known for his crusades against pornography and obscene rap music, and now the video game industry.” (Mike Musgrove, “Florida Judge Wants To See ‘Bully’ in Court”, Washington Post, Oct. 12; Jeremy Reimer, ArsTechnica, Oct. 13).