Yet more Hot Coffee litigation

By Games Industry.biz Published 7 February, 2006

Tedious people still bonkers about boring bonking.

Further lawsuits which were hinted at in Take-Two's recent SEC filing have begun to materialise, adding to the multiple legal wrangles stemming from the now infamous Hot Coffee scandal.

Take-Two stockholder John Fenninger has filed a new lawsuit against the company in New York's district court for "fraudulent scheme and course of business", accusing the publisher of insider trading and company mismanagement.

The new motion follows a slew of political and legal conflicts regarding hidden content in GTA: San Andreas which the company had initially denied responsibility for, claiming that the controversial content was nothing more than an unauthorised third-party modification and not the developer's original game code.

The ongoing legal battles aside, Take-Two's handling of the matter has caused considerable internal conflict, raising a number of questions over managerial disclosure of pertinent company information and sparking a fiery statement of accusatory comments from former board member Barbara A. Kaczynski, who left the company recently.

Fenninger's lawsuit is just one of several potential new legal actions against the firm, which were hinted at in the company's recent SEC filing, and accuses company executives - including CEO Paul Eibeler - of misleading the public and the SEC through non-disclosure of potentially damaging information regarding the controversial hidden game content. Fenninger maintains that the company's deliberate actions have left it open to the US ratings change that was enforced as a result of the scandal, as well as various lawsuits, including those from stockholders.

A trial date has yet to be set for the latest case, though its filing is likely to add further financial strain and more damage to the company's reputation as the Hot Coffee scandal continues to boil.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • symmetry #1 6 years ago

    *YAWN*

    Morning everyone :)

  • neon #2 6 years ago

    All this fuss over very little. Sounds to me like various individuals are simply looking for any excuse to extract some cash out of poor old Take Two.


    Edit: Thought about removing the word poor. Nah, leave it.
    Edited by 1 at 07/02/06 @ 09:12

  • Wrobel #3 6 years ago

    So do the Dev guys who thought it would be funny to put the hot coffee stuff in the game still work from Take Two?

  • trevd72 #4 6 years ago

    its all about the ability to make money from nothing. simple as that.

  • V0oD0o #5 6 years ago

    If people keep on with the litigation aimed at the company, eventually, they'll go bust, that means no more GTA, which I thinks is a bit sad. Either that or they'll decide it's not worth the effort producing new games with any originality and become just another games company creating the same tired old shit as all the other games companies.

    Some americans are wankers.

  • Psi #6 6 years ago

    has the coffee not gone cold yet?...

  • Zuiyo #7 6 years ago

    I think this coffee is out of date already.

  • Mr.Small #8 6 years ago

    Hold it. Hold it. Hold it.

    OBJECTION!

  • Feanor #9 6 years ago

    Take Two made a dumb mistake which cost their shareholders money so I say let them sue.

  • kangarootoo #10 6 years ago

    "Some americans are wankers."

    There are wankers everywhere don't forget. Lets not get xenophobic just because an idiot happens to hold a passport.

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #11 6 years ago

    kangarootoo: According to the US state department over three quarters of Americans don't own passports =o)

  • Genji #12 6 years ago

    "Either that or they'll decide it's not worth the effort producing new games with any originality and become just another games company creating the same tired old shit as all the other games companies."

    I'm sorry, but I don't see the new GTA games as being great leaps in originality over the previous installments. For me, at least, GTA is getting very tired.

    If people are going to be putting sex minigames into their products just for the sake of a little free controversy (read: publicity), then I will have very little sympathy for them when the people in power take notice.

    Not that they need my sympathy, anyway. These companies have a *lot* of money, and probably the best lawyers that this money can buy. I don't see these lawsuits having any sort of negative effect on Rockstar or Take Two in the forseeable future. GTA will be around for a long time to come.

    Please don't hurt me.