Just wanted to get slightly history spergy here about the concept of "champerty and maintenance". The concept refers, in common law, to the practice of a powerful individual lending his backing to a slight or weak or frivolous lawsuit, usually in exchange for a portion of any proceeds derived from such lawsuit.
In history, this usually was seen when a powerful person, usually a nobleman, backed a weak suit against a personal enemy. Usually with money, but sometimes with threats of force. As
@AnOminous said earlier, it's a zombie concept nowadays. We don't have Lords commanding military forces overawing a weak judicial system anymore. We don't give preferential treatment to a plaintiff now, no matter who raises money for the suit or who stands behind the plaintiff. They can't credibly argue Nick is going to surround the courthouse with armed men to intimidate the judge. They can't credibly argue that the court is going to give undue weight to one litigant over another because they have more money. Not to mention that this lawsuit isn't weak, or frivolous, or insubstantial. Not to mention that if this were champerty, just why the fuck would Vic have filed suit against a rich and powerful company like Funimation?
I think they're trying to argue that Nick started the GFM solely to intimidate the defendants in exchange for a cut. Problems with that argument: Nick doesn't get a cut and financial documents subpoenaed from GFM will show exactly that. I think the judge will look at the plain language used in the GFM, the fact that the funds go directly into an IOLTA with no input from Nick as to how funds are spent, and the fact that the funds used have indeed been spent filing and pursuing a lawsuit, and deny the fuck out of this.
I would guess, based on the whole thrust of their activity lately, that they're desperate to try to knock out the GFM. They're assuming Vic, if forced to fall back on his own funds, would drop the case. They seem to be relying on some sort of theory that Vic is as broke as Jamie and MoRonica. They're also assuming that if the GFM goes away, Vic would have no other way to crowdfund legal fees. Just plain dumbly optimistic reasoning.
Edit: Holy shit, Lemoyne's just mad Nick insulted him online. What a disingenuous hail-mary pleading, this isn't going to work. The only way the hearing on this could be any funnier than the motion itself would be if Chupp berates Lemoyne so hard, it causes a fatal heart attack. And then Lemoyne's dead body shits itself, loudly.
