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Update 1: Gamepolitics has released a more information on why he's being held specifically in comtempt, and it has little to do with his spat with the judge as some of us may have presumed. Here is how we understand the situation at the moment:
Jack was given a gag order to view the game before it's release before it shipped
In his emergency appeal, he sighted information on what happened that day
The opposing council jumped on that, saying he was in violation of the court order
Minor technicality or well within their rights? We'll find out Wednesday at 4pm. Here's where it really gets juicy: an anonymous source has told Destructoid that Jack Thompson and Judge Friedman are running head to head in elections for judge in 2008. That is to say, the man that is trying this hearing (and his opponent next year) may be in the position to throw him in jail. How this hearing will happen without someone not pointing out the obvious conflict of interest is beyond me.
We're unsure if that would be a good or bad more for his career, as it would obviously make Mr. Thompson a martyr in some eyes and actually help him gain additional press for his cause. At the moment, this is all we know -- we'll continue to bring you more information as the story develops from our man in Miami.
Hoho. Looks like Jack got jacked. A story posted at Next Generation states that Take Two's lawyers are seeking to have him declared in contempt of court. Full story posted at Next Generation.
Think he's going down without a fight? Don't bet on it. Hit the jump for the document filed to show cause for his course actions. We were unable to reach Mr. Thompson for a statement, but Niero may be on the scene again this Wednesday at 4pm in Miami to bring you the scoop ... and possibly media footage if allowed in the courtroom.
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA JOHN B. THOMPSON ON BEHALF OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA,
Plaintiff,
v. CASE NO. 06-16311, Judge Ronald Friedman
WAL-MART STORES, INC.,
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE
SOFTWARE, INC., and GAMESTOP, INC.,Defendants.
FURTHER RESPONSE BY PLAINTIFF THOMPSON TO TAKE-TWO’S MOTION FOR AN ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND ULTIMATELY TO INCARCERATE THOMPSON FOR CRIMINAL CONTEMPT
COMES NOW plaintiff, an attorney, on his own behalf and on behalf of the State of Florida as authorized by Florida Statute 60.05, and responds further to defendant Take-Two’s effort to have plaintiff Thompson held in contempt and thrown in jail and states:
1. The motion to show cause filed by defendant Take-Two is a transparent, panicked attempt to cover up the misconduct, including the fraudulent misrepresentations to the public and to this Court, by its employees and its counsel, Blank Rome.
2. No Court can enter an order the intent, purpose, and effect of which is to keep the lid on its own prejudicial misconduct. Take-Two/Blank Rome’s bizarre legal position is that plaintiff could not even seek a remedy for this Court’s violation of three of its own orders at the Third District Court of Appeal. “Star Chamber” is what these folks envision and which possibly this Court prefers. Its order to remain silent about its own misconduct is null and void.
3. In fact, the understanding on plaintiff’s side of this case was that the purported gag rule was not to disclose anything substantial he might learn about the content of the game prior to the game’s commercial release from this séance in chambers. Plaintiff violated that order not a wit.
4. Finally, the federal civil rights lawsuit brought by plaintiff and now pending in the Southern District of Florida delineates in detail the illegal activities of Take-Two in Blank Rome in trying to infringe upon Thompson’s constitutional rights and its efforts to get government to participate in this infringement.
5. If this court in any fashion proceeds toward issuing a show cause order, given its utter baselessness and the bad faith goo in which it slithers, then Thompson will add whatever judge should do so as a defendant in the aforementioned federal civil rights action, on the authority and basis of 42 USC 1983. If the Court and the defendants do not understand the nature and appropriateness of that remedy, then they need to research the law, read Thompson’s lawsuit, and then stop.
6. The unfairness of this court, bathed in its patent animosity toward Thompson, which it exhibited on October 13 a) in violating its order to have a hearing, b) in snarling at Thompson challenging him to find him on the weekend when no suggestion was ever made by Thompson that he had the slightest interest in inconveniencing the court on the weekend, even though the court had promised on October 11 in open court that it would spend the weekend reviewing the game to its conclusion, c) in misrepresenting even the length of time the court spent viewing the game, and d) in violating its own order not to disclose the content of the game by describing it to the media, as reported in the press, should have resulted in this Judge’s recusal from this case when that recusal motion was made.
7. Plaintiff has seen arbitrariness from judges before in his thirty years of practicing law, but nothing close to this. If the federal judiciary must restrain this Court and punish it, then so be it.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that on October 20, 2006, the undersigned provided this Motion by fax transmission and email to counsel for defendants Take-Two and GameStop, Steve Lessne at Blank Rome, 1200 North Federal Highway, Suite 417, Boca Raton, Florida 33432 (fax #561-417-8101) and by e-mail and fax to Anthony Carriuolo, Berger and Singerman, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, as counsel for Wal-Mart, with a courtesy copy provided to The Honorable Stuart Simons, General Jurisdiction Chief Administrative Judge, Eleventh Circuit Court.
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