FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

[Kailea]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

Well reading the OP, it appears they agree with the suits premise.

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Maybe I can counter sue the law firm bringing this suit on the basis that claiming 100,000 American FFXI players can't read or understand a manual they are guilty of slander as I sure as hell can read and understand a manual.

that's because a lot of them probably don't even play FFXI and don't know most of that is BS

[TheGrandMom]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

This is basically about the cheating. They are saying that SE didn't outline exactly what would happen when they got caught cheating and their accounts were suspended. They didn't realize that for the time of the suspension they would have to play fees and that it is against the law to do so. Then they got other people to chime in and say "I don't like this!" and "I don't like this!" and all that was tacked onto the lawsuit to make it beefier. It's just a bunch of crap and any knowledgeable MMO'er is laughing their asses off at them. Ms. Esther Leong isn't going to get a penny and neither are any of the other plaintiffs. If you feel like wasting your time, you can read the brief here:

http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/06/24/SquareEnix.pdf

[Jury Trial Demanded] *snickers*

[Mhurron]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

Actually, what will most likely happen is it will be settled out of court and each individual taking part in the class will get a $5 coupon for a SE title and the law firm will make out like bandits.

This is the usual outcome for bullshit like this and is why 'disreputable' firms are so quick to jump on things intelligent people know are stupid.

/Still think they should be counter sued for calling every NA player a moron.

[Empedocles]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

I wanna give these lawyers a ring.... think they'll allow collect?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

Don't bother, just contact them via their website:

Makarem.com

Ya Mhurron thats how it usually goes. I'm currently involved in a lawsuit with a very large well known corporation and I'll be lucky if I get enough out of it to cover 1 yr of my medical bills. (And before anyone jumps on me, I received serious injuries from their negligence so its not a frivolous lawsuit.)

[Kaziel0]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

As for where they got the 100,000 players, it's because the plaintiff is sueing Square Enix on our behalf... please note starting on line 25 of page 4:

12. Plaintiff brings this action as a class action pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 on behalf of herself and the following Class:
All persons who purchased or played the online game four years prior to the filing of this lawsuit to the present. Expressly excluded from the Class are Defendants and their subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, and employees.
13. Certification of the Class is appropriate to Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 23(a). The potential number of Class Members as defined is so numerous that a joinder of all members would be unfeasible and impactical. The disposition of their claims through this class action will benefit both the parties and the Court. The number of class members is unknown at this time, however it is estimated that the Class will number over 100,000. The identity of such membership can readily be ascertained from Defendants' online game database.

Yeah, getting our okay would be unfeasible becuase the majority of the playerbase would be like "What the hell are you talking about. Not signing that PoS!"

IANAL, but I'd guess that they asked for a trial by jury to add more legitimacy to the lawsuit. Would be fishy if they just filed it for themselves and not the other couple hundred thousand other players.

I'll talk to my cousin about this, who is a business lawyer, to see what she expects to come of this. If she guesses that it will go to court and not be settled outside, I'll see what we (as part of the Class that this suit is being filed for) can do to have it thrown out of court because with the exception of point V (the one saying "Charges while the online game is suspended" which is more than likely to be true), they are all bull..., and one of them is an outright lie (the one about interest charges for late payment).

Also, the decision to have this be a trial by jury instead of one just done by the judge is potentially a smart move. If they don't get any MMO players (which the plaintiff's lawyers could probably weed out if they were smart), they could paint Square Enix as the big bad guys and the average person wouldn't know any different.

[Malacite]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

I'll say it again;

[Yellow Mage]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

I'll say it again;

Here you go:

..........................

[Raydeus]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/06/24/SquareEnix.pdf

If that's their lawsuit they would need to bribe a judge or get lucky and get a completely retarded one for this to fly.



Mhurron is right, players in the US should sue those morons for missrepresentation and slander.

SE's new online service slogan: "RTFM"

[Durahansolo]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

SE's new online service slogan: "RTFM"

*A note falls out of a box of cereal*

"Free 5,000,000 Lawsuit for 3....Now who should I sue?...."

I wonder if any of the peeps involved work for Brogaem...

[Jarre]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

I would like to see their justification for $5m as a suing figure for a start.

[Elwynn]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

Maybe we should start flooding them with "remove me from the class" mails.

I've only been playing for a little over a year, but I'm pretty sure I purchased it more than four years ago. (PS2 HD)

[wrongfeifong]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

i won't be too surprise if they win. Since this is pretty new...suing a MMORPG... and judges don't usually play games to understand these stuff.

[Gyotsha]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

No, most judges probably don't know a thing about MMORPGs, but the defendants do. They will, without a doubt, be able to show evidence that contradicts most, if not all of points in the lawsuit.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: FFXI and Square Enix sued! 5 million lawsuit! FFXI in trouble?

It has nothing to do with knowing how to play a game. The judge compares the facts and the evidence only and then decides whether its worth going to court over. If they make it past the preliminary hearing then there would be a jury trial since they asked for one. Usually its settled out of court before then.

They have 3 counts that they are being charged with. The code for the first one states "unfair competition shall mean and
include any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising". The brief also states "[I]The material false advertising, undisclosed business practices, and concealment described in this Complaint are substantial and were directed to all members of the Class with the purpose and intent of inducing members of the Class to purchase and play the online game.

The next count covers false advertising and generally misleading players by not fully disclosing their business practices. "Defendants disseminated (widely spread) or caused to be disseminated (widely spread) the materially untrue and misleading advertising, knowingly engaged in undisclosed business practices, and/or knowingly omitted or concealed the material information from advertising described in this Complaint with the intent to directly or indirectly induce Plantiff and other members of the Class to purchase and play the online games." "When Defendants disseminated (widely spread) the advertising described herein, they concealed or omitted to certain critical information about the online games and their business practices with respect to the online games...

The third count is about "unjust enrichment" which basically means that SE lined their pockets with money that was obtained illegally by breaking the laws that are stated in the lawsuit. So they want a money judgment against the company with compensation to be paid out. "As a direct and proximate result of the misconduct and unfair and undisclosed business practices set forth above, Defendants have been unjustly enriched."

So the first two are the ones they need to prove the most. (It's obvious that SE charges for the game so if they prove either of the first two then the third is a no brainer.) They need to prove that they falsely represented their business practices. So basically that they did something like say "Our game is $12.95 a month" but then you were charged $12.95 plus a $2.00 processing fee every month. If they didn't disclose to you that there was a processing fee but have been charging you it then they falsely represented how much the game actually cost to play.

The second one states that they knowingly mislead people. I think they are trying to press on that one that SE knowingly concealed some of the rules/consequences. Now all they need to do is prove one of the two counts and then the 3rd count comes into play and thats compensation for the Plaintiffs discomfort, court costs, attorney fees, etc.

Now while it sounds like they are making good points, every time you sign in you are agreeing to the rules that are available to you via POL. They even email you and let you know when they make changes to them. SE has wonderful lawyers here that made sure to cover their ass when those rules were translated for the US. I just can not see them missing something as HUGE as this and if they had I'm sure someone else would have figured it out by now and already sued them.