Comments on: Hernandez Seeks Class Certification in Case Against Virtual Property Dealer IGE

By: Mike F.

Mike F. — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:41:44 +0000

Here is what I don’t understand. IGE U.S. (the party named in the Hernandez suit and now called Affinity Media Holdings or something like that) sold off the “IGE” business and trade name and everything more than a year ago. My understanding is that IGE U.S. doesn’t do anything anymore. So why would Hernandez not sue whoever it is that is running the IGE websites today? That is, whoever bought the IGE business?

By: Benjamin Duranske

Benjamin Duranske — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:43:31 +0000

Thanks again, @6, for the heads up. Documents are now available here:

http://virtuallyblind.com/2008/06/25/ige-opposes-class-cert/

By: Benjamin Duranske

Benjamin Duranske — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:50:16 +0000

Thanks @6. I’ll track down the documents and run a post shortly.

By: Blast

Blast — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:30:29 +0000

IGE has filed its opposition to class certification.

By: MMO Clerks » Hernandez v IGN battle continues

MMO Clerks » Hernandez v IGN battle continues — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:40:41 +0000

[...] battle is still raging and, just the other day, his attorney filed for his gold selling case to become a class action lawsuit. A judge will review it, and if approved, millions of World of Warcraft players, and perhaps those [...]

By: Ashcroft Burnham

Ashcroft Burnham — Wed, 21 May 2008 08:12:49 +0000

Interesting, thank you. It is rather different here in relation to the way that things are funded, in that lawyers are not allowed to agree to take a proportion of the judgment as payment, so GLOs are rarer, but it does make sense in the context that you describe.

By: Benjamin Duranske

Benjamin Duranske — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:30:39 +0000

In basic terms, class certification is permission to move forward on behalf of a large group of as-yet-undetermined plaintiffs, with whatever relief the named plaintiff gets also going to everyone else. So basically, when the value of the loss is small, but widespread, it makes sense, and is — practically — the only way to fund a lawsuit like this. Attorney fees end up coming out of the settlement, or judgment.

Here, each person allegedly hurt only suffered some reduced value to their Warcraft experience — something they were, for a time, paying less than $15 a month for. So realistically, the value of any individual loss isn’t that high. But if a jury finds that everyone in the class should get $10, that could, given the size of the class (e.g. a large portion of the number of Warcraft users) end up being many tens of millions of dollars.

By: Hernandez Seeks Class Certification in Case Against Virtual Property Dealer Internet Gaming Entertainment | World Of Warcraft News

Wed, 21 May 2008 00:37:47 +0000

[...] post by Virtually Blind | Virtual Law | Legal Issues in Virtual Worlds and Multiuser Online Games Need WOW Guide? Click [...]

By: Ashcroft Burnham

Ashcroft Burnham — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:07:46 +0000

In U. S. litigation practice, what is the significance of class certification? The system works very differently here in the UK (look up “Group Litigation Orders” for information).