San Andreas suits advance

When the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sex-minigame scandal hit the mainstream media last year, legal action swiftly followed. A series of class-action suits were filed against Take-Two Interactive, owner of GTA publisher Rockstar Games. One plaintiff was Florence Cohen, who claimed she suffered emotional damage after learning of the minigames in San Andreas, which she had bought for her grandson.

Along with many others, Cohen's complaint sought class-action status for all purchasers of San Andreas. Over the course of the past year, many of the San Andreas suits have been combined in a federal court in New York City. There, lawyers for Take-Two have argued that some suits be dismissed on the grounds that they could be filed only in the states where the plaintiffs actually resided, not federally.

Yesterday, according to the Reuters news service, a judge ruled against Take-Two, saying that she would consider granting all plaintiffs class-action status. "If class certification is granted, the court will have the benefit of a well-defined class and a more fully developed treatment of potential choice of law questions," U.S. District Judge Shirley Wohl Kram was quoted as saying.