Ty Beard, the legal representative for Dragon Ball Super: Broly voice actor Vic Mignogna in his ongoing defamation lawsuit, has filed a motion to dismiss filings by the defendants due to being filed after specified deadlines while also facing a complaint filed against him to the Texas Bar Association.
On August 7th, Beard filed a Plantiff’s Motion to Strike or Disregard Defendants’ Late Filings, asking that the Tarrant County Court “strike the documents Defendants filed in support of their TCPA motions to dismiss,” as Beard states these “were filed after the deadline to file their motions to dismiss.” These include Funimation’s first and second Supplemental Briefs in Support of its TCPA Motion, filed weeks after their deadline, and Monica Rial and Ron Toye’s Supplemental Affirmative Defense and Supplement to Motion to Dismiss, filed days after their respective deadlines. Beard argues that these filings must be disregarded due to the strict deadlines put in place by the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA). (Related: Date Set for Dismissal Hearings as Funimation Provides Supplemental Evidence in Ongoing Dragon Ball Super: Broly Voice Actor Vic Mignogna’s Defamation Lawsuit)
“Here, the TCPA unambiguously states that a motion to dismiss must be filed by a date certain (60 days after service) and that a hearing must be conducted by a date certain, […] but it does not state that supplementation is permitted after that deadline. Since the Court is to presume that the Legislature intentionally omitted any provision for supplementing a motion to dismiss after its filing deadline, […] the Court should presume that the Legislature did not authorize supplementation after the deadline for the motion has passed.
What is the point of a deadline if the movant can continue supplementing after the deadline? If Defendants are permitted to continue supplementing their motion after the deadline, they essentially are granted a perpetual opportunity to file their motion to dismiss and defeat the purpose of the sixty-day deadline.”
Meanwhile, Beard has allegedly been the subject of an ethics complaint to the State Bar of Texas, filed against him by attorney Akiva M. Cohen, a New York based attorney who has become an ardent, third-party supporter of the defendants in this case on social media. (Related: Dragon Ball Super: Broly Voice Actor Vic Mignogna’s Legal Team Files “Motions to Strike” Pieces of Funimation’s Evidence Due to “Hearsay”)
According to attorney Nick Rekieta, Beard will be filing a Motion to Dismiss this complaint under the TCPA. Though some have noted that the recently signed HB 2730 removed TCPA protections for attorney disciplinary actions, these updated provisions will not take effect until September 1st, 2019.
As of writing, Cohen’s complaint has not been made publicly available.