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NEWS > U.S.A. > HASBRO SUED OVER “UNFAIR” MONOPOLY

HASBRO SUED OVER “UNFAIR” MONOPOLY

November 19 2008

Milwaukee, WI – A Milwaukee area man has filed suit in federal court seeking damages and an injunction against toy giant Hasbro after being unable to successfully beat his wife at the board game Monopoly. The suit seeks unspecified damages, a recall of the game, and an SEC investigation.

“My client has had numerous opportunities to play the board game ‘Monopoly’ and in each instance has lost. He has played against his wife and a number of other opponents and has lost each and every time. It is our position that the board game is inherently unfair and skews unnaturally towards the player who plays better,” said Mitchell James, lawyer for Richard Haas. “We feel that the board game is intrinsically unfair and that contravenes the notion of fair play. We do not feel that one player should have a ‘Monopoly’ of success over another, if you will excuse the pun. Our demands are quite reasonable.”

While Monopoly, like many other board games, depends largely on chance and a small amount of strategy, Haas and his lawyer insist that nature of the game is skewed towards people who roll the dice more effectively and act more aggressively in purchasing properties.

“Games are meant to be exactly that. What ends up happening in this case is one player is able to dominate another to the point of embarrassment and that cannot be tolerated,” continued James. “We need to have fairness in our games. There is enough stress in the real world and games like this are meant to be a relief, not a hammer to continue pressing the issue.”

Haas also claims that the repeated losses have resulted in stress on his marriage, another part of the reason for the suit. While many lawsuits in recent years have centered on user created issues, most have resulted in tangible damage. The viability of a lawsuit that spawns from psychological damage while using the product properly has never been tested in court before.

“When it comes to something like a coffee lid coming off, that’s a result of faulty manufacture which deliberately or not is manipulated by the user and damage is caused,” said Scrape TV legal analyst Gabe Hawthorne. “The difficult thing for Hasbro
is that the product is being used properly and has caused problems. If they are able to argue that there is tangible damages being done to the plaintiff, and that there is something natively a part of the game that is causing it, they may be in trouble. The game is designed to work this way and if it is faulty then they very well could be liable.”

The case will be heard in the Wisconsin circuit court.

“They also seem to be asking for quite a bit. Likely there will be a small settlement but the call for an SEC investigation is a little much. After all it isn’t a real monopoly, just a game,” continued Hawthorne. “The dumb ass argument is a treacherous one most of the time and there’s no reason to think this one will be any different. After all the guy can’t win at a board game, there’s no reason to expect he can win a lawsuit.”

Mike Michaels, American Correspondent

NEWS > U.S.A. > HASBRO SUED OVER “UNFAIR” MONOPOLY

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