Richard Meyer v. Mark Waid (2018)

[DragoonSierra]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7cB2elw7_1E
EDIT:
+$1,747 in the last 24hours:
View attachment 1148021

65 Patrons since relaunching his Patreon 7hours ago:
View attachment 1148029

I wonder if Vics GFM will tick up like this if it gets back from appeals?

 

[5t3n0g0ph3r]

I wonder if Vics GFM will tick up like this if it gets back from appeals?

Lulls drain drama excitement. When something of note happens, interest will be rejuvenated.
Hopefully, Meyer will get more support as this goes on.

 

[DragoonSierra]

BTW his patreon is up to $1,196 and his GFM is at $141,944

Alternatively Mark Waids GFM got one $25 donation an hour ago. Before that his last donation was for $25 a whole 25 days ago

 

[mindlessobserver]

It's okay. Waid has lots of man baby toys he can flog to pay his lawyers for the silly delaying tactics. wasting an entire year arguing over jurisdiction might have worked against somebody without significant backing but in this case people will pay to see Waid get his day in court. It was a questionable strategy all along considering how meyer was able to raise so much money to get things started. The idea that he could not raise another 100k 2 years later is absurd.

 

[Mola Ram]

It's okay. Waid has lots of man baby toys he can flog to pay his lawyers for the silly delaying tactics. wasting an entire year arguing over jurisdiction might have worked against somebody without significant backing but in this case people will pay to see Waid get his day in court. It was a questionable strategy all along considering how meyer was able to raise so much money to get things started. The idea that he could not raise another 100k 2 years later is absurd.

It suggests, as Ya Boi Zack pointed out in his video, that Waid has used similar tactics in the past quite successfully.

 

[DragoonSierra]

It suggests, as Ya Boi Zack pointed out in his video, that Waid has used similar tactics in the past quite successfully.

Has Waid been involved in other lawsuits?

 

[AnOminous]

Has Waid been involved in other lawsuits?

He's been involved in other screaming manbaby tantrums.

 

[Mola Ram]

Has Waid been involved in other lawsuits?

Not to my knowledge, but his bullying (and as @AnOminous says, his incredible tantrums) are both well known in the industry. I could easily see him shutting someone up with the mere threat of a lawsuit and his comparatively large piles of cash to keep it going forever.

 

[mindlessobserver]

I seem to remember it being mentioned that people have threatened to sue Waid in the past, his former comic book shop co-owners I think, and he basically told them he would bury them in spurious motions and bankrupt them before they ever saw a court room.

 

[MirrorNoir]

With the social media shitfest around this case can he really settle and not lose support from his peers? He's also stubborn and dumb, I hope he tries to bang this out in court, continuing his brilliant strategy of attempting to bleed Meyer out despite having similar or worse coffers.

Depends on several things:

IF it get to the point where he has to settle, Zaid will probably push the idea of paying Richard off and a little extra on top of that in exchange for basically forcing Richard to sign a gag order/NDA agreement banning him from ever talking about Waid, the case, how much he got, or how Waid blood libeled him along with Waid not admitting any fault to what he did.

That way, Waid effectively silences Richard, while at the same time he can play the victim. He can spew lies about the case along the variety of "Richard was a greedy shithead and I just wanted to make it go away because "I was THIS close to bankruptcy" and told my lawyer to throw a number at him and he took it, because was all about extortion on Richard's part." to the comic press and play martyr and pretend to be broke, so he can then further manipulate Marvel into giving him more work. And Richard won't be able to rebut any of Waid's new slander/libel because of the NDA clause.

Alternatively, Zaid forces Waid to settle AND forces Waid to agree to a NDA/gag order meaning he can't talk about the case or slander/libel Richard ever again. Possibly with Waid admitting guilt as part of the settlement, though Waid is such an asshole that I can see him paying extra just to avoid admitting guilt. Publicly, Waid would refuse to talk about the case, siting the NDA and weasel word claim that "the settlement not including Waid admitting guilt" as a way of saying "I'm innocent but just wanted to make the thing go away" and probably have his friends in the press spin his excuses and lies ("Richard bullied Waid into settling", "Hate monger bullies comic pro into cash payoff") along with pushing hard that by not admitting guilt, Waid technically is "innocent" and that it was a case of evil abusing the legal system to force an "innocent man" out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But internally, Waid will probably claim poverty to justify caving and point out that by not admitting guilt, he "won". And play the "poverty" card to get work and use his work to shit on Richard and basically bait him into breaking the NDA to recoup any money he paid out.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Meyers last video seemed to imply he would only settle for Waid publicly doing the walk of shame. In lifes little ironies, that seems to be all Meyer wants. An apology and admission of guilt. But Waid seems to be the kind of person who just cannot admit he did wrong. Three little words, "I am sorry", could make this go away. If it goes to trial though, Waid risks everything. I wonder how much money Mark Waid values his pride at.

 

[Gehenna]

Meyers last video seemed to imply he would only settle for Waid publicly doing the walk of shame. In lifes little ironies, that seems to be all Meyer wants. An apology and admission of guilt. But Waid seems to be the kind of person who just cannot admit he did wrong. Three little words, "I am sorry", could make this go away. If it goes to trial though, Waid risks everything. I wonder how much money Mark Waid values his pride at.

Weid has built his career, presence, and life on who he is. Every single fundamental principle of Weid's existence assumes his own rightness. There is not an amount in the world that would be valued higher than his pride.

 

[Binary Code]

Meyers last video seemed to imply he would only settle for Waid publicly doing the walk of shame. In lifes little ironies, that seems to be all Meyer wants. An apology and admission of guilt. But Waid seems to be the kind of person who just cannot admit he did wrong. Three little words, "I am sorry", could make this go away. If it goes to trial though, Waid risks everything. I wonder how much money Mark Waid values his pride at.

I take what you say Mindless, but compared to what Mirror points out, There's going to NDA's on a Settlement. (Usually)

I just don't see it that way, but i've been wrong in the past, and will continue to get things wrong. So if you have watched Ya Boi's videos you have seen that his biggest bitch is being labeled a White Supremacist. Shit like that can be held against you when you are looking to employment, loans, HOA, Contracts, all kinds of shit. We all know it's a trash term and even Waid acknowledges this in his depositions. But that shit can follow you around and have other RL implications. So IMO Zack needs to tap that ass.

Not only need you a Public declaration by a Court or an admission by Waid that that was bullshit, along with a fat pile of cash. In mind I was trying to come up with a Waid Settlement Condition and I was like well it's probably $150k. Public Statements by Waid that Meyer is not a White Supremacist and a Misogynist.

So let's work backword forward on the math for damages. What's out metric? Is it My Hero Magademia, Black Hops, Rags?

Whats the metrics on Jawbreakers and GOD King. What potential did Waid interfere with? They made big money on IGG, but what would they make in Comics Shops. That's a total Unknown

 

[mindlessobserver]

I take what you say Mindless, but compared to what Mirror points out, There's going to NDA's on a Settlement. (Usually)

I just don't see it that way, but i've been wrong in the past, and will continue to get things wrong. So if you have watched Ya Boi's videos you have seen that his biggest bitch is being labeled a White Supremacist. Shit like that can be held against you when you are looking to employment, loans, HOA, Contracts, all kinds of shit. We all know it's a trash term and even Waid acknowledges this in his depositions. But that shit can follow you around and have other RL implications. So IMO Zack needs to tap that ass.

Not only need you a Public declaration by a Court or an admission by Waid that that was bullshit, along with a fat pile of cash. In mind I was trying to come up with a Waid Settlement Condition and I was like well it's probably $150k. Public Statements by Waid that Meyer is not a White Supremacist and a Misogynist.

So let's work backword forward on the math for damages. What's out metric? Is it My Hero Magademia, Black Hops, Rags?

Waids Defamation has forced Meyer to self publish all his books. Not too up and up on all the financials, but based solely on the raw numbers I am just gonna sketch this. Meyer can make a good faith argument that Waid has incurred an immediate cost of 50,000 dollars from torpedoing the Antarctic Press contract for the original jaw breakers by forcing him to do everything himself. After that there is the matter of calculating potential opportunity costs caused by economic benefits that never would have been due to the actions of waid. That is hard to argue, but being generous lets just say its another 50,000 dollars. Making it 100,000 dollars even cuz even numbers are nice. There is strong evidence that the damage is ongoing, so we would want to argue for another 5 years of recurring damage. So for 6 years damage total we get to 600,000 dollars. He also forced Meyer to raise 140,000 dollars to fight the legal case which is itself financial harm. Rounding the difference, we have a total monetary damage of 750,000 dollars.

After that we would want to factor in punitive damages. In that Waid acted maliciously, and the US Government has a compelling interest to punish him as an example to others. So we would multiply the found damages by three and add them on top. Which means all together Waids liability would be $3,000,000.

And this is being generous to Waid. Lets not forget that a small town Bakery dealing with a similar situation in Ohio got a judgement award of $44,000,000. All of this would be argued during the damages phase. If it gets to that point though I would be shocked if Waid doesn't end up saddled with a million dollar judgement at the minimum. This is the other side of the coin that leads to settlements. If a defendant loses a case like this, they lose BIG.

 

[damian]

Waids Defamation has forced Meyer to self publish all his books. Not too up and up on all the financials, but based solely on the raw numbers I am just gonna sketch this. Meyer can make a good faith argument that Waid has incurred an immediate cost of 50,000 dollars from torpedoing the Antarctic Press contract for the original jaw breakers by forcing him to do everything himself. After that there is the matter of calculating potential opportunity costs caused by economic benefits that never would have been due to the actions of waid. That is hard to argue, but being generous lets just say its another 50,000 dollars. Making it 100,000 dollars even cuz even numbers are nice. There is strong evidence that the damage is ongoing, so we would want to argue for another 5 years of recurring damage. So for 6 years damage total we get to 600,000 dollars. He also forced Meyer to raise 140,000 dollars to fight the legal case which is itself financial harm. Rounding the difference, we have a total monetary damage of 750,000 dollars.

After that we would want to factor in punitive damages. In that Waid acted maliciously, and the US Government has a compelling interest to punish him as an example to others. So we would multiply the found damages by three and add them on top. Which means all together Waids liability would be $3,000,000.

And this is being generous to Waid. Lets not forget that a small town Bakery dealing with a similar situation in Ohio got a judgement award of $44,000,000. All of this would be argued during the damages phase. If it gets to that point though I would be shocked if Waid doesn't end up saddled with a million dollar judgement at the minimum. This is the other side of the coin that leads to settlements. If a defendant loses a case like this, they lose BIG.

As much as that estimate would amuse me, Waid isn't going to have to pay out in the millions. At most maybe around $200K, if we’re not being wishful.

 

[5t3n0g0ph3r]

As much as that estimate would amuse me, Waid isn't going to have to pay out in the millions. At most maybe around $200K, if we’re not being wishful.

I would argue that Waid has to pay what would have been the price of production for Jawbreakers: Lost Souls had the contract not have been breached.
Meyer could use the prices he had to pay for production himself as a factor.
Also, do we know how many copies of Jawbreakers were set to be in Antarctic Press' stores?

 

[I'm not a Robot]

Order granting defendant's motion to extend the deadline to file a TCPA motion.

 

[KingofNothing]

Whats the metrics on Jawbreakers and GOD King. What potential did Waid interfere with? They made big money on IGG, but what would they make in Comics Shops. That's a total Unknown

He had 10,619 backers for Lost Souls at $404,913 and 6,394 backers for GØD-K1NG at $247,417. Part of the damages argument would be making the claim that he would have gotten even more sales than that from being in stores. Part of the reason it got so high is because Waid fucked with Ya Boi, but the books would have been cheaper if the deal went through, so hey, maybe more sales.

Also, do we know how many copies of Jawbreakers were set to be in Antarctic Press' stores?

I don't think so, but if it wasn't said at anytime between Richard and the Dunn Brothers when they were making the deal which would be a little odd if numbers weren't tossed around, the Dunn Brothers could easily give a starting number they had in mind if they're brought in again.

 

[DragoonSierra]

Depends on several things:

IF it get to the point where he has to settle, Zaid will probably push the idea of paying Richard off and a little extra on top of that in exchange for basically forcing Richard to sign a gag order/NDA agreement banning him from ever talking about Waid, the case, how much he got, or how Waid blood libeled him along with Waid not admitting any fault to what he did.

That way, Waid effectively silences Richard, while at the same time he can play the victim. He can spew lies about the case along the variety of "Richard was a greedy shithead and I just wanted to make it go away because "I was THIS close to bankruptcy" and told my lawyer to throw a number at him and he took it, because was all about extortion on Richard's part." to the comic press and play martyr and pretend to be broke, so he can then further manipulate Marvel into giving him more work. And Richard won't be able to rebut any of Waid's new slander/libel because of the NDA clause.

Alternatively, Zaid forces Waid to settle AND forces Waid to agree to a NDA/gag order meaning he can't talk about the case or slander/libel Richard ever again. Possibly with Waid admitting guilt as part of the settlement, though Waid is such an asshole that I can see him paying extra just to avoid admitting guilt. Publicly, Waid would refuse to talk about the case, siting the NDA and weasel word claim that "the settlement not including Waid admitting guilt" as a way of saying "I'm innocent but just wanted to make the thing go away" and probably have his friends in the press spin his excuses and lies ("Richard bullied Waid into settling", "Hate monger bullies comic pro into cash payoff") along with pushing hard that by not admitting guilt, Waid technically is "innocent" and that it was a case of evil abusing the legal system to force an "innocent man" out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But internally, Waid will probably claim poverty to justify caving and point out that by not admitting guilt, he "won". And play the "poverty" card to get work and use his work to shit on Richard and basically bait him into breaking the NDA to recoup any money he paid out.

Meyer needs to demand a retraction as part of any settlement.

Thing is any of the comicsgate hangers on could spin a retraction as "Richard bullied Waid into settling"and just point to the GFM as proof. Waid could come out looking good depending on whether the woke comics crowd decides to eat its own or go into complete denial. Or hell they could do both. That would be even funnier.

I suppose it depends how much Waid prostrates himself and how much money and clout they think they can syphon from him.

Waids Defamation has forced Meyer to self publish all his books. Not too up and up on all the financials, but based solely on the raw numbers I am just gonna sketch this. Meyer can make a good faith argument that Waid has incurred an immediate cost of 50,000 dollars from torpedoing the Antarctic Press contract for the original jaw breakers by forcing him to do everything himself. After that there is the matter of calculating potential opportunity costs caused by economic benefits that never would have been due to the actions of waid. That is hard to argue, but being generous lets just say its another 50,000 dollars. Making it 100,000 dollars even cuz even numbers are nice. There is strong evidence that the damage is ongoing, so we would want to argue for another 5 years of recurring damage. So for 6 years damage total we get to 600,000 dollars. He also forced Meyer to raise 140,000 dollars to fight the legal case which is itself financial harm. Rounding the difference, we have a total monetary damage of 750,000 dollars.

After that we would want to factor in punitive damages. In that Waid acted maliciously, and the US Government has a compelling interest to punish him as an example to others. So we would multiply the found damages by three and add them on top. Which means all together Waids liability would be $3,000,000.

And this is being generous to Waid. Lets not forget that a small town Bakery dealing with a similar situation in Ohio got a judgement award of $44,000,000. All of this would be argued during the damages phase. If it gets to that point though I would be shocked if Waid doesn't end up saddled with a million dollar judgement at the minimum. This is the other side of the coin that leads to settlements. If a defendant loses a case like this, they lose BIG.

Getting testimony from the Dunns that they would have continued working with him if Jawbreakers had done well will help with the opportunity cost. And showing them the IGG numbers might make them agree with that. They missed out on those.

 

[Next Task]

Meyer needs to demand a retraction as part of any settlement.

That's likely the sincere wish of anyone who is watching this for the salt, or hoping for someone as unpleasant as Waid to get BTFO for his arrogance.

It also makes sense, because even without the defamation, the TI is based on maligning his character. A lack of retraction is very easily spun as Waid being still in the right morally, especially by Waid himself.

My presumption is that Meyer knows this, and knows that if he doesn't get a legally binding retraction and commitment from Waid, that there's every chance he'd do it again, just using proxies next time. And with the GFM, he hopefully has the resources to make this a point rather than having to accept a lesser deal just to recoup costs.

It seems obvious, to me at least, that a full retraction and admission of guilt is the only outcome that gives a chance of Waid and his cronies learning anything from this and having to modify their behaviour because of it. I'm pretty certain Waid will never admit to himself that he's done anything wrong. But if it takes burning him with a hot stove of embarrassment and loss of pride to get him to not do this again, to encourage others to not do this again, then I hope that Meyer will force it.

And I don't know as much about him as others in this thread, but I think he will.