RPG General News - Chris Avellone’s Accusers Retract Allegations

[HellRazor]

Hmm.. based on US law yes he can sue most businesses that fired, or removed his work based on now known false allegations. I'm sure the businesses think otherwise.

Problem is does he have the money, the patience, and the will to do so?

I think the biggest reason Avellone won't do this is the effect this would have on his future job opportunities in the industry. No one wants to hire someone who is known for suing his former employer, justified or not.

As Couch mentioned, it might be moot anyway if Avellone isn't legally able to sue them for whatever reason. But even if he could, I doubt that he would.

 

[HellRazor]

Avellone gets it. It's the only thing that makes sense. Plus it's been confirmed by people who have contacted him.

Yep. Avellone was the recipient of the 7-figure judgement, according to his statement. Who knows if he will ever collect all of it, but I'm pretty sure that the money was only a secondary concern for him. What he really wanted was to be vindicated and to have his name cleared.

I'm glad Avallone pursued this legally and emerged victorious. People need to stop and think a little bit before they start running their mouths all over the internet, voicing their opinions as if they were facts, with malicious intent to destroy someone's reputation, life, or career.

I don't think the girls did it for money. I think they were on a "crusade".

They were pissed off at Avellone for some reason; thought of him (wrongly, I think) as being a sexual predator, and themselves as being his "victims" when their interactions were consensual; and then went on a crusade against him on behalf of all women being abused in the industry (likely fired up by the "MeToo" movement) - without regard or responsibility for their own actions and choices.

For example - unless someone is force feeding drinks down your throat against your will, they are not getting you drunk - you are getting YOURSELF drunk.

Or, if in your drunken state, you accompany another drunk person to his/her hotel room, and start consensually making out with him/her, THAT IS NOT ASSAULT. It's activity between two consenting adults. Especially when the other drunk person stops immediately after you ask him to.

There are some really deluded and borderline crazy people out there. I've experienced this kind of misguided "crusader" mentality firsthand (in a different context):

A few years ago I was a senior supervisor in a U.S. government office. One of my employees was a program manager who worked with a team of 5 contractors who performed some of the program's administrative work. She was not the supervisor of the contractors - she was expected to work hand-in-hand with the contractors.

My employee was a toxic leader. She created a hostile work environment for all the contractors she worked with. There were constant incidents and disruptions between her and the contract staff. The contracted positions kept turning over - sometimes several times a year - due to her constant harassment and abusive treatment of them. This had been going on for years before I got there.

When I talked to her to try to correct her behavior, she went to our legal office without my knowledge, presented herself to the legal office as being the government manager for the contract (she wasn't), and accused me of illegally preventing her from enforcing the provisions of the contract - not only completely untrue, but enforcing the provisions of the contract wasn't her job.

She was dead wrong - but in her mind she was totally right and justified. She was on a "crusade".

As a result of her complaint, an official investigation was conducted. The Investigating Officer found no validity to her complaint against me; found that she was responsible for creating a hostile work environment; and recommended that she be removed from her position.

Upper management followed the recommendation and moved her to a different position in another division, where she had the same toxic leadership/hostile work environment issues as before. Despite this, she was completely self-deluded about the righteousness of her crusade, and blind about how her problems were a direct result of her own actions and behaviors.

As this whole thing unfolded, no matter how many times she was told she was wrong (by numerous people); and even when it was clear that she had no recourse, and that continuing her "crusade" against me and the contract staff would be professionally disastrous to her; she just would not stop.

While the investigation was still going on, she used the employee union to harass me. Then, after they moved her, she hired a lawyer and filed an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint against me and upper management, which went on for over 3 years. God only knows how much that cost her, but it didn't matter. Her complaint had no validity, and eventually it was tossed out.

Thank god she's retired now. (And thank god I am retired now too!)

 

[HellRazor]

Even with the money, noone really wins here sadly. Chris was always an industry darling, responsible for a lot of PR interviews. I doubt Chris will be offered many comparable opportunities going forward.

Oh, I don't know. He's been completely vindicated by his accusers so I doubt this whole situation will be much of a factor in his future employment. In a few months, no one is going to even remember this ever happened.

 

[bjon045]

Oh, I don't know. He's been completely vindicated by his accusers so I doubt this whole situation will be much of a factor in his future employment. In a few months, no one is going to even remember this ever happened.

Except for the fact that he has a big gap in his CV for the past few years and when anyone googles his name the accusations and settlement are the first things that come up.

Like what previous posters have said this will impact his ability to get a job at big woke corporates. Smaller companies or companies where he already has friends at are less likely to care though as you point out.

Unfortunately he is unlikely to ever be able to work at Obsidian again due to some of the conflict that happened during PoE development (and because of the Microsoft overlords) but hopefully he ends up working at a place like Owlcat or Larian or similar. Any of them would benefit massively from having CA on board. The guy is an amazing writer for sure and companies like Larian and Owlcat struggle with getting top tier writers/narrative leads. If he has another big hit then doors will open up with the big boys again.

 

[Gorath]

I'm not sure he'll be able to get a gig on a big budget game anytime soon. There will certainly - and hopefully - be demand for a writer with so much experience.
Avellone was hired as a writer as much as he was hired to lend credibility to a project and help with marketing, though. The latter was probably only on select few occasions per project, but it was part of the package. It's not clear how much this element is worth now.
We'll have to wait and see. If it's valued at zero it means his usual asking price would become a hard sell.
I can see European developers hiring him to increase exposure for their game, because a little bit of controversy is better than being nearly invisible. In regards to big Euro productions I remain sceptical, AAA US productions I don't expect anytime soon.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

because a little bit of controversy is better than being nearly invisible.

Good point.

 

[Carnifex]

Weird, I'd rather be invisible, lol. My thoughts/feelings on stuff such as this goes: I care about this information about as much as the people involved would care about hearing details on my life. Which, is to say, not at all.

 

[HellRazor]

Except for the fact that he has a big gap in his CV for the past few years and when anyone googles his name the accusations and settlement are the first things that come up.

Chris Avellone is a big name in game development. Anyone seeking to hire him in the first place will already know about the allegations against him and the outcome. It's not the first time a celebrity has had a disgruntled or nutty person trying to drag his/her name through the mud. It happens, and businesses know this. They will typically play it safe and back away from the accused until some determination of guilt is made. But they also know they really have nothing to fear from hiring someone who was wrongfully accused and then publicly vindicated. The air of suspicion is gone.

 

[Thiraury]

Because you can't squeeze water out of a rock.

I meen whats the 7 figure dollar mark even there for? I'll just accept that I don't understand.

 

[JDR13]

I meen whats the 7 figure dollar mark even there for? I'll just accept that I don't understand.

The courts here will order restitution like that even when it's obvious that the person being ordered to pay doesn't have the means to do so. I stopped trying to make sense of it a long time ago.

 

[Hastar]

I meen whats the 7 figure dollar mark even there for? I'll just accept that I don't understand.

OJ Simpson still owes the Goldmans a lot of cash. Even if you can pay people have ways around it.

 

[biggoron]

I think putting it in the release, that Avellone is owed a 7 figure settlement for the defamation the accusers did, reinforces that their allegation was false. Even if there is no realistic way that Avellone will ever get the full sum.

Courts can put liens on property, garnish wages, etc to help pay toward the settlement, but I think Avellone's goal really has been to clear his name.

 

[Arkadia7]

There are certain states where personal property like your home and land is a protected asset and also where other assets can be limited to go after by state law. Texas is one of those states that makes it hard to get debts from people who either can't or won't pay them back. Garnishments I think are also limited in Texas. And I believe Florida is another state that is good if you need protection from debt collectors or have debt problems.

That said, maybe these women who did the false accusations do have money or assets - you never know. This isn't the 1950s anymore, many women have money and wealth these days. And so he could at least get some of his money from the court case he won from them, if they have do have some assets.

EDIT: So looks like some previous comments were saying the accusers were said to not have any assets but I would not take the Codex word for it, I would look into it, if I won a big settlement like that, and see if they do have assets or hiding money or hell, maybe they recently got married to someone who does! (lol)
It is his right to try and collect the judgement.

 

[Stingray]

Avellone has already gained a good amount of money out of this whole thing. When Avellone's case was dismissed in California (before he filed suits in the women's home states), it was ruled that he had to pay one or both of the women (not sure) something like $150K in attorney fees. It's a safe bet that he has the ability to pay that. But this settlement means he can now keep that money, so he's gained that much, even if he never gets anything else from them. But I'm sure he can find a way to get some of the money out of them eventually. Unless they declare bankruptcy, it will likely follow them around their whole life.

 

[HellRazor]

OJ Simpson still owes the Goldmans a lot of cash. Even if you can pay people have ways around it.

The ruling gives Avellone the ability to do things like requesting the court to garnish their wages or to go after anything valuable they own if they don't pay up. He'll still never get the 7 figures of the judgement, but he can certainly get dribs and drabs of money from them for the rest of their natural lives if he so chooses.

 

[HellRazor]

I think putting it in the release, that Avellone is owed a 7 figure settlement for the defamation the accusers did, reinforces that their allegation was false. Even if there is no realistic way that Avellone will ever get the full sum.

Courts can put liens on property, garnish wages, etc to help pay toward the settlement, but I think Avellone's goal really has been to clear his name.

I agree. And Avallone was very amicable in his statement about the whole thing, all things considered.

I knew the accusers' accusations were pretty "out to lunch" from the very beginning, just based on how they worded their allegations, and also from all the evidence Avellone produced. It seemed to me that they were blaming him for their own decisions and actions. They were fine getting into a personal relationship with him, partying with him, etc. until things didn't go their way - and then they tried to paint themselves as his "victims" when they were, in fact, willing participants.

If Avellone was guilty of anything, it was getting too close/intimate with women who were his fans/work associates. He put himself in a position that allowed them to make the allegations against him. This is why most business' prohibit or frown upon employees getting into relationships with co-workers/superiors/subordinates/business associates. Things can get very messy when the lines between "professional/work relationship" and "personal/sexual relationship" get blurred, and it often doesn't end well. I'd be willing to bet Avallone has learned a big lesson from this.

 

[mercy]

Was a lot of fun for Avellone stealing 2 years from his life. Somebody must have hated him to unleash the two accusers.