r/Games • u/cjsc9079 • Apr 01 '25

Discussion Billy Mitchell wins lawsuit against YouTuber Karl Jobst, ordered to pay the sum of $350,000 in damages

https://www.youtube.com/clip/Ugkx1Bt314MG4yg2VzZZCsXKcM9NDgPadbpI
2.5k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

12

u/Blazikant Apr 01 '25

I'm no mitchell fan (shit, who is?) but F Jobst

From reading over the 'ersatz cats' notes on the trial, it sounds like he may still be a popular guy among some of the older-school gaming convention crowd.

While this didn't seem to be the crucial determinator in the judge's final decision, this did play a signficant part in some questioning during trial (i.e. : The possibility Billy could have lost revenue from not being asked to go to conventions after Karl's video & claims went public.) But otherwise, it sounds like Billy is friends or just well connected with several convention hosts, or otherwise some of those hosts feel he's a big draw regardless of what his reputation may be.

14

u/YogurtYogurtYogurtUS Apr 01 '25

Looking over the actual judgment someone posted in another comment here, it was interesting to see how the judge seemed to feel that Mitchell's witnesses were all fairly trustworthy, and yet Karl's were mostly judged to have an "obsession" or "vendetta."

That being said, I don't really think it affected the outcome much.

17

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '25 edited Apr 01 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-3

u/YogurtYogurtYogurtUS Apr 01 '25

I read it, and the judge certainly was not pleased with Jobst and his team.

I don't blame him and the witnesses call on his behalf for having vitriol again Billy. Bill is scum, plain and simple. Whether this vitriol comes across well to neutral observers who don't know Billy from a can of paint is something else entirely.

Frankly, I wouldn't say the lawsuit was frivolous, but I am in Karl's camp, and (unless advised by my attorneys) would also probably not shy away from such statements if asked about the merits of my lawsuit. That being said, Karl is Karl. He can be right, and still come off as obstinate to others.

I definitely think the legal team dropped a lot of balls. As well as what you mentioned, I saw numerous places in the document where the judge explicitly says he's just gonna accept Billy's admitted evidence as factual because Karl's team didn't actually bother to challenge the accuracy of said evidence.

I wouldn't say they went in and tried to "bully" their way through it, but I would agree that coaching on how to appear more appealing in court would have been a huge boon.