Gamasutra - Court Upholds Garriott Decision

An Appeals court has upheld the judgement for Richard Garriott against NCSoft. From Gamasutra:

A three-judge panel from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a $32 million judgement against NCSoft in a contract dispute with Ultima creator Richard Garriott that dates back to his departure from the company in 2008.

Garriott filed suit against NCSoft in 2009, saying he had been forced out of the company following a 2008 space flight, contrary to NCSoft's earlier public statements that he had left voluntarily.

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Thanks to Alrik for a similar link.
More information.

Can't be good for City of Heroes or Guild Wars.

geez, he got them for attorney fees too. that never happens. it was so blatant they deserved it.

isn't NCSoft near insolvent anyway?

Good for Lord British. NCSoft must have screwed up big time.

Except there is one thing I'm confused about. Did Garriott work in S. Korea at the time when he was fired/laid off and if so shouldn't he had gone to Korea to sue NCSoft? Not exactly sure why/how a Texas ruling could force a company based in Korea to pay Garriott. Actually I have no clue about NCSoft since they deal only in MMOs. Maybe they are based in Texas as well.

Lucky Day said:

geez, he got them for attorney fees too. that never happens. it was so blatant they deserved it.

isn't NCSoft near insolvent anyway?

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Well not that I am Richard Garriott's biggest fan these days (at one time yes, now, not so much) but they basically ousted him while he was up in space.

Garriott didn't work in Korea, but in their US subsidiary, NCSoft West. Since he was an employee working in the US, terms of employment (and if necessary, legal issues) are dealt with in the US.

That makes sense now. The first thing I think when I read NCSoft is Korea. Don't know anything more about them other than they make MMOs.

Thanks.

Lucky Day said:

geez, he got them for attorney fees too. that never happens. it was so blatant they deserved it.

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It's not uncommon.

Motoki said:

Well not that I am Richard Garriott's biggest fan these days (at one time yes, now, not so much) but they basically ousted him while he was up in space.

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Not only did they ousted it, but they ousted it while making it sound that HE resigned by publishing a fake letter while he was still in Quarantine in Russia, claiming he was leaving because he had now found new interests beyond videogames (of course we have seen what Garriott has done since leaving NC Soft... he founded a new videogame company). That was of course the point of the lawsuit, had he been properly fired it wouldn't have happened.

Caidh said:

Garriott didn't work in Korea, but in their US subsidiary, NCSoft West. Since he was an employee working in the US, terms of employment (and if necessary, legal issues) are dealt with in the US.

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Well as a matter of fact, Garriott was one of the founders of NC Soft West (which for all intent and purpose at the beginning, was basically Destination Games renamed after its buyout), and his brother Robert was the CEO up until a couple years ago (AFAIK, he left or was fired when Richard Garriott was ousted).

-Sergorn