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Judge Orders Mignogna, Remaining Defendants to Mediate Before October 3
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Judge John P. Chupp called a hearing in Tarrant County District Court on Tuesday where he ordered voice actor Vic Mignogna's attorneys Ty Beard and An Lee Hsu and Funimation, Monica Rial, and Ron Toye's attorneys J. Sean Lemoine, Ethan Minshull, Casey S. Erick, Andrea Perez, and John Volney to mediate and reach an agreement by October 3. If the counsels fail to reach an agreement, Chupp will rule on the remaining charges on October 4.
Mignogna's case currently alleges that Rial and Toye engaged in defamation and civil conspiracy against the Fullmetal Alchemist voice actor and that anime licensing company Funimation defamed him.
Judge Chupp dismissed all of Vic Mignogna's case against voice actress Jamie Marchi on September 6 as well as Mignogna's case of tortious interference of existing contracts and tortious interference of business relations allegations against Rial and Rial's fiance Ron Toye. Chupp also dismissed Mignogna's allegations that Funimation participated in tortious interference and civil conspiracy.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Judge Chupp shared threats of violence levied against him after his decision on September 6. The threats were given to the Fort Worth Police Department and then shared with Judge Chupp. The threats included the following e-mail:
Hello, I just wanted to let you know that judge Chupp is a braindead moron and I sincerely hope someone accuses him of rape. You are the cause of school shootings ... suicides ... hate and violence. Judge Chupp just let a group of open criminals go free, shame on your kangaroo court. When people start uprising I hope your court is the first thing targeted.
The judge also shared the following string of tweets:
Disillusioned -- the strong reminder that justice only leaves the barrel of a gun." and "When the state fails to defend its citizens, it's only natural that the citizens take care of themselves. It would be a justified kill, and the person doing it can even get annulled for the act of killing and found not guilty for murder.
Chupp asked both sides to not provoke their supporters.
Source: The Dallas Morning News (Sharon Grigsby)
