Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: action lab, lawsuit

Action Lab Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed By US Courts

Action Lab Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed by US Courts, now creators will have to refile lawsuits individually

The previously reported class action suit against comic book publisher Action Lab Entertainment from dozens of comic book creators has been dismissed by US courts.

In September 2021, Bleeding Cool first talked to Action Lab Entertainment CEO Bryan Seaton about complaints from comic book creators regarding payments, rights and publishing. We followed that by detailing a number of such accounts from creators over how Action Lab was handling these complaints, with mixed results. In February 2022, a class action lawsuit was launched, on behalf of comic book creators Jeremy Whitley, Jason Strutz and Emily Martin of Princeless and Raven, The Pirate Princess, Tom Rogers, John Reilly and Dexter Weeks of Herald: Lovecraft & Tesla, John J. Perez of Archon: Battle Of The Dragon, Joshua Henaman of Bigfoot: Sword Of The Earthman, Rylend Grant of Aberrant, David Schrader and Kristian Horn of Baby Badass, Jason Inman, Ashley Victoria Robinson and Ben Matsuya of Jupiter Jet, Dillon Gilbertson of Sweetheart, Ken Marcus, Justin Carmien of Super Human Resources, Corey Kalman, Brockton McKinney, Larkin Ford of AmeriKarate, Tilly Bridges and Susan Bridges of Killswitch, Erica L Schultz of Twelve Devils Dancing, James Wright and Jackie Crofts of Nutmeg, Riley Biehl of Miranda In The Maelstrom, Martheus Wade of Shinobi: Ninja Princess, Massimo Rosi of Cold Blood Samurai, Chad Perkins of Blue Lullaby, David Pepose of Spencer & Locke and Going To The Chapel, Christopher Mills of Gravedigger, Anthony Ruttgaizer of The F1rst Hero and Slayer , DeWayne Feenstra / Axur Aneas of The Adventures Of Aero-Girl , Colleen Douglas of Carmine, John Matsuya and Ben Matsuya of Midnight Massacre, Rod Espinosa of Adventure Finders , Steve Bryant of Athena Voltaire and Mark Stegbauer of Ghoul Scouts. That civil action class lawsuit against Action Lab was dismissed by the United States District Court Western District Of Pennsylvania at the request of the involved parties in August 2023. It was refiled in February 2024 in Allegheny County court but has now been dismissed. Action Lab has not been publishing much of anything since the original lawsuits were filed.

Action Lab comic book creators speak out

Ghoul Scouts' Mark Stegbauer posted on BlueSky, "Well, that absolutely sucks. Almost 4 years wasted. The class action suit involving over 40 creators against comic publisher Action Lab, publisher of my book Ghoul Scouts, was dismissed by a judge last Friday. So now we have no rights to our own properties, and the chances of getting $$ is nil." He further explained on Facebook, "The class action suit against the publisher of my book Ghoul Scouts was dismissed. All this time, I was waiting and waiting, and it was dismissed outright. So we don't get our rights back, and the publisher has no $$ to pay us because they haven't published any books because of the suit, and no new creators will work for them. So I don't know what will happen now. I'm just angry and frustrated right now… I got nothing left. I don't have the time or the energy to keep trying to make something that people give a shit about to have it become nothing anymore…. They have the right of first refusal for any volumes we create. We have one option to get our rights back. We buy all remaining backstock of every issue and every trade and pick it up at their warehouse in Alabama. Since they overprinted everything, I'm looking at around $12k in stock. I don't know for sure as I haven't seen any accurate numbers from them in years."

He continued, "Congrats, comics business, you did it. You beat me. I threw everything I had at you to try and tell stories or be part of something. But in the end, you just said no. You told me to get out and not let the door hit me in the ass as I was leaving. So I'm done. You win. I played by the rules. I worked my ass off, I did the work on time. They got rid of me. I created my own stuff. No one liked it. I made more stuff, and they took it away from me. I'm done. I don't need this anymore. Don't know what to do with myself. I've lost all desire to create. I don't want to look at anything comic-related, let alone read or watch anything having to do with this bullshit industry. Not in a good place today. People say I'm in mourning. I think I'm finally seeing through the illusion that I was going to be able to be part of something good. But I see that's complete and utter bullshit now. Glad I wasted 30 years of my life."

Comic book attorney Gamal Hennessey replied, "The presiding judge dismissed the suit on the grounds that too many of the contractual agreements submitted in the case had different terms," Legal representative Michael Levitz told Bleeding Cool, "The case was dismissed on a technicality. The individual creators can still pursue their claims, just not as a class action, because there are different versions of the publishing agreement and different forms of damages. We are contemplating our next steps, as many creators are willing to pursue their cases separately."

We will continue to cover any new developments in this case.

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