First King of Kong then King of Cheaters now King of Lawsuits?

[JWeinCom]

NightlyPoe said:

JWeinCom said:

Don't know if anyone's been following this, but it's an interesting topic for me as a law student.  Based on my admittedly limited legal knowledge (1 semester of tort law) there's no chance in hell this lawsuit succeeds.  To argue defamation, you generally have to show that the defamer either knowingly lied, or acted with "a reckless disregard for truth" and neither of those seem to be the case met.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a nationwide standard only for public figures and that individual states might have lower thresholds for non-public figures?

Though, in this case, Mitchell's lawyers were kind enough to label him, "the most visible of all video gamers," so I suppose the standard applies either way.

You're partially right.

There's no nationwide standard for defamation.  What counts will vary from state to state, but in most places it has to be knowingly false or "reckless" regardless of whether or not the person is a celebrity or not.

There is however generally an expectation that public figures will be commented on.  So in most cases, public figures do have less protection than public figures.

The thing is though that if you're suing you have to prove damages.  Like, say if I said to you right now that you cheat in video games.  I don't know if you do, so at the very least I am being reckless.  But, how exactly is that going to effect your life beyond minor annoyance? You couldn't sue me for defamation, because my comments didn't do anything.

That's why Billy Mitchell is highligting his visibility.  The cheating allegation is only really damaging to him because it's ruining his pseudo-celebrity status.  So, if he was just a rando, he would have even less of a case then he does now.

Last edited by JWeinCom - on 05 May 2020