Legal troubles will continue for League of Legends developer Riot Games with new lawyers for plaintiffs in a gender discrimination suit against the company withdrawing a previously proposed $10 million settlement offer.
Riot Games is majority-owned by China's Tencent Holding/ADR TCEHY.
New Lawyers
New attorneys Genie Harrison and Joseph Lovretovich are now representing the plaintiffs, and are pulling back the settlement offer following allegations the previous plaintiffs' representatives colluded with Riot Games, and that the plaintiffs in the case could be able to win much more, possibly as much as $400 million.
"These brave women spoke out against gender inequality and sexism, and I want to make sure they are fairly compensated," Harrison said in a statement. "We intend to recover the compensation due to the women of Riot Games and achieve institutional reform, in order to level the playing field for women."
Riot Games Response
Riot Games said in a statement it was committed to reaching an outcome "justified by the underlying facts." The company said, however, that it believed the earlier settlement proposal was "fair and adequate."
The suggestion by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing in a court document filed in the case that the plaintiffs could be entitled to as much as $400 million to make up for pay discrepancies with men at the company isn't justified, Riot Games said in a statement.
"With respect to the numbers posited by the DFEH, we'll say again that there is no basis in fact or reason that would justify that level of exposure and we believe that any assertions to the contrary can simply not be made in good faith," the company said.
The case, filed in California, stems from accusations made in 2018 by two women who worked at Riot's Los Angeles studio who said they were harassed and discriminated against, a complaint that later became a class action suit representing about 1,000 female employees of the developer.
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