The former LoL streamer James “Phantoml0rd” Varga sues Twitch. He was actually only allowed to claim $50,000 in damages according to a clause. However, this clause has now been overturned by a judge. The former player of the League of Legends was one of the early stars on Twitch – until a ban in 2016.
This has now been decided: Initially, Varga had a contract with Twitch that included a specific clause: This clause stated that each contracting party could only sue the other for a maximum of $50,000 in damages. This was likely a clause that was contained in many contracts between Twitch and streamers at that time.
A judge in California has now overturned this clause on the grounds that Varga would have earned about $10,000 a month at that time. A limit of $50,000 stands in no relation to the earnings.
Furthermore, Varga had a disadvantage when signing the contract: He was not sufficiently legally advised. Although he had a college education and had signed contracts before, there was an imbalance in the legal knowledge of both contracting parties, ruled the judge.
The judge also states: The limitation to $50,000 makes a lawsuit against Twitch ultimately pointless, as the attorney fees alone would eat it up.
This does not mean, however, that Varga will receive this money – it only means that he has the prospect of more money if his lawsuit against Twitch is successful.
Other arguments from the streamer, claiming he did not read the contract but only pressed the “big colorful button”, the judge found unbelievable. Because Varga, as a professional user of a computer, must surely know how to operate the mouse wheel to scroll through a contract.
Varga claimed that he only pressed big buttons that said “Sign here” and “Continue” because he thought that was expected of him in the situation. He did not know that he could scroll further in the contract.
PhantomLord was one of the first Twitch stars
Who is PhantomL0rd? James Varga (30) was a mid-laner for two professional teams in the early days of League of Legends, in 2011 and 2012. He had already made a name for himself in games like Counter-Strike, WoW, or Quake 3 Arena.
However, Varga became a streamer on Twitch relatively early, even before the big hype began. Between 2012 and 2016, “PhantomL0rd” built a channel on Twitch that had over a million followers.
However, he was banned from Twitch in 2016.
Involved in betting scandal around CS:GO
Why is he suing? The channel of Phantoml0rd was deleted in 2016 after allegations arose that he owned a site where players could bet with weapon skins in CS:GO.
He used and promoted this site in his streams on Twitch without disclosing his connections to the site.
He was accused by an eSports journalist of owning this site and playing with “house money” instead of his own.
Varga is now suing Twitch for financial damages resulting from his ban from Twitch:
- He accuses Twitch of banning him based on unfounded, false accusations from third parties.
- He did not receive written notice of his violations.
- And he was not given 30 days to correct the misconduct as was contractually agreed.
The overturning of the clause is now considered a “small victory”, although Varga has not yet won the case.
