Activision Blizzard Case Lawyer Resigns In Protest Over Governors Alleged Interference

An assistant to the top lawyer in the ongoing Activision Blizzard lawsuit by the Department of Fair and Equitable Housing (DFEH) in California has resigned in protest, amid allegations that California governor Gavin Newsom had been involved with interference in their case.

In a bombshell report by Bloomberg, an internal email reveals that Melanie Proctor, Assistant Chief Counsel for DFEH was resigning in protest after Newsom had fired her boss, Chief Counsel Janette Wipper and that both of them had been removed from the lawsuit in the past month.

“The Office of the Governor repeatedly demanded advance notice of litigation strategy and of next steps in the litigation,” Proctor says in the email. “As we continued to win in state court, this interference increased, mimicking the interests of Activision’s counsel”.

Newsom’s office has denied any interference with the Activision Blizzard case, though it’s hard to take it at face value- Wipper remains fired while Proctor remains resigned.

According to Wipper, Proctor was fired after she “attempted to protect” the agency’s independence, further alleging that the high-profile case was being tampered with as she was “abruptly terminated” as a result.

There had been suspicions surrounding the Activision Blizzard lawsuit, which remains one of the most high profile lawsuits in the games industry, after the company was revealed to have a massive sexual harassment problem including drunk “cubicle crawls”, a chilling place called the “Crosby Suite” as well as the suicide of one employee.

The suspicions began to appear after they had finally settled the class-action lawsuit for 18 million USD- pocket change for one of the industry’s largest third-party developers.