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Activision Blizzard motion to halt lawsuit denied by California court

Activision Blizzard's most recent effort to halt the California DFEH's lawsuit over ethical grounds has failed.

Ozzie Mejia

October 25, 2021 10:35 AM

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The latest domino in the ongoing battle between the state of California and Activision Blizzard fell today. Earlier this month, the publisher had made a motion to stop the lawsuit over various ethics allegations against the plaintiffs. On Friday, the California court denied that motion, clearing the way for the lawsuit to continue.

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing originally filed suit against Activision Blizzard back in July. The suit cited multiple allegations of sexual harassment, unequal pay, a toxic "frat boy" culture, and more over the course of a 29-page case. However, there looked to be some drama a few weeks ago, as a potential conflict of interest arose involving lawyers on the DFEH's side. However, the judges presiding over the case ultimately found no reason to pause the lawsuit.

"After being informed of this conflict, DFEH retained new counsel but appears to have filed the present intervention motion just hours after this counsel was retained, strongly suggesting that the motion is a product of the prohibited representation," the EEOC stated in a brief (via Bloomberg Law).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Activision Blizzard had previously agreed to an $18 million settlement. However, the DFEH has since objected on the grounds that the deal would release Activision from certain state claims.

The saga of Activision Blizzard and its ongoing legal trouble is far from over. Keep it on Shacknews for the latest updates.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?