WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 2005--The computer and video game industry will file suit in Michigan asking that the state's new video game law be overturned, the Entertainment Software Association announced today. Similar laws were previously found unconstitutional and thrown out in St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Washington State, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
"If this law is implemented, it will not only limit First Amendment rights for Michigan's residents, but, by virtue of its vagueness, it will also create a huge amount of confusion for Michigan's retailers, parents, and video game developers," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the ESA, the trade group representing U.S. computer and video game publishers. "I'm confident the court will affirm our position given the rulings on similar statutes in other jurisdictions; indeed, the facts, the science, the law, and the U.S. Constitution have not changed since those decisions were handed down."
The court won't seek you out and hand over your money and overturn your conviction in that circumstance. It's not like a tax that gets automatically refunded.
You went straight from "no, it doesn't happen" to "well, it's not automatic" somehow bypassing the "I was talking out of my ass" stage. Most impressiveI bypassed it because I wasn't. I was talking from a pragmatic standpoint. The court won't seek you out and hand over your money and overturn your conviction in that circumstance. It's not like a tax that gets automatically refunded.
No, the law is law unless/until it is overturned by the court or repealed by the legislature. There are no refunds. This is not like an unlawful tax which gets repealed.
Technically what you quoted is true, but there is no automatic mechanism which undoes the convictions and results like fines of defendants convicted of unconstitutional laws. Every defendant would have to petition the court to revisit his case. Depending upon the size of the fine, many if not most people wouldn't go to the trouble to hire a lawyer and pay the filing fee(s) to do it.
Appeal's still pending. But reimbursement is a fairly standard procedure in the American legal system.It doesn't matter if it is pending. An appeal to a higher court would have no relevance on legal fees from litigation in that court. So, was the motion granted or denied?
Nice job merely omitting any kind of reply to my second point, btwI replied below.
I'm sure you're a far superior resource of American law than AmJur, though.Technically what you quoted is true, but there is no automatic mechanism which undoes the convictions and results like fines of defendants convicted of unconstitutional laws. Every defendant would have to petition the court to revisit his case. Depending upon the size of the fine, many if not most people wouldn't go to the trouble to hire a lawyer and pay the filing fee(s) to do it.
The IDSA countered June 19 with a motion to be reimbursed for attorneys' fees by St. Louis County in the amount of $170,882.40.Was the motion granted though and for that amount? It's not a certainty.
The IDSA countered June 19 with a motion to be reimbursed for attorneys' fees by St. Louis County in the amount of $170,882.40.
No, the law is law unless/until it is overturned by the court or repealed by the legislature. There are no refunds. This is not like an unlawful tax which gets repealed.
" The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and the name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void and ineffective for any purpose since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it; an unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed .. An unconstitutional law is void."
Once they lose the case (assuming the already established legal precedent holds up) they'll have to pay the ESA's legal fees.They could, but it's not a certainty.
If a law is found to be unconstitutional I'd imagine there's some way for those affected by the law before it was deamed unconstitutional to get their money back (+ grievances, I'd assume).No, the law is law unless/until it is overturned by the court or repealed by the legislature. There are no refunds. This is not like an unlawful tax which gets repealed.
Prodigy was refering to the lawsuit.I know but since the attorney general's office is a branch of state government which is paid to litigate matters such as these, it essentially costs nothing extra for the state to defend the law in the suit. It's better than the attorney general and his deputies just sitting in their offices drawing their salaries.
Prodigy was merely suggesting that the state will lose more moneyBut it actually won't lose money given what I wrote above plus the additional revenue from the fines. Lowenstein is just using that claim of money lost as a ruse to sway the public to the ESA's side. Remember you are reading an ESA press release, i.e. a propaganda piece, not an independent news story. The only side which will effectively pay legal fees is the ESA and its members.
I can't wait to hear about how you're actually rightThe wait is over.