Mark Waid’s lawyer Mark Zaid has filed a motion to dismiss Richard Meyer’s lawsuit against his client.
Zaid’s primary claim for dismissal is that the the “Court lacks personal jurisdiction over Mr. Waid.”
Mark Zaid’s file to dismiss elaborates:
“Plaintiff brought this suit against Mr. Waid, a California citizen with no contacts with Texas, in an illegitimate effort to intimidate and silence Mr. Waid’s free speech.”
He also paints Meyer in an extremely negative light writing:
“[Meyer] baselessly blamed Mr. Waid, who is an outspoken proponent of diversty and defender of women and others historically under-represented in the comics industry, rath thatn putting theblame where it belongs: [Meyer’s] own unfavorable reputation he created through his personal words and conduct. [Meyer’s] refusal to accept responsibility (and appetite for attention) culminated in this baseless lawsuit.”
Zaid’s attempt at branding himself a defender of women has been called into question with a number of accusations made against the comic book writer made by women.
Mark Zaid argues that Meyer’s claims of tortious interference with contract and defamation are “completely meritless.”
After denigrating Meyer’s character, Zaid finally gets back to his actual argument for dismissal.
“Plaintiff’s Complaint fails to identify any allegations or facts establishing any connection between Mr. Waid and Texas. Instead, Plaintiff merely alleges a single phone call between Mr. Waid, who was in California at the time, and a San Antonio pulbishing company. That is far short of the necessary substantial connection with Texas to justify personal jurisdiction. Mr. Waid did not even know that Plaintiff apparently lives in Texas…Therefore Mr. Waid plainly could not have purposefully directed any conduct towards Texas.”
Zaid continues:
“Any connection between Plaintiff’s allegations and Texas is merely collateral.”
He goes on state that Meyer’s book is not about Texas and would be marketed to the world. He also states Waid did not mention or reference Texas and his statements were not made from Texas.
Zaid concludes, “Plaintiff fails to establish even a prima facie case of personal jurisdiction over Mr. Waid, thus requiring dismissal of this lawsuit.”
Nick Rekieta of Rekieta Law in Minnesota breaks down the motion to dismiss.
Rekieta explains that Zaid’s file to dismiss will be hard to argue because “Mark Waid does a ton of business all over the country because he sells comic books in every state. Now he is an employee of a publisher. He’s an executive at a publishing house.”
Nick continues:
“Even so, he called a publisher in Texas, about a contract in Texas, involving another guy in Texas. What does he think he’s doing?”
What do you make of Zaid’s file to dismiss? Do you think the suit will get dismissed or it will continue?