Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

Benjamin Duranske writes "Jonathan Lee Riches, an inmate in South Carolina famous for filing long, handwritten, rambling screeds against celebrities, politicians, and even buildings, has filed a third-party motion in Federal Court in Arizona in the MDY v. Blizzard botting case claiming that Blizzard's World of Warcraft 'caused Riches mind to live in a virtual universe, where Riches explored the landscape committing identity theft and fighting cybermonster rival hacker gangs. Riches was addicted to video games and lost touch with reality because of defendants. This caused Riches to commit fraud to buy defendants video games. Riches chose World of Warcraft over working a legit job, Riches mind became a living video game.'"

Please Don't Give This Man Attention!

[eldavojohn]

This is another ridiculous lawsuit. I was first aware of this when he sued Michael Vick a while back. He is an attention whore [justia.com], please do not give him anymore attention!

Check out this recent lawsuit [justia.com] and its defendents:

George W Bush, Richard B. Cheney, Condeleza Rice, Donald H Rumsfeld, John W Snow, Unknown Authors, Carlos M Gutierrez, Michael O Leavitt, Elaine Chao, Stephen L Johnson, Margaret Spellings, Samuel W Bodman, Norman Y Mineta, Hillary Rodham Clinton, James Hoffa, www.GOOGLE.com, Benedict, XVI, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jerry West, www.ACCUWEATHER.com, Usama Bin Laden, William Gates, Hugo Chavez, John Deere, Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party, Island Def Jam Music Group, Roc-A Fella Records, Shawn Carter, Queen of England, Jo Anne B Barnhart, Steven Spielberg, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc, Japan's Nikkei Stock Exchange, Gambino, Three Mile Island, Kofi Annaan, Tony Danza, Islamic Republic of Iran, Don King Productions Inc, Paris Hilton, Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witness, Jose Padilla, University of Miami, Geico Insurance, Vienna Convention, Matt Drudge, Marion Blakey, Consulate General of Nigeria, The Salvation Army, Jewish State of "Israel", John E Potter, Soledad O'Brien, Miles O'Brien, Magna Carta, Tsunami victims, Alan Greenspan, American Red Cross, Mark Emerson, Jessica Alba, Sirius Satellite Radio, Charles Moose, Dalai Lama, Houston Chronicle, Al Qaeda Islamic Army, Fruit of A-Loom, American Civil Liberties Union, Out-Back Steakhouse, Donald J Trump, Chris Berman, Vatican, The, Shawn John Combs, Michael Brown, Vincent K McMahon, Taliban, The, Richard M Daley, Meals on Wheels, John Grisham, Columbine High School, Ariel Sharon, United Parcel Service, Tara Reid, Black Entertainment Television Inc, Saddam Hussein, Jewish Workers, Brad Pitt, Jack Welch, Elizabeth Smart, George E Pataki, Charlie Sheen, Surgeon General, The, Vladimir Putin, Oliver North, George Orwell, www.ASKJEEVES.com, Sean O'Keefe, Various Buddhist Monks, www.SECUREDPARTY.com, I Lewis Libby, Warren Buffett, Sierra Club, John D Negroponte, Christina Applegate, Jewish Mossad, National Vanguard Books, Air and Space Museum, Christopher Reeves, Gale A Norton, Halliburton Company, Kellogg Brown & Root, John Walsh, Mein Kampf, City of Crawford Texas, John P Abizaid, Venus Williams, www.DEFCON.org, John Dudas, Medieval Times, International Trade Commission, Anna Nichole Smith, United States Marine Corps, William F Buckley, Denny's, Brotherhood of the Snake, Larry King, Charles E Schumer, Rastafarian Natives, Spencer Abraham, Rollingstone Magazine, Monogram Bank of Georgia, Grace Jones, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, Planet Hollywood, Joseph H Boardman, Marshall Bruce Mathers, III, Uliminati,Founder Adam Weishaupt, The Apollo Theater, David W Anderson, Assistant Secretary For Indian Affairs, Jason Society, Wu Tang Clan, Wu-Wear Inc, Philip Purcell, CEO Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Nordic Gods, Presidental Emergency Operation Center, Screen Actors Guild Inc, R James Nicholson, New York Stock Exchange Inc, The Da Vinci Code, Moorish Science Temple of America, Sears Tower, Mike Tyson, Native American Fish Society, Holocaust Survivors, Byzantine Republic Army, Dennis Hopper, Mt. Rushmore, Barbara Walters, First Presbyterian Church, Gordan R Sullivan, Yellow Cab Company, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, Michael Savage, Dennis Hastert, Green Bay's Lambeau Field, Slobodan Milosevic, Pizza Hut, King James Bible, Scott Peterson, Department of Housing and Urban Affiars, Smithsonian Institute, Robert C Bonner, Ming Dynasty, Ray Nagin, Barry Bonds, Thomas J Ridge, Jenna Bush, Gangs in Hong Kong, United Methodist Church, European Union, Porter Goss, Harrah's Las Vegas Inc, Grand Wizard of Ku Klux Klan, General Motors, Christopher Cox, Proctor & Gamble, Jewish Synagogue's, www.ebay.com, Knights of Malta, A

throw a guy a bone here, will ya?

[Anonymous Coward]

Jonathan Lee Riches filed a third-party motion claiming that Blizzard's World of Warcraft "caused Riches mind to live in a virtual universe, where Riches explored the landscape committing identity theft. Riches was addicted to video games and lost touch with reality because of defendants. Riches chose World of Warcraft over working a legit job, Riches mind became a living video game."
Is the occasional apostrophe too much to ask for??

Has he even played the game?

[RichMan]

Given his history when would he have been not in jail and playing the game in the last 4 years?

He gets out in 2012. I could not find the date he was committed.

"Riches has court cases in Pennsylvania dating back to 1996. In 1996 he was arrested for a bomb threat to Conestoga High School."

Re:Hahah, Oh wow.

[compro01]

Unfortunately, I don't think any state besides California has a vexatious litigant status.

So a crazy person...

[Itninja]

....does something crazy. Big deal. Why is this even on /.? Oh, I see, it marginally relates to video games. News? No. For nerds? Maybe. Stuff that matters? Not remotely. Epic fail.

Re:Has he even played the game? - No

[RichMan]

World of Warcraft Release date 2004-11-23

JLR was convicted of fraud in 2004 and incarcerated.

I can't find a date on it but unlikely he was caught and convicted between Nov 23 and the end of the year.

His release date is 2012-03-23. And he was sentenced to 8 years.

Re:throw a guy a bone here, will ya?

[Lobster Quadrille]

You bolded 6 instances of his name, but only two deserved apostrophes.

Some Legal Clarification

[314m678]

the inmate has attempted to join the suit even though his presence is not requested or required by the plaintiff or defendant. He can do this under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(b), however the judge will quickly dismiss it because FRCP 24(b)1b requires that his claim shares a common question of law or fact as the main case.

check out the last order in this case

[Rene S. Hollan]

"MINUTE entry before Judge Harry D. Leinenweber : It has come to the Court's attention that the docketing department of the Clerk's Office is still inputing the names of the hundreds of defendants named in this action. This action was dismissed on 8/17/07 for failure to state a claim, and the Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal on 10/31/07 for failure to pay the required docketing fee. It is a waste of judicial resources for the Clerk's Office to continue adding these names to a closed case that the Court determined was delusional in its order of 8/17/07. The Clerk is therefore directed to cease adding the defendants' names to this docket. As this is an internal housekeeping matter, the Clerk is directed not to send notice of this order to Plaintiff. No notice to be mailed (gcy, )"

Re:Some Legal Clarification

[Anonymous Coward]

20(a)1 only applies if the two parties want to be co-plaintiffs. Rule 24 is when a plaintiff is asserting himself into a lawsuit that he is not invited to.