Comments on: Hernandez and IGE “Diligently Pursuing Settlement Negotiations,” So What About the Other 10m Users? [Updated July 21, 2008]

By: Benjamin Duranske

Benjamin Duranske — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:34:05 +0000

@3 – Thanks for that link. I hadn’t seen that interview, somehow. That quote actually makes it sound less like they’d be settling at this point to me (“damn the torpedoes, we’re going to trial”), although it also sounds like pretty traditional saber rattling.

By: Michael Donnelly

Michael Donnelly — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:00:00 +0000

This is not that surprising, given the comments made by the plaintiff’s attorneys at the onset of this litigation. He had a very clear tone that this was about the money and pain, much moreso than recovering any “damages” for Hernandez. A quote:

TE: Even if you get no help from Blizzard, do you have the resources to win this?

RN: Yes, we do. The bulk of my practice is handling complex litigation for catastrophically injured people. We handle class actions and complex product liability, and we go to trial. The folks on the other side of us on these cases know this. We don’t think twice about putting a million dollars in costs and thousands of hours of attorney time on a contingency fee basis. So if we can’t work out some deal to the benefit of players, we are prepared to go to the mat. And even if we lose, they will spend a ton of dough fighting us.

(emphasis quoted)

Full interview here:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/interviews/1220-Plaintiff-s-Attorney-in-Player-IGE-Lawsuit-Speaks-to-The-Escapis

By: Benjamin Duranske

Benjamin Duranske — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:44:14 +0000

I don’t think you can rest it entirely on Hernandez based on what we know. I don’t know the facts, but let’s say IGE offered enough cash to let a full-time student who plays a lot of WoW pay off his car. Even that (which would be a pittance to IGE, but many times what the case is objectively worth to any individual) would be pretty hard for Hernandez to pass up. The class action system is criticized periodically for exactly this problem.

I’m not jealous of the attorneys involved here on either side, who are undoubtedly wrestling with some thorny ethical issues, but without more info, I have to admit that it looks pretty borderline to me. I just can’t say it’s either party’s fault at this point. And again, I have to stress that I have no idea what the facts are here, all we know is that the parties told the court they’re closing in on settlement. Sometimes that means a lot, sometimes not.

By: Dan Rosenthal

Dan Rosenthal — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:42:52 +0000

It, unfortunately, looks very much like Hernandez did try to leverage a class action, dubiously IMHO, in order to gain a larger settlement.