Activision Blizzard sued by ... yeah, it's the PSN guy

by Alexander Sliwinski on Nov 25th 2009 10:00AM

Serial suit launcher Erik Estavillo is making a little name for himself in the game space, as his latest complaint seeks $1 million in damages from Activision Blizzard over the design of World of Warcraft. GamePolitics reports on the complaint, which claims that the publisher maintains a "harmful virtual environment to many of its customers by forcing them to follow the game's sneaky and deceitful practices." Estavillo alleges that the "calculated slow pace" of the game makes turning quests in take longer and thus generates more subscription revenue for Activision Blizzard.

If that wasn't enough, Estavillo also subpoenaed actress Winona Ryder and Depeche Mode's Martin Lee Gore to testify on his behalf regarding alienation. He explains that his health issues, which apparently include OCD, agoraphobia, depression (and more), mean that he "relies on video games heavily for the little ongoing happiness he can achieve in this life."

Estavillo had previously sued Sony after being banned from PSN and also has another suit against Microsoft and Nintendo, for his Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death and Nintendo's disabling of the Homebrew Channel in an update. Perhaps he'll have more luck suing over the design of a game in which millions happily pay to participate.

Source

Tags: activision-blizzard, erik-estavillo, law, lawsuit, martin-lee-gore, winona-ryder

Reader Comments (126)

Isn't there a point at which this guy crosses some line and can actually be in severe legal trouble himself?

I hope so. Maybe the rest of the human race can form a class action suit on the grounds of Estavillo being a "sneaky and deceitful" individual. Anyone know a good lawyer?

All depends if he falls into a temporal loop of suing and he can't save himself in time to avoid the lawsuit coming his way from the future self.

It's complicated. But I think Q is behind the whole thing.

@ cynicalstrike: Is Jack Thompson available?

What Estavillodouche needs is to stand in front of a firing squad. Do us all a favor.

What we need to do is adopt the British "Loser pays" system. That way he can sue anyone he wants, but is the lawsuit is found to be without merit, or if he loses in court then he pays all legal fees for both parties.

I hear Bob Loblaw is available to take such a case. Just check out his Bob Loblaw's Law Blog.

can we sue this guy for being an idiot?

i am thinking all these suits is his lame way to get his 15 minutes of fame

Actually, if this guy doesnt watch out and hires a terrible good lawyer, he can (and by the looks of it will) get counter sued for diffamation charges, he may end up in the other side of one of his million dollar sues and end up in jail or making payments for the rest of his life. All he needs is to get a judge with little sense of humor for frivolous lawsues. to top it off some of these companies (i.e. Microsoft) are considered experts in courthouse situations.

p.s. it is worth to mention he is (obviously) already paying lawyer services, and legal fees, if companies stall him for a few years and then give him nothing he will actually end up in debt instead of making money for this class act he is pulling.

Are you sure he's paying legal fees? I thought in one of the articles it mentioned he was representing himself.

I am a lawyer and will try to response to some of the above inquiries/comments.

This guy can be hit with legal consequences in terms of being required to pay the other side's legal fees if he loses (see below for more on this) and the Courts could, on a Motion by any person that he is suing, declare him to be a frivolous litigator and be barred from the State where he is suing from bringing any further claims.

There is a system in the US where the loser pays the other side's legal fees just like in England, but only a portion of the legal fees. If the law required a loser to pay all of or too much of the other side's legal fees if they lose, this would discourage honest people with legitimate claims from suing because of the risk that they will be hit with a ton of legal fees if they happen to lose.

Even if he is self-represented, he must be putting in a ton of money into this just in terms of filing expenses at the Court for bringing actions, serving subpoenas, etc. (not to mention, this must be like a full-time job worth of time for him).

Meant to say "respond" in my first sentence. I swear I'm a lawyer.

Should also mention that the Defendants can and likely will bring Summary Judgment Motions to have the claims thrown out of Court on the basis that they are frivolous and clearly have no chance of success.

This type of Motion is available to Defendants specifically to have dumb cases like these thrown out of Court early so that they don't waste everyone's time.

I guess amongst this guy's "health issues," you can add stupidity to the list. He won't get anything except angry ire from everyone that even sees this.

Unbelievable.

I really want to sue this guy for sueing WAY to much over really stupid reasons!

Can we get a picture of this Estavillo guy? I would really like to know what stupidity looks like.

His next goal is to Sue The World!!!!

Being as he has OCD, shouldn't he be happy that
quests take longer and longer to complete?

I hope he developes the illness of bat upside head syndrome.

I wonder when he will sue himself?

He'll sue himself if gets hurt while masturbating.

But he could also K-Y for not having some under the hand at that moment.

Someone will make a game where the goal is to hunt this guy down and beat him with a tire iron, and it will sell millions.

sounds like an easy half-life 2 mod to me.

someone, get on it ASAP.

He would enjoy that, then he could sue whoever made that too.

I got a better idea, how about we start a fundraiser for a free ride into space for this guy. One way of course.

well I might try to pull out some Dragon Age sidequest with the toolset.
I think it would really have all the support from the DAO community. Tho most likely that would end in a suit to EA.

You better watch out Joystiq. Next thing you know he will try to sue you for defamation.

And then sue the Internet for allowing users to mock him.

Then sue electricity for allowing power to these defamation murder boxes.

Next target....GOD (the real one)

Nebraska Senator Chambers did that back in 2007. At least his lawsuit was funny.

"LINCOLN, Neb. - The defendant in a state senator’s lawsuit is accused of causing untold death and horror and threatening to cause more still. He can be sued in Douglas County, the legislator claims, because He’s everywhere.

State Sen. Ernie Chambers sued God last week. Angered by another lawsuit he considers frivolous, Chambers says he’s trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody.

Chambers says in his lawsuit that God has made terrorist threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused “widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20827350/?GT1=10357

Well, that wasn't as crazy as the guy who sued the U.S. Government for FOUR QUADRILLION DOLLARS because they 'created a hurricane to destroy the people of New Orleans'...

It probably is only a matter of time before this guy sues God, for not making him perfect in the first place, giving him mental problems, which then had to be fixed by the EVIL video games.

Fuck you Chuck Norris... uhh God, for not making my life perfect!

By that logic, he could sue Santa for not bringing him what he asked for.

I found another case too back in law school about a guy suing Satan and his "minions". I wish I could remember the case number, it was a hilarious read.

At some point the court actually declared that they didn't have the jurisdiction to summon the "Prince of Darkness" or something like that.

Found it. God, I mean, Google knows all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_ex_rel._Gerald_Mayo_v._Satan_and_His_Staff

Hey I got an Idea, Lets sue all my favorite gaming companies with no understanding of the law! :) Its FULLPROOF!!!11!!

It's foolproof. I don't even know what fullproof could possibly mean.

IRREGARDLESS

Goddamit...
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Or you know: face palm is to good for him

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He is asking for it...

Really? It's not even remotely necessary when the topic picture is the SAME THING.

Where's the giant penis? That would pretty much sum up this guy, too.

estavillo = the chris crocker of gaming.

Hey! How dare you insult Chris Crocker like that!

He should look for a psychologist instead of lawyer, to fix his "relies on video games heavily" problem..

Then sue him for removing any 'reason' he has for his other lawsuits

This guy is an ass and he just abuses the legal system for personal fun. It's just embarrassing that our legal system is so broken that this man can continue to waste public funds and not be reigned in.

At the same time, it awesome that we can actually counter-sue this guy for all kinds of random excuses!

Jeez, if video games are the only source of happiness in this lunatics life you'd think he'd actually be somewhat grateful to the people who make them. Of course, that kind of thinking is too rational to apply to this guy.

That kind of thinking seems to be irrational even for regular gamers. You need only look at Zelda, Spyro the Dragon and Fallout fans ESPECIALLY (the most prominent I can think of off the top of my head, I'm sure there are far worse), who are some of the most ungrateful bastards the gaming community has ever seen. For the most part.

This guy must be the ultimate troll, but with money and influence.

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Activision Blizzard sued by ... yeah, it's the PSN guy

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