GTA lawsuit can go ahead

By Ellie Gibson Published 16 December, 2005

Says judge. Thompson happy.

An Alabama judge has denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed against Take-Two by the families of two police officers and a dispatcher killed by a Grand Theft Auto-playing teenager.

Judge James Moore's decision to let the case go to trial will come as a blow to the defendants, following an earlier victory when notorious anti-videogame campaigner and lawyer Jack Thompson withdrew from the case. Judge Moore also revoked Thompson's right to practice law in the state.

The lawsuit, which names Sony, Rockstar, Wal-Mart and GameStop alongside Take-Two, was filed in February 2005. According to a statement issued by Thompson, the plaintiffs are seeking "hundreds of millions of dollars" in damages, and Moore's latest decision means "the way is now clear" for a jury trial.

Thompson claims that he wrote to Take-Two some years ago to warn them that Grand Theft Auto games were "virtual reality killing simulators" that would cause teenagers to commit murder. According to Thompson, the fact that the company ignored the warnings makes them liable for "huge punitive damages". Thompson also believes that although he is no longer acting as a lawyer for the plaintiffs, he will "likely be a witness in the case."

"One of the purposes of the Alabama case, which is expected to be tried in 2006, is to stop the sale of these games to kids, which is in fact the law in Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand," Thompson stated.

"The way is now clear for plaintiffs to wade through defendants’ files regarding what they knew and when they knew it about the danger to public safety posed by these murder simulation games."

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (49) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • penhalion #1 6 years ago

    I guess Take Two were better off when Thompson was on the case. Better the fool you know!

  • #2 6 years ago

    Every time I listen to that eejit Thompson he makes me sick. He's so hate filled, and his arguments don't make an ounce of sense... He's the symbol (for me) of what's wrong with the law!!!

  • captbirdseye #3 6 years ago

    someone really should put this guy out of his misery thought we had heard the last of him after the penny arcade incident where they totally embarassed him. T

    "thompson claims that he wrote to Take-Two some years ago to warn them that Grand Theft Auto games were "virtual reality killing simulators"

    LOL had to laugh at that tho

  • kangarootoo #4 6 years ago

    "The way is now clear for plaintiffs to wade through defendants’ files regarding what they knew and when they knew it about the danger to public safety posed by these murder simulation games"

    Probably no bad thing in that particular instance, as proper examination of "what Take Two knew about the danger to public safety" will likely reveal they actually knew nothing of the sort.

    Still, its a very expensive way for Take Two to point out the obvious.

  • Fat-Boy #5 6 years ago

    At the risk of sounding pro-Jackster, isn't his aim in this case to stop children buying this game, something which, as it says in the articel, we already have in the UK amongst other countries. Surely that's a fairly sensible idea?

  • kangarootoo #6 6 years ago

    p.s. I like his use of the term "hundreds of millions of dollars". It really strikes me that he hasn't thought that much about it all. Does he actually think Take Two have that much money.

  • jack_klugman #7 6 years ago

    It's a fair enough aim - Grand Theft Auto is a title for adults only. It's content is fundementally unsuitable for minors and there should be national laws controlling its sale.

  • jack_klugman #8 6 years ago

    The damages of course should be taken from those responsible for failing to introduce the appropriate legislation preventing this game being sold. That is fundementally not a responsibility of those who design, manufacture or distribute the games.

  • #9 6 years ago

    Fat boy, don't these games already have a rating on them? Should we ban cigarettes booze and porn too, just because an eight-year-old might get their hands on them illegally???

    I just don't understand American law...

  • captbirdseye #10 6 years ago

    jack thompson = headline-hungry lunatic whos only real aim is for his career but sadly lacks any common sense to further. the implications of this if he wins will be massive. just hope someone cums up with a gta mod which is full of jack thompsons

  • Flabio #11 6 years ago

    The US game ratings are not legally enforceable because to make them so is deemed unconstitutional.

    Never ever try to tell an American that perhaps their constitution might not be 100% correct.

  • Fat-Boy #12 6 years ago

    "Fat boy, don't these games already have a rating on them? Should we ban cigarettes booze and porn too, just because an eight-year-old might get their hands on them illegally???

    I just don't understand American law... "

    I'm not saying ban it at all, far from it. My understanding of what was written in the article was that he was pushing for games to be certificated in the same way films are, like we have in this country. I think (and I must stress think here) that the games ratings (which in America go from E for Everybody to AO for adults only) are merely a guide, and therefore not subject to the same laws that govern the sale of DVDs.

    I could be talking out of my arse though. It has happened once or twice!

  • kangarootoo #13 6 years ago

    " At the risk of sounding pro-Jackster, isn't his aim in this case to stop children buying this game"

    If that were his aim I think it would be a reasonable one. I actually think his aim is to remove games from the face of the planet.

    The man is a bigot plain and simple, and as with all bigots, rational thought and a balanced and limited objective are not part of his plan. Anyone who thinks he is actually an OK guy should roll on over to wikipedia.com and read the pages there about him. A little background history will reveal the kind of man he is.

  • jack_klugman #14 6 years ago

    Never ever try to tell an American that perhaps their constitution might not be 100% correct.

    Well who would question the notion of the world's only superpower resolving contemporary legislation on the basis of a 300 year old document. I'm sure its as pertinent and relavent in contemporary America as it was then.

  • #15 6 years ago

    Really!!?? If that is true then whoever is giving out about this is crazy. Don't get me wrong, I can't stand the hyperbolae and the rhetoric that Thompson uses, and I don't believe that all of these kids were driven to crime by GTA, but it should not be legal for very young and impressionable minds to come into contact with adult material...

    Bottom line:
    As long's films're rated (&enforced), games should be rated (&enforced).

    Could someone confirm the law for me please? I'm from Ireland and I don't have a bull's notion how the law works in America...

  • jack_klugman #16 6 years ago

    He looks like a poor man's Christopher Walken.

  • ruckus #17 6 years ago

    I agree with him as so-far as passing laws making it a criminal offence to sell adult games to children.

    OT/ I also find the latest Game Station ad bizare which depicts what can be assumed to be a parent, on the phone to somebody about what game they want. I can't remember if the staff recommend True Crimes or not but either way, why use an 18 cert game?

  • #18 6 years ago

    Sorry guys, I just checked the article again. The lawsuit against Take Two is crazy. It is legislation on sales of games that needs to be amended... The lawsuit against Take Two doesn't stand a chance in hell in my view!!!

  • jack_klugman #19 6 years ago

    It's reminiscent of the action that was filed against Oliver Stone following murders it was claimed were intentionally inspired by Natural Born Killers.

  • Fat-Boy #20 6 years ago

    "Sorry guys, I just checked the article again. The lawsuit against Take Two is crazy. It is legislation on sales of games that needs to be amended... The lawsuit against Take Two doesn't stand a chance in hell in my view!!! "

    Unless, and I want to stress the word IF (that's IF Mr Take Two's Lawyers!), IF it's found that there were any dodgy dealings when the guide was set. Most games in America are sold by the likes of WalMart et al. Most shops refuse to stock a game rated AO (adults only) whereas they're happy to stock M games (Mature, which I believe what GTA:SA was given). Therefore, Take Two and Rockstar would have been desperate for it to get an M rating, otherwise their sales would drop dramatically from what was expected. If it's proved there were any irregularities then they could be in trouble.

    But I doubt there were, and therefore the suit against any developer or distributer is bollocks. It's not up them what the laws of the land are.

  • rinoaMW #21 6 years ago

    pish posh... where there's easy money to be made, you can guarantee an American will be there to sue you for it...

    sad, sad day for gaming....

  • #22 6 years ago

    If these bastards would just raise their kids right, and not let the tv and playstation do it, there'd be no murders anyway. Maybe they should take the feckin' parents to court...

  • Xerx3s #23 6 years ago

    Why is there no psycho who wants to do strange and sexually irresponcible things with this twat.

  • #24 6 years ago

    You mean like kill him? I would, but I actaully haven't plated GTA yet, and so my killing spree must wait!!!

  • PedroMCi #25 6 years ago

    BristeCliste,
    I could agree more with you. The real problem here is the fact that those kids are raising themselfs in front of the TV and the PlayStation. The parents don't give a S**T about what they are doing. Them they all sound very worried and come up with a usual lame excuse 'I didn't know ....'. Hey, had fun doing'em, now raise'em.

    If your kid camed home with 'War of the Arses' would you let him see it or would you confiscate the DVD to watch in some private session?
    Soo, why is it any diferent with videogames? Because they are stupid as door bells.
    Just let'em kill each other. Stupid bastards. And they have the nerve to call us 'Euro trash'. Look at the real trash.

  • #26 6 years ago

    Tienes razón hermano, no tienen ni puta idea como tratar a los niños… A lo mejor es mucho más fácil quejarse que tomar la responsibilidad…

  • Ninjamagic #27 6 years ago

    Lets hope they get taken to the cleaners.....

  • binky #28 6 years ago

    The lawsuit shouldnt be against TAKE TWO, it should be against (solely) the company that sold the item to a minor.

    end of.

  • Fat-Boy #29 6 years ago

    Or his parents if they bought it for him?

  • kangarootoo #30 6 years ago

    @PedroMCi

    This is hardly an american issue though is it? The US legal system might need a bit of oiling, but crap parenting is universal.

    I agree with your points about parental responsibility, but getting all anti american is not really relevant here.

  • kangarootoo #31 6 years ago

    Translation of BristeCliste, courtesy of Google (hence the odd grammar) with a tiny bit of translation correction by me (though my Spanish sucks).

    "You are right brother, do not have nor mother idea like treating the children... Perhaps it is much more easy to complain that to take the responsibilty..."

  • Artemus #32 6 years ago

    Is there a week that goes by when Thompson isn't in the [games] news any more?

    Yawn.

  • #33 6 years ago

    @Kangarootoo, a better translation would be: ""You're right man, they don't have a fuckin' notion how to look after their kids... It's probably alot easier to complain than to take responsibilty..."

    (My Spanish ain't great either)

    By the way, I was specifically talking about the people in the court-case under discussion, not all Americans, although I guess that's generally true too. It's becomning increasingly true here (in Ireland) too, there's no holier-than-thou shit goin' on here or anything!

  • SeesThroughAll #34 6 years ago

    Jack Attention Whore Thompson strikes back...

    ...sigh...

  • Feanor #35 6 years ago

    "and therefore not subject to the same laws that govern the sale of DVDs."

    But so many DVDs now are unrated... in fact, a lot of DVDs put "Unrated!" in big letters on the front of the box to try and get more sales. For example, the new Dukes of Hazard DVD.

  • yagisencho #36 6 years ago

    Savor the rich aroma of irony wafting over from Alabama:

    "Alabama: State law limits selling or giving handguns to juveniles under 18. But there are no state restrictions on transferring rifles, shotguns or even assault weapons to kids - without even their parent's permission."

    So...restrict the sale of M-rated games, but supply the same tykes with assault weapons, no questions asked. Ah.

    http://www.bradycampaign.org/legislati on/state/viewstate.php?st=al#juvsale

  • urban #37 6 years ago

    stop giving him coverage.

  • speedstars13 #38 6 years ago

    This is a travesty. Mr. Bush, if you want to protect companies from frivolous lawsuits, now is the time to take action. Jack Thompson is nothing but a greedy con artist who's looking for quick money and fame.

  • Genji #39 6 years ago

    While I admire GTA for its open-endedness, I sometimes wish that Rockstar would tone the violence down. The series is acting like a beacon for negative media coverage, which naturally spreads to an indictment of videogames in general. All of this controversy is a significant barrier to videogames being taken seriously.

  • davyuk #40 6 years ago

    @yagisencho - :o I never realised the gun laws were so damn loose. I know it's impossible to reverse the gun situation in the US, even if you Tip-Ex the 2nd Amendment, but to have ZERO safeguards in relation to gun sales and children is lunacy.

    As for the case... well, it's 'video nasties' all over again. Jamie Bulger is forgotton, and Chucky films continue to spew out, but do kids go out murdering other kids by the thousands due to Chucky films as predicted? Of course not. But murders do continue to happen, and there's always something new to blame them on.

    The truth is that these real-life crimes do have common roots in most cases, but twats like Thompson would rather look on a few select branches of the tree than dig down deep to uncover the rot. This is because the rot is society, and to blame society is to have a go at everyone, which woudn't make him man of the month.

    So is GTA a 'killing simulator'? Sure it is. It simulates all the shit that goes on in real life. Does it train and supply a means to kill? Of course not, gun stores and gun clubs do that. And who's to blame? Society and the 2nd amendment - both immune from legal action.

  • DaveMongoose #41 6 years ago

    Just because someone who played GTA committed a murder doesn't mean it was because of GTA... if you use that kind of logic then you could blame anything for causing murders:
    "This man ate a hamburger at some point in his life, then went on to kill people! Hamburgers are clearly 'killing simulators'!"

  • Krun #42 6 years ago

    America is no longer the land of the free.
    Its the land of the small minded reactionist suedo religious right wing bigot.

  • #43 6 years ago

    Very well said DavyUK. I was planning to say all of that shit, but you beat me to the punch. I hate it when that happens...

  • marc_si #44 6 years ago

    The furore around video games from mass media is just the latest scare mongering that always goes on each generation.

    'Fear' breeds interest in the general public and sells papers/heightens viewing ratings.

    In the 80's when video gaming wasn't as prevalent it was the evils of 'Role Playing Games' (they even managed to milk a few films out of it if I remember right), before that in the 60's it was 'Mods and Rockers' (at least in the UK) .... the mass media will always find something to complain about imho.

  • DryHeat #45 6 years ago

    If you can sue video games companies for deaths, then why is it that no one has sued religions. There are many mass murderers,rapists, pedophiles, dictators who use the bible.

  • Glitch #46 6 years ago

    Its a fucking JOKE!

    The can sell hand guns to serial killers and people who are obviously complete morons yet a GAME where you kill people is soo dangerous?

    I think they need to realise that people who play a game and end up going on a killing spree are mental.

    Games are simply an excuse!

    "Sex on TV makes me rape dogs" BAN TV to anyone with a sex organ!!!!!

    Vote for me!

  • Kratos_Aurion56 #47 6 years ago

    America: Land of hypocricy and shitty parenting. I would know because I live there surrounded by brainwashed patriots led by a jerk-off of a president. Video games are the latest excuse in a long line of excuses and Jack Thompson is an egoistic lawyer without a life that pops up every few years.

  • motorsport #48 2 years ago

    America...the land of lawsuits. Where spilling coffee on yourself nets millions of dollars. Where you never have to take responsiblity for your own actions. Where you are afraid to do something because somebody is going to sue...and the one with the slickest lawyers wins. Where any problem is somebody's fault...not yours. Where lawyers run ads on TV perpetuating the whole problem (in my country...never have I seen a single lawyer ad). And last but not least..where you can get sued by a fat person for making food simply because you admit that "it was their fault."



    News like this makes me sick...not only that they even thought to sue...but for the judges, logical people, ALLOW it to be brought to court.



    Sick sick sick.

  • sepiag #49 2 years ago

    you should be glad that stupid shlt like this is happening in the world. it makes the rest of us look better.