Not sure if already mentioned but deorio pointed out something interesting, the reason the people who donated feel mislead is because they did donate to a lawsuit over fake high score allegations and those funds were them used in the apollo suicide lawsuit.
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Basically
1- karl gets sued for the suicide acussation, doesn't e-beg initially and uses his own money to fight it. (But isn't transparent with what the lawsuit is about)
2- billy threatens a second lawsuit over cheating, karl opens a gofundme for legal cost but billy doesn't go through with it.
3- money from the gofundme is used in lawsuit 1.
So what you're saying is Jobst had an easy out and fumbled it. He really was deceptive the entire way along about the reasons for the lawsuit. I've only followed this whole thing occasionally, but from what I'm gathering all he had to win or at least improve his chances was:
A. Shut the fuck up and work on proving his own case, or
B. Say, 'You know what, I'm sorry Billy, I was a little upset after I saw my mate Apollo neck himself. I unfairly judged you to be the cause of that. I have my opinions about the veracity of your record claims, but they're just opinions', and he probably would have emerged unscathed.
It's Rikieta accusing Monte of being a pedo levels of hubris. Just retract what you can't directly prove. Claim victory over the lawsuit Mitchell backed out of, and sail off into the sunset with your homunculus moonfaced wife. It was that easy. Is Billy a scuzzy, slimy cheater? Of course. Did his actions contribute to Apollo's death? From everything I've seen, most likely at least contributed to it, but who the fuck cares what I or anyone believes. Karl in his hubris refused to back down. You have to be able to prove your claim to have a chance of winning a case like this.
Bit of an effort post on my part, but Australia also allows you the truth as a defense in a defamation case:
(not a lawyer but have friends in the profession who were gobsmacked with how Jobst handled himself the entire time)
Section 25 of the Defamation Act 2005 (Qld) (“
the Defamation Act”) states: (QLD being where Karl was sued)
It is a defence to the publication of defamatory matter if the defendant proves that the defamatory imputations carried by the matter of which the plaintiff complains are substantially true.
In
Wagner & Ors v Harbour Radio Pty Ltd & Ors [2018] QSC 201 Flanagan J said:
To succeed in a plea of truth, the defendant must prove that the imputations are true in substance or not materially different from the truth. What must be proved to be true is every material part of the imputation relied upon by the plaintiffs; errors in detail are tolerated.
In
Caccavo, Ralph & Anor v Daft & Anor [2006] TASSC 36, Master S J Holt said at [3(v)]:
The justification plea does not need to allege the truth of every last meticulous detail of the plaintiffs’ drafted imputation, but sufficient must be alleged so that if proved the truth of the sting of the imputation will have been established.
He didn't need to prove it beyond reasonable doubt to even have a fucking defense, he just had to prove it true at least in substance. What that looks like, who knows, either way, he's an idiot for letting this go to trial. If this was about the cheating, it would have been a slam dunk, but it wasn't.
He fucked himself over additionally by coming in all cocky. Courts of any nation and jurisdiction despise arrogance, which could have also counted against him. Read the transcript from the judge, incredible stuff
There's no denying Australia's laws are fucked up in many ways, but we still have protections for people making claims that are unpopular. Karl managed to burn the goodwill of the court and flubbed his defense.
