Scump & H3CZ vs Activision lawsuit dismissed, sent to arbitration
Just a month after being filed, the $680 million lawsuit against the Call of Duty publisher Activision, from Seth "Scump" Abner and Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez has been dismissed.
The CoD esports pair filed a lawsuit against Activision last month, claiming that the developers had an "unlawful monopoly" over the franchised league that they created, forcing teams and players into predatory contracts, resulting in a massive loss of income for the OpTic pair and others in the CDL.
But official court documents released on March 13 have confirmed the suit has been dismissed and will now be referred to arbitration.
U.S. Court documents confirm Scump and H3CZ vs Activision has been dismissed
Click to enlargeThe original lawsuit targetted a colossal $680 payout from Activision, which covered damages from the forced OpTic and Envy merger, the dissolution of MLG, strongarming CDL organisations into new developer-favouring contracts or else lose CDL privileges, and repercussions of the continued broadcast rights deal between the CDL and YouTube.
But the court has now revealed that the case has officially been dismissed.
"Plaintiffs dispute that their claims are subject to arbitration but have agreed to spare the expense of costly and lengthy litigation on judicial issues," the documents read.
The dismissal doesn't mean that the saga is over though, as arbitration tribunals will now ensue, rather than continue in front of the court and a jury in an expensive and drawn-out legal jargon minefield.
Scump and H3CZ vs Activision $680 million lawsuit to continue in arbitration
Click to enlargeEssentially, Arbitration is still a trial, just smaller, and will see evidence be given from both sides of the suit as to whether the points have merit.
According to TheLawofEsports, via Jake Lucky, the arbitration state entered in this suit will first analyse whether each point laid out by Scump and H3CZ is viable to be added to arbitration too, or whether they should return to court - then, in a bit of a loop, if the cases qualify for arbitration, another wave of arbitration will begin to start assessing whether Activision is liable or not.
It's all a bit confusing to a non-legally-clued outside, but the lawsuit will continue, despite being dismissed by the court, and can still incur massive settlement figures.
Interestingly, TheLawofEsports also pointed out that Activision has taken arbitration against both H3CZ and Scump on separate occasions prior to the lawsuit being filed, as a result of Rodriguez's public threats towards taking action, and presumably conflicts against Scump surrounding copyright issues in recent months.
Although the case will no longer be fought in the U.S. Court, unless arbitration sees reason to reinstate the suit, Scump and H3CZ will continue to fight for damages, and a settlement is still possible.
More worryingly for the CoD esports pair is where they may go after the suit, and what will happen with the relationship between players/coaches/organisations all wanting to make a career in Activision games like Call of Duty and Overwatch moving forward.
