Example "Your kid threw a rock through my window and did five hundred dollars damage, invoice for the repair included. Please pay this amount within thirty days to avoid further action."
But this is a tangible amount, i.e. something that can be proven that the plaintiff actually lost in cash value as a direct result of the respondent’s actions. Lloyd is setting an arbitrary amount that he wants in cash in order for HIM to consider this case as settled. There is no proof of these damages and the only way this is ever proven is in discovery where he has to open his books and point to a specific loss and try to blame it on this tweet or that forum post. Good luck with that.
This puts the defendant on notice, if the case goes to court the plaintiff can point out they made a reasonable effort to settle the problem outside the courts.
He’s not doing this in “good faith” nor is it reasonable. I’m sure his lawyers did advise him to send out demand letters in order to demonstrate to the court he was willing to settle. But what his lawyers didn’t account for was the fact that their client is a dipshit who after the fact, posted on social media that this was never a negotiation and he was getting the arbitrary amount HE set or else. This invalidates most if not all of that gesture.
It’s an age-old maxim that you always ask for more than what you’d accept. If this was done in good faith, for example imagine if someone countered with taking the content down and he came back with “take it down and apologise”. Now that’s an actual negotiation done in good faith. Instead he’s saying “no I want the money” which is a bit of a red flag for the court as to his motivation.
I’ve been involved in civil litigation before and the court’s primary concern is coming to a compromise that is fair to both parties.
Add in the fact that most of the alleged defamation is directly culled from his livestream, why should anyone settle with him? I wouldn’t even take the content down, let alone pay him. He’s only trying what he’s always done which is bully people into deleting everything, shutting up and going away.
One telling factor is the low ball statement of damages
He asked for €3000 from Jonathan Burger, Cappytan, Altworldly, JW Beliefs Discussed, and €8000 from the rest. €8000 is hardly a King’s ransom but it’ll definitely be missed and I know for a fact that in more than a few cases it was outright impossible for the “defendant” to pay. His total damages he was asking for was €56,000.
As my algebra teacher always used to say, “show your work”. That’s a shit tonne of money to pay a guy who got drunk on a livestream and admitted to nearly everything Kim said. I still remember thinking “is this real? Does he know he can’t ever take this back?”
€56,000 in damages requires a lot of disclosure that he’s in no way ever going to allow for the simple fact that it would prove how much he’s been fleecing this community. €56,000? That’s more than what most of his patrons earn in a year.
The court exists for justice for all parties, not to act as a bill collector for Jabba the Hutt.
