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Jimquisition: When Jim Sterling Was Sued For $10 Million By Digital Homicide

I gotta give Jim props for being willing to have this case dismissed with prejudice and not destroying this guy in court. I don't now if I would have made the same decision if I was in the same circumstances.

Amen to that. I would have showed no mercy on the brothers. This would have wasted my time and money for BS, not to imagine the stress.

You let them get away with it Jim. But on the other hand, Digital Homicide suicide themselves last year so...
 

DrArchon

Member
Loved that bit going over what Jim and DigiHom accomplished in 2016 when Jim wasn't talking about them. Really goes to show that James Romine's worst enemy really was... James Romine, and I'm sure that if Jim had never happened to cover The Slaughtering Grounds, Romine would've still ended up tanking his career.
 

SheHateMe

Member
I gotta give Jim props for being willing to have this case dismissed with prejudice and not destroying this guy in court. I don't now if I would have made the same decision if I was in the same circumstances.

That's what makes the last 3 minutes of the video so important.

Jim went light on DH so he can get this off his chest without repercussions. The next group will not get off so easily.

This was more of a warning to anyone else than catharsis, although it was a great release.
 
I worry that someone might try another lawsuit claiming they are the "Number One Boglin Boy". I would never have had these horrible thoughts if it wasn't for this lawsuit; now I will believe anything is possible.
 

LiK

Member
Wow, that Digital Homicide guy is absolutely delusional and really is one of the biggest idiots out there. Why would anyone wanna do business with him after all this. I'm glad this is all over.
 

Bulby

Member
I know nothing about law.

Can someone explain why Jim HAD to defend himself against this case.

It was clear to everyone that it was complete and utter bullshit. But is he obligated to defend himself?

It seems unfair that you have to be dragged into something like this, pay tens of thousands of dollars to defend yourself, just because someone accused you, regardless of the validity of the claim.
 

Gattsu25

Banned
I know nothing about law.

Can someone explain why Jim HAD to defend himself against this case.

It was clear to everyone that it was complete and utter bullshit. But is he obligated to defend himself?

It seems unfair that you have to be dragged into something like this, pay tens of thousands of dollars to defend yourself, just because someone accused you, regardless of the validity of the claim.

Welcome to the American civil justice system.
 

LiK

Member
I know nothing about law.

Can someone explain why Jim HAD to defend himself against this case.

It was clear to everyone that it was complete and utter bullshit. But is he obligated to defend himself?

It seems unfair that you have to be dragged into something like this, pay tens of thousands of dollars to defend yourself, just because someone accused you, regardless of the validity of the claim.

That's the problem with frivilous lawsuits.
 

Calen

Member
I know nothing about law.

Can someone explain why Jim HAD to defend himself against this case.

It was clear to everyone that it was complete and utter bullshit. But is he obligated to defend himself?

It seems unfair that you have to be dragged into something like this, pay tens of thousands of dollars to defend yourself, just because someone accused you, regardless of the validity of the claim.

If someone sues you and you don't respond, usually the court renders default judgement against you if there's even the barest suggestion that their lawsuit has merit. There's theoretically ways to fix that after it happens, but they're probably as expensive as defending yourself in the first place. Or more so; google 'craigslist printer lawsuit' to see what I mean.

It sucks, but I guess otherwise people could get out of any civil suit like this by just ignoring it for long enough.
 

mhayes86

Member
I only managed to watch the first 28 minutes this morning. I recently got my wife hooked on Jim's videos, so we had to stop in order to go to work and will finish it tonight. Amazing video so far, and it's interesting to finally hear the details of this whole ordeal.

Glad it's finally over, Jim, you lovely bastard.
 

Bulby

Member
If someone sues you and you don't respond, usually the court renders default judgement against you if there's even the barest suggestion that their lawsuit has merit. There's theoretically ways to fix that after it happens, but they're probably as expensive as defending yourself in the first place. Or more so; google 'craigslist printer lawsuit' to see what I mean.

It sucks, but I guess otherwise people could get out of any civil suit like this by just ignoring it for long enough.

I see.

It seems like in a case like this, where the plaintiff is representing himself, they should have to pay some kind of fee for a qualified lawyer to actually look over and see if its deemed worthy.

I dont know, just a crazy system.
 

ghostjoke

Banned
That was exhausting just to watch. I can't imagine actually have to deal with it for a year (2 if you include the pre-trial stuff). I really hope this sets some precedents for the next time some ass chances their arm and a drawn out mess can be avoided. Romine's entire plan seems to have been hurt Jim (or maybe I'm giving him too much credit, Hanlon's Razor and all that), but the moves he made are that of someone with nothing to lose and is just trying to scrap together funds to keep the shitshow going.

Good to see that despite all of this it's been a good year for the Jim.

Also, every time Jim mentioned his lawyer, I pictured him and an alt-timeline TotalBiscuit sat around a pile of documents wondering wtf any of them mean.
 
gained a ton of my respect this man did.

he's made a fan of me. before i kinda knew about his stuff but didnt really watch it but I try and catch his new videos whenever i can. Keep it up Jim.
 

Floody

Member
Just watched it and I'm amazed at how deluded and petty DH were. Happy it's all over for Jim and they'll waste no more of his time or money.

Also Jazz Born Depressed is soo good.
 

Hylian7

Member
invoker-gdlk.gif


Congrats Jim! And great video!

Glad you're finally free from this shit. My fiance will enjoy watching the video later as well, and she barely cares about video games but has been interested in this whole case and enjoys stuff like your podcast.
 

Kthulhu

Member
Halfway through the video, but here are my thoughts so far.

Representing himself in court.

MFW:

95a5b3e60be103fdd89b9c9f6f148ded.gif



Dude fucking bumped the charges up by 2 mil. Bruh are you stupid?
 
This was the second most hilariously pathetic lawsuit saga in video game history after the Tim Langdell thing. Good job standing up to those idiots and pushing another hustler out of the industry.
 
What happened with that?

Tim Langdell got a trademark on the word "Edge" as it related to video games, but instead of doing anything with it he just trolled anyone who used the word.

Then EA came out with Mirror's Edge, and Langdell tried to sue EA.

That didn't go very well for Langdell.
 
After I watched this beautiful, beautiful video, I sat back, took a drag on my cigarette, and thought to myself that this is Jim's magnum opus, and he will never, ever be able to create something like this again.

Then I realized the Nintendo Switch comes out on Friday.
 
Jim at the end of that video, I felt for you, just happy this nonsense was over.
Hopefully making this episode was a great catharsis for you!

And those document drawings were hilarious.
 

RedZaraki

Banned
Part of me wishes Jim had just counter-sued and make the guy pay for the legal fees.

He'd be wage-garnished for the next several years.
 
The entire thing was insane, but this bit right here just left me speechless:
On September 25th 2015 the defendant tweeted: "According to the email, this ECC Games is pursuing legal action against Digital Homicide for using its name. Not enough popcorn on Earth."

I did tweet that, I'm not sure how that's libel. They seem to think it's because I'm getting enjoyment from the situation, which I was, because it was a fucking farce.

My lawyer countered this actually, by claiming that we can't prove whether or not there's enough popcorn on Earth.

Which we can't, I mean that's basically the allegation here, they're saying Jim said there's not enough popcorn on Earth, so we've fired back by saying: "Prove it."

Holy shit.
 

MilkyJoe

Member
I wouldn't listen to it if driving. It will probably bring about casual road rage lol.

Love the Ace Attorney music in the background!

Par la train, Mon amie.

And it was glorious.

Anyone else see a spunking cock drawn on the document? Or was that just my dirty mind...
 
Part of me wishes Jim had just counter-sued and make the guy pay for the legal fees.

He'd be wage-garnished for the next several years.

Problem is he'd have to also pay for that counter-suit.

According to Jim in the comments:

The cost in doing so would be throwing good money after bad. I could no more get my legal fees back from Romine than Romine could get $15million from me.

The energy and time spent doing so would be better spent continuing to produce and improve my content. Unlike Digital Homicide, I try not to waste work hours pursuing grudges.

This "settlement" was as much pragmatism as lenience. I'm not that good a person. A continuation of vindictiveness would lead to pyrrhic results at best.

I meant what I said when I stated I couldn't hurt James more than he's hurt himself, and I do not care enough to want to try. There have been times over this past year where I was angry enough to want to, where I desired to let this play out just to officially destroy the arguments, send a message, and demand non-monetary compensation (I'm serious in my offer for the Digital Homicide brand name, but I'm not paying over three figures for it). Now it's over, however, I just don't feel it. This whole thing ended rather sadly, and the desire for merciless revenge just isn't there.

Honestly - and I am not saying this to be insulting - I think the Romines got in over their head and got frightened. I would have been as well. But then I'm looking at two guys who I think are scared, and there's nothing to be gained from kicking people who are worried like that. This is also why I'm stopping my coverage of the lawsuit at this video, instead of the more extravagant and extended verbal kicking I'd dreamed about while at my angriest. I have folders of content collected over the past year that I hope I won't ever need to touch.

I've said before that I want the Romines to become good videogame developers. I would still like to see that. I enjoy a good redemption story, and I'd be the first to praise anything they made that was genuinely good.

All this said, however, I certainly do not forgive James Romine for this lawsuit and I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it. It'd take more than an apology for me to truly be "classy" and accept a real peace. My "classiness" extends to resetting the clock on my opinion of their work, should their work ever be notable enough to cross my desk again.
 

Elandyll

Banned
Halfway through the video, but here are my thoughts so far.

Representing himself in court.

MFW:

95a5b3e60be103fdd89b9c9f6f148ded.gif



Dude fucking bumped the charges up by 2 mil. Bruh are you stupid?
I laughed at the bumps to 12 and then 15m.
Reminded me of "the wall just got 10 feet higher" tbh.

I can only hope that the Orange guy's Presidency only ends prematurely as well as Romine's attempt at being a legit developper.
Well, without the US getting bankrupted in the process of course, if possible.
 
I just realized Jim goofed by not throwing the document into the air and swatting it with the Saints Row dildo bat, or at least smacking it off his lectern with it.

Or would that have been too obvious?
 
That was one hell of a watch. Ridiculous how DH allowed this thing to snowball into a dumpster fire. At least they got their comeuppance due to their own hubris and incompetence.

Stay winning, "Jim-Fucking-Sterlingson."
 

bender

What time is it?
Legal costs are really a pain. H3H3 seems more complicated, but anyway:

7vKLJfr.jpg

This is related to my curiosity on this situation that is none of my business. I'd imagine Jim had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars dealing with over a 2.5 year period which is frighting.

Sorry, Jim. Glad this is behind you though.
 

Lamptramp

Member
Jim, was ownership of "Jim Fucking Sterling Son" ever discussed?

That was what I was going to ask - I'm amazed, AMAZED, that he didn't think to put that in 'the document'.

I'm not 100% sure but I'm pretty sure its referred to in the original document in as a throwaway fashion along the lines of;

"Defendant also continues to refer to themselves as 'Jim Fucking Sterling son' a nom de guerre first coined by XXX Romine"

Though that's purely from memory and maybe inaccurate.


[edit] Had a quick browse in the original court documents and can't see a reference, so I'm completely wrong, apologies. I was sure I'd read something along those lines.
 
I'm a little sad it's all over. Delighted for Jim that this horseshit is done with of course but it's been a very entertaining journey.
 
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