#KickVic Legal Defense Strategies - Top Strat Revealed: Cite Tumblr and PULL and Defame Vic directly in Legal Filings

[JosephTX]

So lets discuss what legal strategies the group can try to muster up.

First the topic of Spousal Privilege and Common Law Marriage under Texas Law

As it's well known Monica Rial and Ron Soye are in a relationship and live together which leads to the prospect of Spousal Privilege.

Spousal Privilege is a right under law extended to married couples that makes it unlawful to force them to testify against or about each other, as such it is very much in their interest to utilise it as it is the only way for them to refuse to answer legitimate questions in deposition.

How ever there's one small hitch with that; Monica and Soye have not gotten officially married.

Thus comes a Texas institution; common law marriage; officially titled under Texas law as a "Marriage without Formalities" and "Informal Marriage"

Under Texas law common law marriage has an extremely low bar to establish; That is the following

1. Agreement
2. Cohabitation
3. Representation

Once all 3 three conditions are met two people become legally married under the laws of the state of Texas.

That said Ron and Monica have an agreement to get married and they cohabit; but they do no represent themselves as married, therefore failing the final element of common law marriage, how ever meeting it is as simple as referring to each other has husband and wife in a public tweet or facebook status.

The fatal flaw with this strategy however is that spousal privilege is NOT retroactive, meaning they may only invoke it from the moment they represent they are married and everything up until that point is fair game; with their only option left being to attempt to backdate their marriage which will result in them committing perjury which carries criminal penalties which in certain circumstances may raise to felony stupid and 2 to 10 years in prison.

The second strategy is invoking the state anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) statute, known as The Texas Citizens Participation Act, codified as Texas Civil Code Chapter 27.

What is a SLAPP?

A SLAPP is generally defined as any lawsuit designed to silence and bully a person for their exercise of free speech by subjecting them to repeated frivolous lawsuits with the sole purpose of straddling the targeted party with crippling legal fees in order to either pressure them into giving up or removing any effective means to disseminate the speech.

If it sounds familiar it's because it's the modus operandi of the Church of Scientology's legal department.

But luckily for us the State of Texas, recognizing this abuse of legal process, in 2011 created a new chapter of the civil code addressing this; which broadly protects the exercise of speech.

Once invoked the plantiffs, or in this case Ty Beard, must assert and show his lawsuit has merit and that the cause of action is not protected speech.

In this case #kickvic can't hope to succeed on this motion as not only have they committed blatant defamation, they committed defamation per se.

What is defamation and how is defamation per se different?

Defamation in itself are false statements which damage the reputation of an individual or entity, it has two subsets, Libel, which is written, and Slander, which is spoken.

In order to prove defamation one has to not only show the statements are false, but prove there are actual damages to the defamed caused by their statements.

Defamation per se are false statements that accuse one of criminal conduct, which the law considers to automatically constitute defamation in and of itself regardless of any actual damages.

Now when it comes to defamation of public figures or entities, the act of defamation requires the additional element of malice, that is you have to not only prove the false statements damaged you (except defamation per se) but you have to prove the defamer made those statements maliciously.

 

[OB 946]

So lets discuss what legal strategies the group can try to muster up.

First the topic of Spousal Privilege and Common Law Marriage under Texas Law

As it's well known Monica Rial and Ron Soye are in a relationship and live together which leads to the prospect of Spousal Privilege.

Spousal Privilege is a right under law extended to married couples that makes it unlawful to force them to testify against or about each other, as such it is very much in their interest to utilise it as it is the only way for them to refuse to answer legitimate questions in deposition.

How ever there's one small hitch with that; Monica and Soye have not gotten officially married.

Thus comes a Texas institution; common law marriage; officially titled under Texas law as a "Marriage without Formalities" and "Informal Marriage"

Under Texas law common law marriage has an extremely low bar to establish; That is the following

1. Agreement
2. Cohabitation
3. Representation

Once all 3 three conditions are met two people become legally married under the laws of the state of Texas.

That said Ron and Monica have an agreement to get married and they cohabit; but they do no represent themselves as married, therefore failing the final element of common law marriage, how ever meeting it is as simple as referring to each other has husband and wife in a public tweet or facebook status.

The fatal flaw with this strategy however is that spousal privilege is NOT retroactive, meaning they may only invoke it from the moment they represent they are married and everything up until that point is fair game; with their only option left being to attempt to backdate their marriage which will result in them committing perjury which carries criminal penalties which in certain circumstances may raise to felony stupid and 2 to 10 years in prison.

The second strategy is invoking the state anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) statute, known as The Texas Citizens Participation Act, codified as Texas Civil Code Chapter 27.

What is a SLAPP?

A SLAPP is generally defined as any lawsuit designed to silence and bully a person for their exercise of free speech by subjecting them to repeated frivolous lawsuits with the sole purpose of straddling the targeted party with crippling legal fees in order to either pressure them into giving up or removing any effective means to disseminate the speech.

If it sounds familiar it's because it's the modus operandi of the Church of Scientology's legal department.

But luckily for us the State of Texas, recognizing this abuse of legal process, in 2011 created a new chapter of the civil code addressing this; which broadly protects the exercise of speech.

Once invoked the plantiffs, or in this case Ty Beard, must assert and show his lawsuit has merit and that the cause of action is not protected speech.

In this case #kickvic can't hope to succeed on this motion as not only have they committed blatant defamation, they committed defamation per se.

What is defamation and how is defamation per se different?

Defamation in itself are false statements which damage the reputation of an individual or entity, it has two subsets, Libel, which is written, and Slander, which is spoken.

In order to prove defamation one has to not only show the statements are false, but prove there are actual damages to the defamed caused by their statements.

Defamation per se are false statements that accuse one of criminal conduct, which the law considers to automatically constitute defamation in and of itself regardless of any actual damages.

Now when it comes to defamation of public figures or entities, the act of defamation requires the additional element of malice, that is you have to not only prove the false statements damaged you (except defamation per se) but you have to prove the defamer made those statements maliciously.

Yes but you forgot about the part with #metoo and #believeallwomen

 

[Recoil]

I get the feeling that certain participants in this lawsuit really don't see that they're going to be thrown under the bus in the very near future.

 

[Wake me up]

I've thought of a defense strategy specifically for Funimation but I have zero idea how feasible it is: could they possibly claim that OK, sure, they can be sued for firing Vic without enough evidence, but that they are not at all associated with all the petty squabble happening on Twitter?

I'm saying this because 3/4 of the claims on the lawsuit are defamation, tortious interference and civil conspiracy. If they can somehow disconnect themselves from the Twitter keyboard warriors, it would seem like a major victory for them.

If they do that, this might be a major concern for Vic too because even if he's claiming a million-dollar-plus in damages, it's unlikely that he'll get anything close to that from private individuals, regardless of how well-off Soye likes to roleplay he is.

If Funimation wants to push this to the limit, they can even claim they only fired Vic because of the defamation and blame it all on Soye, Moronica and Mariachi (although I wouldn't personally try to be this disingenuous towards a flesh-and-blood judge for fear he might smack me in the face for disrespecting his court of law with such a shameless notion lol).

 

[RightToBearBlarms]

I've thought of a defense strategy specifically for Funimation but I have zero idea how feasible it is: could they possibly claim that OK, sure, they can be sued for firing Vic without enough evidence, but that they are not at all associated with all the petty squabble happening on Twitter?

I'm saying this because 3/4 of the claims on the lawsuit are defamation, tortious interference and civil conspiracy. If they can somehow disconnect themselves from the Twitter keyboard warriors, it would seem like a major victory for them.

If they do that, this might be a major concern for Vic too because even if he's claiming a million-dollar-plus in damages, it's unlikely that he'll get anything close to that from private individuals, regardless of how well-off Soye likes to roleplay he is.

If Funimation wants to push this to the limit, they can even claim they only fired Vic because of the defamation and blame it all on Soye, Moronica and Mariachi (although I wouldn't personally try to be this disingenuous towards a flesh-and-blood judge for fear he might smack me in the face for disrespecting his court of law with such a shameless notion lol).

The cause of action brought up against Funimation is specifically due to their own defamatory statements in the tweet thread about firing Vic due to an investigation discovering harassment. They would've been fine if they just hadn't made those statements.

There's that but also the nature of agent liability. The other parties in this suit have acted with the apparent authority of Funimation while making their defamatory statements. This then makes Funimation liable for these statements because they couldn't be fucked to come out and say "the views and statements of our voice actors do not represent those of Funimation."

 

[UnKillShredDur]

I've thought of a defense strategy specifically for Funimation but I have zero idea how feasible it is: could they possibly claim that OK, sure, they can be sued for firing Vic without enough evidence, but that they are not at all associated with all the petty squabble happening on Twitter?

I'm saying this because 3/4 of the claims on the lawsuit are defamation, tortious interference and civil conspiracy. If they can somehow disconnect themselves from the Twitter keyboard warriors, it would seem like a major victory for them.

If they do that, this might be a major concern for Vic too because even if he's claiming a million-dollar-plus in damages, it's unlikely that he'll get anything close to that from private individuals, regardless of how well-off Soye likes to roleplay he is.

If Funimation wants to push this to the limit, they can even claim they only fired Vic because of the defamation and blame it all on Soye, Moronica and Mariachi (although I wouldn't personally try to be this disingenuous towards a flesh-and-blood judge for fear he might smack me in the face for disrespecting his court of law with such a shameless notion lol).

I dont see how Funi can get away with going that route without firing everyone involved/rehiring Vic.

 

[Wake me up]

I dont see how Funi can get away with going that route without firing everyone involved

That's not a major issue for me because this option could be on the table regardless, depending on how the lawsuit goes. I know it sounds heavy-handed, perhaps even unlikely, but I guarantee that's an open possibility for any lawyers involved.

That being said, I find @RightToBearBlarms' arguments solid on this matter, even though I feel Funimation might still try to pull it off... because honestly I don't see what else they could come up with for defense, short of photographic evidence of Vic molesting a fan or coworker, which I find an extremely unlikely possibility this far down the road.

 

[Allanon]

I've thought of a defense strategy specifically for Funimation but I have zero idea how feasible it is: could they possibly claim that OK, sure, they can be sued for firing Vic without enough evidence, but that they are not at all associated with all the petty squabble happening on Twitter?

I'm saying this because 3/4 of the claims on the lawsuit are defamation, tortious interference and civil conspiracy. If they can somehow disconnect themselves from the Twitter keyboard warriors, it would seem like a major victory for them.

If they do that, this might be a major concern for Vic too because even if he's claiming a million-dollar-plus in damages, it's unlikely that he'll get anything close to that from private individuals, regardless of how well-off Soye likes to roleplay he is.

If Funimation wants to push this to the limit, they can even claim they only fired Vic because of the defamation and blame it all on Soye, Moronica and Mariachi (although I wouldn't personally try to be this disingenuous towards a flesh-and-blood judge for fear he might smack me in the face for disrespecting his court of law with such a shameless notion lol).

They can't. First, because their defamatory tweet arguably did some of the worst initial damage to his reputation and business prospects - it is even NOW referenced as a reason for why he's definitely guilty. Second, because any reasonable person looking at the other three people in the lawsuit (and others) would ascertain that they were speaking with authority and as agents or management of Funimation. They CONTINUOUSLY referenced an investigation they claimed special knowledge of due to their connection to Funimation and made positive assertions about what it contained, functioning as the mouthpieces of Funimation. Ron didn't correct anyone thinking he was a Funimation manager for a while, and thanks to Marchi claiming he and her husband were upper management, any normal people would believe that they were in fact Funimation management.

Through all of this, where cons were obviously and demonstrably responding to Ron's every defaming tweet, Funimation never bothered to correct any misconception that they were operating on behalf of Funimation, nor did they bother to correct the defaming implications of their tweets.

basically, no.

Funimation screwed itself, and then its voice actors (+ toye) screwed it extra hard.

 

[IAmNotAlpharius]

I've thought of a defense strategy specifically for Funimation but I have zero idea how feasible it is: could they possibly claim that OK, sure, they can be sued for firing Vic without enough evidence, but that they are not at all associated with all the petty squabble happening on Twitter?

I'm saying this because 3/4 of the claims on the lawsuit are defamation, tortious interference and civil conspiracy. If they can somehow disconnect themselves from the Twitter keyboard warriors, it would seem like a major victory for them.

If they do that, this might be a major concern for Vic too because even if he's claiming a million-dollar-plus in damages, it's unlikely that he'll get anything close to that from private individuals, regardless of how well-off Soye likes to roleplay he is.

If Funimation wants to push this to the limit, they can even claim they only fired Vic because of the defamation and blame it all on Soye, Moronica and Mariachi (although I wouldn't personally try to be this disingenuous towards a flesh-and-blood judge for fear he might smack me in the face for disrespecting his court of law with such a shameless notion lol).

If I was Funimation I’d settle first then I’d throw all the voice actors under the bus.

 

[Clockwork Dragon]

Ok, so I have a legal question. There is some speculation that Ron, while still shooting off his stupid mouth online, has indicated that he is planning on settling (as he said this suit would not reach a courtroom). Does BHBH have to accept his settlement, or can they basically say "You know what, you have been such an egregious chucklefuck that we're not settling with you. You are going to be the definition of a terrible example in this matter." And they don't accept his settlement. Is that a possibility, or is Vic required to settle?

(FWIW, while I agree that in general settlement is preferable for everyone, I think Ron in particular has, in fact, been egregious, more so than anyone else, even Monica. So I would love it if they made an example out of him, and I hope Vic decides to nail him to the wall if he can do so.)

 

[Beavis]

Ok, so I have a legal question. There is some speculation that Ron, while still shooting off his stupid mouth online, has indicated that he is planning on settling (as he said this suit would not reach a courtroom). Does BHBH have to accept his settlement, or can they basically say "You know what, you have been such an egregious chucklefuck that we're not settling with you. You are going to be the definition of a terrible example in this matter." And they don't accept his settlement. Is that a possibility, or is Vic required to settle?

(FWIW, while I agree that in general settlement is preferable for everyone, I think Ron in particular has, in fact, been egregious, more so than anyone else, even Monica. So I would love it if they made an example out of him, and I hope Vic decides to nail him to the wall if he can do so.)

They don’t have to accept a settlement. Any settlement offered by Ron would be terrible anyways.

 

[RodgerDodger]

W

Ok, so I have a legal question. There is some speculation that Ron, while still shooting off his stupid mouth online, has indicated that he is planning on settling (as he said this suit would not reach a courtroom). Does BHBH have to accept his settlement, or can they basically say "You know what, you have been such an egregious chucklefuck that we're not settling with you. You are going to be the definition of a terrible example in this matter." And they don't accept his settlement. Is that a possibility, or is Vic required to settle?

(FWIW, while I agree that in general settlement is preferable for everyone, I think Ron in particular has, in fact, been egregious, more so than anyone else, even Monica. So I would love it if they made an example out of him, and I hope Vic decides to nail him to the wall if he can do so.)

What does Ron offer in Settlement? Vic would have to agree to a settlement. And Ron offers nothing that he would likely want. Ron can provid nothing that Vic needs. So any settlement will be in Vic’s favor. Some cash settlement, retraction apology and public beclowning of oneself, and testimony against other parties. But Ron doesn’t offer much in testimony. Retraction is mostly pointless, you really can’t take back cries of Pedophile! About the only thing that works in favor of it is Vic and Ty asking do we want to spend too much squashing this idiot like a bug?

 

[Wake me up]

As I said before I think Soye's lawyer would push for a settlement but I think it's the only one that The Beard wouldn't be interested in. Part of it for the personal grievance he has caused yes, but equally or more so because of courtroom strategy. Ron is the guy behind the most unhinged messages, baseless personal attacks and pretending to be a higher up for Ruination. Ron is the anchor that brings everyone else down to his level - even if the other are all culpable, he's the poster boy for rabid Twitter-court autism. Beard needs to attack him full force to sell his case.

The only way I can see the Beard accepting a settlement with Soye is if he settles for an amount of money roughly equal to Vic legal team's goals for the entire lawsuit - because it would roughly mean winning the case without the costs and gamble of actually going through it. We're talking at least a million dollars here so it's an unlikely outcome - except Soye is so dumb he might do it just to walk away with the bragging rights of having "saved his m'lady from even going to court", although his ego works both for and against this outcome, if he can even pay at all.

 

[captkrisma]

I think this will actually be the best course of action for Rial and Soye:

Spoiler: Course of Action 1:

Settle out of court before Funimation does. Ty seems really lenient to people wanting to play ball. Take Kamehacon for example...no paperwork, no mess. Hell, even Vic says he regrets having to go this route, so he might even be cool with just retractions on Twitter. The key is to act fast and be sincere...

Spoiler: Course of Action 2:

There is no Course of Action 2. Settle out of court.

 

[mindlessobserver]

The time for Funimation to fire the voice actors and repudiate the twitter statement and the VA's own presentation of themselves as principle agents has come and gone. For sure Ty Beard sent Funi the storm warning letters a week ago or longer. And considering how publicly BHBH made their pending litigation they can't just claim to have been ignorant of what is going on (which would be a weak defense anyway). They can't say "woops, our bad!" and make this go away.

Soye and Rial are also not married, nor have they held themselves out to be married. They claimed to be "engaged" publicly as recently as last week. So they can't even go the common law route, which would probably not have worked anyway. Such recognition is generally only used to handle distribution of property and child custody in the event of a breakup. Not to provide a shield from court ordered deposition.

There is also no way they can get this lawsuit thrown out for being frivolous.

I think this will actually be the best course of action for Rial and Soye:

Spoiler: Course of Action 1:

Settle out of court before Funimation does. Ty seems really lenient to people wanting to play ball. Take Kamehacon for example...no paperwork, no mess. Hell, even Vic says he regrets having to go this route, so he might even be cool with just retractions on Twitter. The key is to act fast and be sincere...

Spoiler: Course of Action 2:

There is no Course of Action 2. Settle out of court.

My bet is Jamie Marchi will fold first. She seems the smartest out of the whole bunch.

 

[Burnout]

The only way I can see the Beard accepting a settlement with Soye is if he settles for an amount of money roughly equal to Vic legal team's goals for the entire lawsuit - because it would roughly mean winning the case without the costs and gamble of actually going through it. We're talking at least a million dollars here so it's an unlikely outcome - except Soye is so dumb he might do it just to walk away with the bragging rights of having "saved his m'lady from even going to court", although his ego works both for and against this outcome, if he can even pay at all.

I acknowledge that Ty is a practical man, however... after hearing his reaction to a previous case he was involved with where absolutely moronic ethics complaints were thrown around, I am of the belief that Ty will not be easily persuaded to accept a settlement from Ron. Ultimately he is obliged to do as his client bids and he is professional enough to do that, but I suspect that if a settlement from/including Toye is offered he would not be afraid to let his client know how he feels.

 

[IAmNotAlpharius]

The time for Funimation to fire the voice actors and repudiate the twitter statement and the VA's own presentation of themselves as principle agents has come and gone. For sure Ty Beard sent Funi the storm warning letters a week ago or longer. And considering how publicly BHBH made their pending litigation they can't just claim to have been ignorant of what is going on (which would be a weak defense anyway). They can't say "woops, our bad!" and make this go away.

Soye and Rial are also not married, nor have they held themselves out to be married. They claimed to be "engaged" publicly as recently as last week. So they can't even go the common law route, which would probably not have worked anyway. Such recognition is generally only used to handle distribution of property and child custody in the event of a breakup. Not to provide a shield from court ordered deposition.

There is also no way they can get this lawsuit thrown out for being frivolous.



My bet is Jamie Marchi will fold first. She seems the smartest out of the whole bunch.

It’s pretty much the prisoner dilemma but with more players and money instead of jail time. One of them will fold.

 

[Stoneheart]

Can Sony Sue some the People in charge of Funi for Damages? This all sounds like they did alot of realy unethical stuff.

The time for Funimation to fire the voice actors and repudiate the twitter statement and the VA's own presentation of themselves as principle agents has come and gone. For sure Ty Beard sent Funi the storm warning letters a week ago or longer. And considering how publicly BHBH made their pending litigation they can't just claim to have been ignorant of what is going on (which would be a weak defense anyway). They can't say "woops, our bad!" and make this go away.

Will they? they are IDIOTS, i doubt that they care till sony fires them.

 

[I Love Beef]

It's hinted that Marzgurl's dad has a share in Funimation.

If there are some leads and if they can be sniffed out, there could be some evidence for insider trading or otherwise.

Ron's also been known to try and shill out the new DBZ Blue Rays that Funimation has released.

 

[boulderblundermatt90]

A possible defense is sony shuts Funi down and basically says "They don't exist, we didn't terminate or defame vic, can't sue us, goodbye".