Update on the Honey Badger Brigade's legal case

Blutarg · 2015-07-15T15:39:06+00:00

Go get 'em!

SilencingNarrative · 2015-07-15T23:38:36+00:00

That was a glorious read. Thanks for posting it.

tiqr · 2015-07-15T15:48:33+00:00

As an Alberta Lawyer, I can say that this case has little to no chance of success. They may be able to recoup the booth cost and some promotional materials/travel/accommodation expenses, but that amount looks like it would be closer to $2-3K.

Their case hinges on the following paragraph:

To the extent that the Defendant relies on its agreement with the Plaintiff as a justification for its conduct, it is submitted that this Honourable Court should give no force or effect to such reliance as it has resulted in arbitrary censorship, discrimination and denial of freedom of expression.

This just won't fly. The convention gets to rely on it's agreement because it's a private venue. It is not subject to the Charter of Rights and freedoms, so "freedom of expression" has no relevance or bearing. The convention is free to sell booths to whomever it chooses, and can deny service to whomever it chooses. What it can't do is arbitrarily kick booths out after collecting their fees without a good reason.

These women are correct that asking questions during a seminar is not grounds for having them be removed. But as I read from previous posts, the convention is alleging that they misrepresented their groups identity when applying. One of their members is a comic artist, and they entered under her name. And while they represented they were coming under the banner of her comic, they had promotional materials for the "Honey Badgers".

I can pretty much guarantee that the convention's contract contains language which permits them to expel people who misrepresent identity of the organization purchasing a booth. And if that's the case, they won't recover anything.

Karissa36 · 2015-07-15T19:54:17+00:00

35 comic books per convention at 20$/book for 10 years, assuming no increase in popularity.

It should be painfully obvious that if it cost over $12,000. to attend the convention, (as the pleading claims), and their anticipated comic sales at each convention were only $700., it's impossible to show a loss of income from not being able to attend future conferences. In addition, this is anticipated sales of $7,000., not $14,000.

The damage claim here needs some very serious work. "To Be Provided" doesn't really cut it.

TheDude41 · 2015-07-19T21:49:44+00:00

Stick it to them.

Karissa36 · 2015-07-15T19:34:44+00:00

There was nothing said or done by her that would in any way create a negative or unsafe environment or show disrespect to those with whom they contended.

As I recall this was one of the stipulations required of attendees at the conference. As I also recall, on the evening of the 17th Alison published a Honey Badger podcast on YouTube which was quite negative about this panel discussion, selectively used recorded quotes that were not fairly indicative of the entire panel discussion, and generally accused the panel members of "damseling".

The fact is that a conference attendee can create a negative environment and/or be disrespectful to other conference attendees outside of the physical building of the conference. Panel members were no doubt dismayed to find themselves secretly recorded and criticized so publicly to what they perceived to be a hostile audience.

The plaintiffs better be prepared to address this defense. The complete absence of any reference to Alison's evening podcast in this draft pleading strongly suggests that they are not prepared to do so.

As for free speech, as /u/tiqr properly explains, this was a private venue. In addition, the defendant has no duty at all to list all of their defenses or reasons for evicting attendees. Clearly the convention center decided to say as little as possible when this public controversy erupted. They are entitled to do so.

Finally, the requested damages claimed are absolutely ridiculous.

Title	Update on the Honey Badger Brigade's legal case
Author	EvilPundit
Upvotes	64
Comments	41
Date	July 15, 2015 2:38 PM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/3ddvzc/update_on_the_honey_badger_brigades_legal_case/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/update-on-the-honey-badger-brigades-legal-case.975361 https://theredarchive.com/post/975361

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