Gorilla Productions vs Girl Trouble

This is the lawsuit that was filed against Girl Trouble by Gorilla Productions for the information on my neverpaytoplay.com website (READ IT HERE). This is public record. We are posting the whole thing for everybody to read over, or you can scroll down for a few of the highlights of the specific "violations". We have hired Wade Neal as our attorney. We believe it is our right to be able to critique a company on our own blog site. It will be expensive, but allowing our free speech to be silenced is a much higher price to pay. Thanks, Bon / Girl Trouble

THE RULING IS IN! GORILLA PRODUCTIONS VS. GIRL TROUBLE - Judge rules in our favor!

There will be a detailed accounting of this almost two year ordeal but for now we'll just post the official ruling:

11/22/2011: THIS CAUSE CAME ON FOR CONSIDERATION UPON DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS PLAINTIFF'S COMPLAINT FOR LACK OF PERSONAL JURISDICTION. BASED ON THE EVIDENCE BEFORE THE COURT, AND VIEWING THAT EVIDENCE AND PLAINTIFF'S ALLEGATIONS IN THE LIGHT MOST FAVORABLE TO THE PLAINTIFF, THE COURT FINDS THAT PLAINTIFF HAS FAILED TO ESTABLISH THE EXISTENCE OF JURISDICTION OVER ANY OF THE DEFENDANTS, AND THAT GOOD CAUSE EXISTS FOR THE GRANTING OF DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS. IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED THAT PLAINTIFF'S COMPLAINT AND FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT BE DISMISSED FOR LACK OF PERSONAL JURISDICTION. JUDGMENT ACCORDINGLY. IT IS SO ORDERED. COURT COST ASSESSED TO THE PLAINTIFF(S). NOTICE ISSUED

Notice how they don't use our real/legal names. They sent us four registered letters but did not send one to Kahuna.

Among the many complaints about Google searching, etc, Number 5 is the most interesting. I won't waste time defending that I do indeed have the opinion that Gorilla is not helpful to our local scene or that they send spam emails (why did we get four of them?). It's the statement 3) that I want to address: the statement that we claim "Plaintiff is allowing underage kids to drink beer during concerts." This is just a fabrication. My question was: Doesn't it seem sort of strange for a beer company (Pabst Blue Ribbon) to be sponsoring an all-ages battle? I still stand by that. I still think it's weird. And no, not once did I ever mention kids drinking beer during the show.

And yes, when hundreds of bands are turning in thousands of dollars to a production company hosting a concert, I term that pay-to-play (Number 8).

Number 15 is the jurisdiction section where the lawsuit claims that we can be brought to Ohio because of our business "activities" in Ohio. They state: Defendants have played several "rock band" shows including Cleveland and Cincinnati before hundreds or thousands of Ohio residents.

Well, we're gonna level with you. We played Ohio twice. Twenty-one years ago (Oct 1989) we played a benefit for college radio in Cincinnati. It was a benefit for their little radio station so we didn't get paid. We thought we were doing something nice for them. We played in a basement to about 15 Ohio residents (and I'm being generous). We sold no merch. It is a vivid memory stamped in our brains, as is the next time we played Ohio nine years later in 1998. We played in Cleveland Ohio at a place called Pat's in the Flats. It was Tuesday, and even less Ohio residents saw us that night...less than 10. It was a depressing show, we didn't sell one thing. But Pat was really nice and fixed us a great hamburger. Can jurisdiction really be "satisfied" when we played to less than 25 people 12 and 21 years ago? By the way, we played these shows before Gorilla was formed.

As for our "interactive website"...you mean the one with the wrong address listed where you can send me a money order but nobody ever does? It's embarrassing. I really had planned to fix that.

Number 19) I don't have any control on what pops up on a Google search.

Number 30) I believe it would take more than one small critique section of my personal website to cause any giant company like Gorilla to be "ridiculed, hated or held in comtempt."

Number 33) They are suing for my "giant gorilla head that is taking over" crack. Have you checked out the new logo? Looks even more menacing! By the way I got the info about the failed pitch to MTV off a blog from an actual Gorilla Rep who wrote a fascinating piece called "Top Ten Reasons Why I Left Gorilla Productions". It's been shut down, but the info is still floating around.

No, they are not here helping my local scene. They don't live here.

44) Plaintiff was allowing underage children to illegally have access to alcohol - again, that's not what it says.

Number 47 is very interesting. Be sure to check it out. This is where they are claiming extreme emotional distress, headaches and nightmares.

And of course, the damages...