William James Mitchell vs. Twin Galaxies LLC, Jeff Harrist & Jeremy Young & donkeykongforum.com, Benjamin Q Smith

[Terrifik]

Welp he had better lawyer & lied

 

[nohm]

Billy Mitchell’s Donkey Kong high-score case will move forward to trial​

https://archive.vn/LuKtU

 

[Kendrick]

Welp he had better lawyer & lied
View attachment 1692030

Now we'll see if he's liable for perjury and extra compensation penality for having defeated an anti-slapp by outright lying.

 

[AnOminous]

Welp he had better lawyer & lied
View attachment 1692030

And has to put up over $80K to actually go forward. Interesting setup. That's $80K that will sit in a court bank account so it won't be available for him to use during trial. Any idea what kind of resources Billy actually has? That's pretty steep.

 

[I can't imagine]

And has to put up over $80K to actually go forward. Interesting setup. That's $80K that will sit in a court bank account so it won't be available for him to use during trial. Any idea what kind of resources Billy actually has? That's pretty steep.

He purports that his restaurants do quite well, and I've seen estimates that his net worth is $1-2 million. Though, since pretty much everything about his personal life is limited to what he tells the media, that's probably not the most reliable of a number. The status or liquidity of his assets isn't really terribly well-known, either, though given that he lives in a rather affluent suburb, I'd suspect a lot of his net worth not related to the businesses is tied up in his home.

Overall, I'd say that he should be able to pony up the $80K, though how easily or comfortably he'd be able to do so is questionable.

 

[nohm]

And has to put up over $80K to actually go forward. Interesting setup. That's $80K that will sit in a court bank account so it won't be available for him to use during trial. Any idea what kind of resources Billy actually has? That's pretty steep.

https://kiwifarms.st/attachments/2020-06-22-billy-declaration-mitchell-pdf.1418162/

https://kiwifarms.st/attachments/2020-06-22-declaration-exhibits-mitchell-pdf.1418163/

In his declaration he claims his hot sauce company averaged $800,000 in revenue from 2013-2017. After Twin Galaxies statements, he claims revenue was cut in half. I wouldn't take his comments at face value like the judge, because his website has been offline for nearly 2 years.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180606175706/http://www.800hotsauce.com/

 

[AnOminous]

Overall, I'd say that he should be able to pony up the $80K, though how easily or comfortably he'd be able to do so is questionable.

The judge is apparently not as mean as I thought/hoped he might be, but he's still put Billy in an interesting dilemma. Or not so much a dilemma. He's going to have to put something on the line to keep this thing going. I think the denial of the SLAPP motion is probably correct. The complaint states colorable claims. He just has to prove them. His shenanigans have really thrown that into doubt, but this isn't the time for weighing facts, just whether the complaint itself is legally sufficient. The factual part comes later.

 

[Shaka Brah]

The judge is apparently not as mean as I thought/hoped he might be, but he's still put Billy in an interesting dilemma. Or not so much a dilemma. He's going to have to put something on the line to keep this thing going. I think the denial of the SLAPP motion is probably correct. The complaint states colorable claims. He just has to prove them. His shenanigans have really thrown that into doubt, but this isn't the time for weighing facts, just whether the complaint itself is legally sufficient. The factual part comes later.

This is the best summary IMO. The good part comes from the fact that Billy doesn't seem to understand just what a low bar he passed.

 

[DragoonSierra]

The judge is apparently not as mean as I thought/hoped he might be, but he's still put Billy in an interesting dilemma. Or not so much a dilemma. He's going to have to put something on the line to keep this thing going. I think the denial of the SLAPP motion is probably correct. The complaint states colorable claims. He just has to prove them. His shenanigans have really thrown that into doubt, but this isn't the time for weighing facts, just whether the complaint itself is legally sufficient. The factual part comes later.

So what your saying is that an anti-slapp law did nothing to stop a bullshit lawsuit. Fantastic.

 

[AnOminous]

So what your saying is that an anti-slapp law did nothing to stop a bullshit lawsuit. Fantastic.

It isn't a SLAPP suit. People said he faked his records, he denies that. If he did fake his records, he committed fraud, and is incompetent at his professional game playing. Both allegations are defamatory per se. He's entitled to a trial on the issues unless he entirely fails to state a claim. That's what anti-SLAPP is for, not disposing of a case that he might not be able to prove.

The defendants sought two forms of relief, in the SLAPP motion and the motion for an undertaking. They didn't get one, but they got the other. Mitchell has to put up a bond for their costs and fees should he lose. So if this lawsuit turns out to be bullshit, he'll already have paid their costs and fees in advance.

Seems fair to me.

Also if he's prudent he might choose not to go forward with this. If he does, he'd best be sure of his facts.

 

[DragoonSierra]

It isn't a SLAPP suit. People said he faked his records, he denies that. If he did fake his records, he committed fraud, and is incompetent at his professional game playing. Both allegations are defamatory per se. He's entitled to a trial on the issues unless he entirely fails to state a claim. That's what anti-SLAPP is for, not disposing of a case that he might not be able to prove.

The defendants sought two forms of relief, in the SLAPP motion and the motion for an undertaking. They didn't get one, but they got the other. Mitchell has to put up a bond for their costs and fees should he lose. So if this lawsuit turns out to be bullshit, he'll already have paid their costs and fees in advance.

Seems fair to me.

Also if he's prudent he might choose not to go forward with this. If he does, he'd best be sure of his facts.

Oh so that 81K is the potential cost of the whole lawsuit?

I suppose I should be hesitant to label lawsuits bullshit after the Vic hearing.

Are there any repercussions other than the $81K for Billy if it turns out the lawsuit is bullshit? I love how this is moving faster than the Vic suit BTW.

 

[Shaka Brah]

Oh so that 81K is the potential cost of the whole lawsuit?

I suppose I should be hesitant to label lawsuits bullshit after the Vic hearing.

Are there any repercussions other than the $81K for Billy if it turns out the lawsuit is bullshit? I love how this is moving faster than the Vic suit BTW.

That's the cost of the depositions. I think there may be other fees if he loses.

 

[AnOminous]

Oh so that 81K is the potential cost of the whole lawsuit?

That's just a bond to cover the next stage of the suit. It could end up being more or less. For instance he might choose to scale back the depositions. Frankly I don't see how 18 of them are likely to get him much more than just picking a couple people who know the most and nailing them down on their potential testimony. The sheer number of depositions sound like harassment.

And yes he could be sanctioned more later, depending on how he conducts the rest of the lawsuit.

 

[DragoonSierra]

That's just a bond to cover the next stage of the suit. It could end up being more or less. For instance he might choose to scale back the depositions. Frankly I don't see how 18 of them are likely to get him much more than just picking a couple people who know the most and nailing them down on their potential testimony. The sheer number of depositions sound like harassment.

And yes he could be sanctioned more later, depending on how he conducts the rest of the lawsuit.

So are these depositions the ones that Billy requested or Twin Galaxies?

 

[nohm]

So are these depositions the ones that Billy requested or Twin Galaxies?

Twin Galaxies.

Frankly I don't see how 18 of them are likely to get him much more than just picking a couple people who know the most and nailing them down on their potential testimony. The sheer number of depositions sound like harassment.

Maybe. In the judge's anti-slapp ruling, he wasn't persuaded by Twin Galaxies indifference to interviewing any witnesses. Their argument was that only the tape mattered; whatever these people think they saw is irrelevant. They are quite crucial to Billy's claim and submitted declarations to assist him in his lawsuit. They said they saw him play, but you'd definitely want to ask them questions like, "How close were you to Billy?" "How long were you watching him?" (it takes over 3 hours to score over 1 million points), "Did you test the machine yourself?"

The witnesses are either lying or were duped by Billy. A good deposition should help sort that out. Top speed runners have tried to pass off prerecorded game play as live (even with hand cameras!). It took several years for the man below to get caught. Donkey Kong has a limited move set and is very repetitive (there are only 4 different stages). You could watch Billy's hands for minutes and not notice that he was miming joystick inputs. He's been playing for decades, he has the muscle memory to do it well.

 

[Scuttlebug Jamboree]

Apollo Legend seems to have refunded all GoFundMe backers.

 

[nohm]

Twin Galaxies is countersuing Billy Mitchell and Walter Day for $3,333,360. The amount they're asking for in damages is the high score in a perfect game of Pac-Man, a feat Billy Mitchell claims to have been the first to achieve in 1999, for which he was named as the "Video Game Player of the Century" by Namco.

The gist of the lawsuit is that Billy Mitchell and Walter Day conspired to increase the value of the Twin Galaxies brand by creating fake scores and accomplishments for Billy Mitchell. The current owner of Twin Galaxies is alleging fraud.

 

[Shaka Brah]

The gist of the lawsuit is that Billy Mitchell and Walter Day conspired to increase the value of the Twin Galaxies brand by creating fake scores and accomplishments for Billy Mitchell. The current owner of Twin Galaxies is alleging fraud.

That is a very interesting way of coming at the idea. By reframing it as a plot to artificially increase the value of the brand they can use evidence that he did conspire to fake scores as a way of getting a monetary settlement for the new owner. This is a very lawyery way of looking at the whole thing, so I assume he must have hired a real shyster to tie those logical knots.

 

[AnOminous]

Twin Galaxies is countersuing Billy Mitchell and Walter Day for $3,333,360. The amount they're asking for in damages is the high score in a perfect game of Pac-Man, a feat Billy Mitchell claims to have been the first to achieve in 1999, for which he was named as the "Video Game Player of the Century" by Namco.

I'm not impressed by gimmick amounts like this. It reeks of lolsuit. Still, Mitchell's case is looking flimsier by the day. It survived the SLAPP because at least the claims are plausible on their face and if he can prove them, he wins, but he has really nuked his ability to prove them with his own stunts. I no longer think he could be a plausible witness.

 

[DragoonSierra]

I'm not impressed by gimmick amounts like this. It reeks of lolsuit. Still, Mitchell's case is looking flimsier by the day. It survived the SLAPP because at least the claims are plausible on their face and if he can prove them, he wins, but he has really nuked his ability to prove them with his own stunts. I no longer think he could be a plausible witness.

You think its a tactic to force a settlement or drain him of funds? How do you even do discovery for a claim like this? What evidence could possibly prove it?