Thompson Kotaku Suit Dismissed

So, just yesterday we discussed Thompson's suit filed again Kotaku. Just as quickly as it came, it went. "Federal District Court Judge Paul Huck has dismissed a complaint filed Wednesday against Gawker Media, parent company of the popular Kotaku game blog. In his ruling, Judge Huck wrote that controversial attorney Jack Thompson had failed to follow the proper federal court procedure for amending a complaint." As the story says, "So, how's that Law 101 class going?"

Comments

Good news, but it could have been better.

[aadvancedGIR]

The case was dissmissed because that guy can't properly write basic legal documents, but it would have been better if it was dismissed because it was frivolous, because the way I understand the ruling is that he can still ask a real lawyer to rephrase his request and try again.

Don't get too excited

[nenya]

The case was not dismissed. The judge simply called Thompson for failure to follow the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which only allows a complaint to be amended unilaterally once. If a party seeks to file a second amendment to their complaint, Rule 15(a) requires that that party seek the leave of the court or the consent of the adverse party, and such leave or consent must be granted "where justice requires".

Thompson is free to seek the consent of the adverse party or the leave of the court. If the case can't go forward unless the complaint be amended and the amendment required isn't too drastic, the FRCP generally require the amendment to be allowed. Thompson just forgot to ask is all. Still, the fact that he botched this uses up the judge's patience, and makes it marginally less likely that the amendment will be permitted.

I haven't read the complaint, so I don't know just how bad this is for Thompson, but his case is still pending.