Ultima Lawsuit Bulks Up

A class action lawsuit filed against Origin Systems and Electronic Arts last March 3 is getting new life breathed into it today.

George Schultz, the lawyer representing the original five named plaintiffs, spoke with GameSpot News Wednesday and stated that an amended complaint was in the process of being recorded by the San Diego County Court clerk today. He expected the amended complaint to be recognized by the court by the end of the business day today (April 15).

The amendment seeks to add an additional ten names to the list of plaintiffs (bringing the total to 15) and also adds an additional cause of action. That new cause of action invokes the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act and in some ways, Schultz says, has little effect on the substance of the class action complaint in its original form.

Schultz says the amendment will make it easier for the complaint to be considered a class action suit and will also make the defendants (Origin and EA) responsible for legal fees should the court eventually determine in favor of the plaintiffs (gamers).

One aspect of the lawsuit Electronic Arts spokespeople have brought to the attention of GameSpot News is the fact that the lawsuit - filed over a month ago - has yet to be served, or delivered, to either Origin or EA.

An EA spokesperson had expressed a feeling that the company's hands had been tied. While the company knew about the suit and had even read the entire suit's contents on the Web, it had not been officially served with the suit and therefore was unable to aggressively respond to the allegations in court.

Schultz said he declined to serve EA and Origin because immediately after he filed the lawsuit in March he was contacted by what he today called "a deluge of gamers" who wanted to add their names to the suit. Schultz felt it was more expeditious to wait until additional names were added to the suit and then serve the defendants just once.

Schultz expects both Origin and EA to be served with the amended lawsuit shortly.