Jack Thompson has struck again, this time suing the parent company of the popular gaming site Kotaku.
Thompson’s claim against Gawker Media apparently stem from Kotaku reader comments which he claims are threatening, and which he also alleges Kotaku and Gawker refused to remove.
The suit is actually an amendment to an action Thompson filed against the Florida Bar on March 13. Prior to this most recent amendment, on April 11 he amended the suit to include the members of the Florida Supreme Court.
Before filing the suit, Thompson had reported Kotaku to the Denver field office of the FBI, as well as the Denver Police Department. On the morning of April 25, he also contacted the US Attorney’s Office in New York, where Gawker is based. The nature of the response he received to these communications, if any, is unknown.
Thompson, a high-profile ambulance-chaser and paranoid conspiracy theorist, has spent the past several years “fighting” videogames and their makers. While his crusade generated significant concern in the industry during his heyday, his behavior over the years has become increasingly erratic, and in February 2007, the Florida Bar Association began disbarment proceedings against him.
On April 25, a Gawker attorney emailed Thompson, citing the Zeran vs. AOL precedent and writing, “It is clear from the context of these comments that they are hyperbole, and not an incitement to violence, imminent or otherwise.” The judge in the case, Paul C. Huck, threw out an earlier suit by Thompson against the Florida Bar in December 2006, citing what he called Thompson’s “wild accusations of a vast conspiracy.”
A brief comment from Kotaku, as well as a link to Thompson’s most recently-amended complaint, can be found here.
