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NEWS: Funimation Files Anti-SLAPP Motion to Dismiss Vic Mignogna's Lawsuit

However,with the tortuous inference with a contract part of the lawsuit, there is a better chance. Some of the earlier articles made it very clear that other defendants persuaded others to break their contract with Vic when they called conventions, and this has come out in court.

Just as a recommendation to ANN in publishing this as a story...it isn't one. Wait until the judge decides what to do with said motion.

*snip*

Just a thought when I read the warning post. It would cut down on all the people creating accounts just to blow up the topic with opinions since these topics invite speculation.

Olliff wrote:

However,with the tortuous inference with a contract part of the lawsuit, there is a better chance. Some of the earlier articles made it very clear that other defendants persuaded others to break their contract with Vic when they called conventions, and this has come out in court.

Here's the thing though: tortuous interference requires a tort. They can't just show that the defendants interfered with a contract, it has to be *tortuous* interference, it has to involve a wrongful act. This, if there is no defamation, there can be no tortuous interference.

EDIT: A post was made while I was making my post I'd like to address.

ZiharkXVI wrote:

Just as a recommendation to ANN in publishing this as a story...it isn't one. Wait until the judge decides what to do with said motion. *snip* Just a thought when I read the warning post. It would cut down on all the people creating accounts just to blow up the topic with opinions since these topics invite speculation.

You make some fair points, however, one thing I'd like to point out is that the news staff and the moderators are separate people, and the news staff don't consult the mods before deciding if something is newsworthy. This is a good thing.

Yes, moderating the Vic threads is often extremely frustrating. But the last thing I want is for the news staff, when deciding what to report and whether it newsworthy, thinking "well will this blow up the forums?" I don't want them killing stories because they're concerned about bad faith burner accounts. The trolls are annoying, but they can't be allowed to dictate what ANN does or doesn't report on.

As for me personally, yeah, I probably would have waited to report on this till either the judge ruled on the motion, or at least till all the defendants filed Anti-SLAPP motions and/or passed the deadline for filing them. But then again, I'm not a news reporter, so take that with a grain of salt.

Olliff wrote:

However,with the tortuous inference with a contract part of the lawsuit, there is a better chance. Some of the earlier articles made it very clear that other defendants persuaded others to break their contract with Vic when they called conventions, and this has come out in court.

Here's the thing though: tortuous interference requires a tort. They can't just show that the defendants interfered with a contract, it has to be *tortuous* interference, it has to involve a wrongful act. This, if there is no defamation, there can be no tortuous interference.

EDIT: A post was made while I was making my post I'd like to address.

ZiharkXVI wrote:

Just as a recommendation to ANN in publishing this as a story...it isn't one. Wait until the judge decides what to do with said motion. *snip* Just a thought when I read the warning post. It would cut down on all the people creating accounts just to blow up the topic with opinions since these topics invite speculation.

You make some fair points, however, one thing I'd like to point out is that the news staff and the moderators are separate people, and the news staff don't consult the mods before deciding if something is newsworthy. This is a good thing.

Yes, moderating the Vic threads is often extremely frustrating. But the last thing I want is for the news staff, when deciding what to report and whether it newsworthy, thinking "well will this blow up the forums?" I don't want them killing stories because they're concerned about bad faith burner accounts. The trolls are annoying, but they can't be allowed to dictate what ANN does or doesn't report on.

As for me personally, yeah, I probably would have waited to report on this till either the judge ruled on the motion, or at least till all the defendants filed Anti-SLAPP motions and/or passed the deadline for filing them. But then again, I'm not a news reporter, so take that with a grain of salt.

Sony's taking the position that every part of this lawsuit is BS. That includes the charge that Rial and Toye were acting as agents of Funimation when they trashtalked Mignogna. The lawyers are just being thorough, same as when they argue Mignogna's a limited-purpose public figure right after arguing he's a staight-up public figure.

The allegations against Mignogna include bad behavior while he was working at Funi, and at cons where he was promoting Funi releases. That's completely different from saying Funi is responsible for what Rial says on her private Twitter account, or that Toye, who doesn't even work for Funi, is their agent.

If a company has a credible report that a contractor is harassing one of their employees, and they do nothing to fix it, they can be held accountable for subsequent wrongdoing.

LOL, making a suggestion is attacking now, okay.

It's hilarious how this is all based on anecdotal evidence from sources that constantly change their stories about how Vic supposedly harassed them. Where the hell is the evidence? What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"?

It's clear that Funimation took the allegations seriously and handled them with great care, sending the reports up the ladder to Sony, rather than Sony turning the screws on Funimation. It becomes ever clearer, too, Mignogna's lawyers are not competent.

As a member of the media myself (local media in Baltimore), I'm interested in the public figure aspect of this case. Funimation is making the case that since he is a public figure and leveraged his public presence both to address and repeat the allegations against him (without denying them), he has no claim here.

To the comments of other posters, they're not throwing the co-defendants under the bus, they're saying that the claims made regarding tweets by the co-defendants aren't Funimation's problem since none of those people were or are employees of Funimation, and none speak for Funimation.

I'm no longer in the prediction business, since I've been wrong too many times. But Funimation seems to have a good chance of getting its legal fees, and the co-defendants a good chance of prevailing at trial, if it even gets there. I just can't wait for us to be done with that pervert.

Let's just say this goes through. Let's just say that things are thrown out, he's up a creek, and in the end Vic is paying them at Funi to some degree for legal fees etc due to this suit. Let's just assume that for a second. Who's paying his fees? In part, fans who refuse to see the trees from the forest and donated to that gofundme for his legal fees. So in essence those same fans could in the end be paying, via their donations for his legal fees, the great evil funimation who cut ties with Vic. Ain't life grand?

He's helped numerous people through tough times in their lives, he's given them hours of entertainment, he's stayed at conventions after hours to ensure every single person who wanted to meet him can do so, he's visited hospitals when fans write to him saying they wish they could meet him but can't, he's sacrificed tons of his time and money to help as many people as he could throughout his career. He's affected the lives of thousands of people in a positive fashion, and even if he's guilty of absolutely everything he's being accused of, that can never be erased.

Marzgurl wrote:

LOL, making a suggestion is attacking now, okay.

Suggest, express concern over, whatever people want to call it to try to downplay it I guess. This suggestion has been going for 6 months though.

To be completely honest, I'd much prefer it if FUNi simply didn't pick up any more shows with returning characters that Vic has voiced.

I really don't care too much about whether or not Vic is innocent or guilty, though I do think that the accusations are rather petty. But even if the guy was a proven child molester... put him in jail and let him record lines from there.

You took the words out of my mouth. I can't wait to see the end of this and him finally admit that yes, he couldn't keep his manhood in his pants and he was a pervert...instead of being total drama. Because that's all this is...one. BIG. Drama.

crazieanimefan1 wrote:

You took the words out of my mouth. I can't wait to see the end of this and him finally admit that yes, he couldn't keep his manhood in his pants and he was a pervert...instead of being total drama. Because that's all this is...one. BIG. Drama.

I think if he had any intention of owning up, he would’ve done it ages ago. He lacks the courage. I believe the reason he was so public about his religiosity may well have been to create an image of a Vic Mignogna that was not a bad person.