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Vic Mignogna Lawsuit |OT| Hold My Beard (Update: Appeal lost, Mignogna must pay attorney fees to defendants)
- Thread starter Sibersk Esto
- Start date
Well at first I just thought they were just believing whatever they were told to believe. But after reflection I came to the idea that the whole thing is that they thing they scared the judge into changing his mind.
They don't think this is a bad legal drama. They think it's a John Grisham book.
I was thinking Dominick Dunne, in a way. "A Season in Purgatory 2: Wait, This Ain't Purgatory" is my goto joke in cases like this
Damn. Only reason I didn't say that was because I didn't think anyone would get the reference.
Cool, love reading these since I'm interesting in Nick's spin, but don't have the patience to sit through three hours of it.
Same. I enjoy getting a preview of what will be mocked tomorrow by lawtwitter :P
Lol Nick really hanging his hat on "Well the judge might change his mind maybe."
So if what I'm reading from Mark is correct, Nick's spin is that mediation never ever ever happens in these cases. If it did, why didn't the know-it-alls in the threadnought see it coming? So our first spin is don't listen to the lawyers telling you this is normal in a civil case, this is unusual. Then we've got the Judge who seems to know that he screwed up, and the rulings won't survive an appeal. So rather than reverse his decision (which he can totally do!), he's instead setup this mediation which in an attempt to trick Percy and Vic into settling so they don't appeal the ruling. The ruling that the judge could still change their mind on, but for some reason would rather trick Percy and Vic instead. Is anyone else getting that from this? This pretzel knot of logic?
And part of this argument is that there is no other reason to have a mediation. Other than get Vic and Percy to agree to terms the court couldn't enforce, in exchange for looking the other way on sanctions. Or that maybe the Judge knows the appeal would be a waste of time and money, and hopes it can be avoided. Or that offering Vic one last chance is another way to seem impartial for the coming appeal.
And part of this argument is that there is no other reason to have a mediation. Other than get Vic and Percy to agree to terms the court couldn't enforce, in exchange for looking the other way on sanctions. Or that maybe the Judge knows the appeal would be a waste of time and money, and hopes it can be avoided. Or that offering Vic one last chance is another way to seem impartial for the coming appeal.
So that should happen at some point.
Edit: Lol ok, happened and was funded already:
Seems like there was a hearing where the judge said they had to do mediation. Doubt there'll be much interesting in it if that was all it was.
Y'know, the really funny part about this "spin" is that knowing Beard and Rekieta they most likely fully believe their own spin. So Beard is gonna waltz into mediation (with Rekieta tagging along in the back) thinking the judge is shook and on the verge of declaring a mistrial when if anything he's doing the complete opposite and giving them a last chance to walk out peacefully.
The schadenfreude is so deliciously palpable I could eat it for breakfast.
The schadenfreude is so deliciously palpable I could eat it for breakfast.
I genuinely wish I could be in the room when the mediator explains to Vic his situation.
If anything, this case shows why we have Bar Associations to regulate attorneys because holy fucking shit is this dangerously bad and misleading legal information given by Screech
Vic would need to offer something REALLY appealing to get out of paying their legal costs at this point tbh. It's the minimum he'll end up owing them.
Law Twitter seems to agree that a confidentiality clause would be the best outcome for plaintiffs, with a promise not to appeal being their only bargaining chip.
In reality though, I imagine Beard stomping in there with Vic, having told him about the case for the first time in 6 months, and loudly proclaiming "Just tell them whatever you want Vicster, we have them by the footballs!"
I don't see the defense agreeing to a confidentiality clause unless both Beard and Nick are part of it, which wont happen (mainly because Nick isn't part of any of this directly.) As is, getting Vic to agree to shut his mouth doesn't really achieve much because during this process Nick and Beard and have been his mouthpieces anyway.
I do agree that Beard is probably going to walk in going "GIVE US A BAJILLION DOLLARS AND WE'LL DROP OUR CASE" though.
Agreed. Basically every single thing Beard could have leaked so far, he has leaked. And then made sure it was broadcast by a shouting drunk man on YouTube.
Also after the judge has been receiving death threats, I would assume he would like the verdict out there, so absolutely no one is in any doubt about who fucked what up.
Some questions I'm unclear on:
What exactly is the role the mediator plays? Is it akin to a debate moderator or is it more like a third party weighing in with legal position? Is a moderator able to, for instance, tell Beard "look you guys have no chance this is what you are looking at the Judge likely ruling" or do they have to be more impartial?
If mediation fails and all charges are dismissed under the TCPA filing, do defendants stand to take punitive damages in addition to legal fees incurred? I'm trying to understand what they might have have to relinquish in terms of mediating a settlement, because no way should they walk out with less than legal fees paid.
What exactly is the role the mediator plays? Is it akin to a debate moderator or is it more like a third party weighing in with legal position? Is a moderator able to, for instance, tell Beard "look you guys have no chance this is what you are looking at the Judge likely ruling" or do they have to be more impartial?
If mediation fails and all charges are dismissed under the TCPA filing, do defendants stand to take punitive damages in addition to legal fees incurred? I'm trying to understand what they might have have to relinquish in terms of mediating a settlement, because no way should they walk out with less than legal fees paid.
Any confidentiality or gag order that doesn't include Rekieta is worthless, the defendants and their lawyers know that, so I don't really see anything coming from this.
The thing is that Ty and Nick would actually profit from appealing. They don't care about Vic or how much damages he has to pay in the end, the only thing they care about is to keep this going as long as possible to grift some more money from Vic-Stans. They will absolutely try to get him to appeal.
Bingo. The defendants and their lawyers would have to be monumentally stupid to not realise that a confidentiality order would allow Mignogna, Rekieta and Beard to present this in a way that would allow them to insinuate that the CONFIDENTIAL AGREEMENT had totally, genuinely gone their way. It wouldn't end the harassment; it would worsen it, and there would be fewer practical options for pushing back. I've seen nothing to indicate that the various lawyers for the defendants are that foolish, so I don't expect confidentiality to go anywhere.
The question now is exactly how aware Vic has been of what has been happening in court, how honest Beard has been with him, and what he will do when he is obliged to be sat in on mediation and has to be put firmly in the picture about where things stand. Given his comments at DungeonCon, Beard has almost certainly not been straight with him, so it will be interesting to see what happens when Broly meets reality...
As I understand it, his role is simply to be a completely neutral middle man in the mediation process.
If mediation fails, we are back exactly where we were before the mediation order. Mediation costs are to be shared between the two sides per judges order.
That seems like a reasonable guess at desired outcomes. I'd imagine the defendants have the stronger hand going into mediation; with so many elements dismissed already, and the likelihood that the remaining elements will be dismissed as well, surely Vic is in the position of having to consider agreeing to whatever the defense proposes as it will likely be better than seeing everything publicly dismissed, being on the hook for full fees and sanctions and (given how the judge has given Ty every chance) 0% chance of a successful appeal?
I agree with the premise, but what you are saying about *plaintiff* based on what would be the smart thing to do. And we all know how Beard feels about doing smart things.
Edit: Argh, wrote defendants instead of plaintiff.
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Potential sanctions against Beard and his law firm are the wild card here. If they settle in mediation he might be able to escape those.
Point, though if Beard has been keeping Mignogna in the dark about quite how badly things are going, then we could have Vic walking into mediation, realising quite what he's on the hook/going to be on the hook for and getting a dose of reality - in which case, what Ty wants or thinks is the smart move will be out of the window. A lot will depend on exactly how much of Ty and Screech's Stupid Kool-Aid Vic has been drinking...
So the questions are: What level of dumbassery will Beard reach this time, will his end goal be to appeal anyway so he can continue the grift (making the whole mediation moot), and will Vic finally stop drinking the kool-aid and wake up and smell the coffee of reality?
I -think- mediation will see Vic hearing about the writing on the wall. What potential ramifications there may be for not mediating (appeals and litigation costs that go into that, lawyers fees, sanctions). While it may not be possible to get Rekieta to actually follow anything (he's not party to it after all), Vic may be bound to post an apology and/or condemnation of Rekieta's streams.
I feel trying to guess what's going to go down in mediation is a bit of a loss cause. Mediation assumes two rational, self interested parties. The plaintiffs have been irrational and frankly, ridiculous, throughout this process.
I don't think Vic would be able to steer his side back once he learns how much of a shitshow Ty has been, since I suspect he might be high on the kool aid himself. Didn't he basically go lawyer shopping until he found one willing to give him the advice he wanted to hear?
I don't think Vic would be able to steer his side back once he learns how much of a shitshow Ty has been, since I suspect he might be high on the kool aid himself. Didn't he basically go lawyer shopping until he found one willing to give him the advice he wanted to hear?
If he realizes how much money he's in for, it's possible he might see the light. If he's as taken as he seems, I don't think mediation will be successful. He let go of his lawyer and I think one more before the GFM and Nick appeared to point to Ty Beard.
Yeah we are pretty much playing fantasy league mediation atm. And with Vic as (weirdly) a total wildcard in his own trial, and Beard just being... well... beardy, I agree this isn't going to solve much. But it is kinda fun, since this is turning into the weirdest of court shows.
And yeah, the lawyer shopping was first mentioned by the "Vic whisperer" on a thread on KF, then later confirmed by Vic himself in his deposition, as I remember.
From all appearances, Vic's been pretty detached from the whole case. He handed Beard the keys to the car, so to say, who drove over to Nick's place, drank a six pack or two, and ended up upside-down in a ditch. Now Vic's got a trashed car, Beard's got a throbbing hangover, and decisions have to be made.
I love how a few responses to the tweet are trying to pin this on Funimation. These fucking deluded fools.
Just last weekend he apparently called out something to the effect of "lawyers who have nothing better to do than to tweet about something that doesn't concern them"
We just don't know if he'll wake up when the mediator talks to him or if he'll keep relying on these people who he happily gave the reins to.
That was his rambling appearance at DungeonCon, wasn't it? I suspect he's getting a lot of his info from Ty/Screech, since if he was actually reading what Doucette or other people on LawTwitter were saying he might have a slightly different take on things...
