WASHINGTON, D.C. - Lawyers who claim in federal courts of Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas that video games damage young minds seek consolidation of their cases by the Judicial Panel on Multi District Litigation.
Lead plaintiff counsel Tina Bullock of Georgia moved on March 14 to consolidate six cases, including one pending in the court of District Judge Stephen McGlynn in East St. Louis.
She named three potential multi district judges, but not McGlynn.
McGlynn presides over a suit Cynthia Jiminez of Marion County filed in November against Microsoft, Google, Nintendo, Epic Games, Roblox and Mojang Studios.
On March 22, Bullock asked McGlynn to stay his proceedings pending action by the Panel.
“When the litigation is in its early stages such as this case is, staying the litigation in the event of consolidation serves the interests of judicial economy and avoids duplicative litigation,” she wrote.
The consolidation motion she filed with the Panel listed four other current cases in district courts of Northern Illinois, Western Missouri and Eastern Arkansas.
Plaintiffs in those actions sued more defendants than Jiminez, who sued 20 defendants.
Bullock stated that separate counsel filed a sixth case in Eastern Arkansas.
She laid out her case for the Panel, claiming video games severely reduce control over habits and give priority to gaming over other activities.
She claimed addiction results in physical and financial harm, loss of social function and cognitive decline.
“Young people and children are engaging in hours of play while ignoring basic needs like food, sleep and hygiene,” she wrote.
Bullock claimed the defendants tracked minors and young adults, exploiting them to ensure longer play and enticing them to spend money on microtransactions.
She added that the defendants designed and patented algorithms to study skill and behavior so they could bombard minors with solicitations to purchase upgrades.
Bullock argued the litigation would likely involve expert discovery on patents and algorithms and on their negative effects.
She added that plaintiffs in each action would likely seek to depose many of the same corporate witnesses of defendants.
Given the sheer number of products at issue, Bullock argued there would undoubtedly be many similar cases filed across the United States.
She claimed plaintiffs face the difficulty of overlapping schedules for briefing the same issues across multiple jurisdictions, “and these difficulties will only increase.”
She also claimed more cases are forthcoming from Western Missouri.
Danielle Mason of Alabama and Breean Walas of Georgia also represent Bullock’s plaintiffs.
Twenty-three lawyers represent defendants in the case before McGlynn.
Locally, Kurt Reitz of Belleville represents Microsoft and Mojang Studios.
Daniel Nester of St. Louis represents Google.
Defendants named in Jiminez's suit
Plaintiffs seeking consolidation of video game addiction suits have named the following defendants:
Activision Blizzard
Apple
Blizzard Entertainment
Blue Stacks
Electronic Arts
Epic Games
Infinity Ward
Microsoft
Mojang Studios
MSI Computer
Nintendo of America
Raven Software
Roblox
Rockstar Games
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Sledgehammer Games
Take-Two Interactive Software
Treyarch
Ubisoft