The Entertainment Software Association, an industry group made up of many prominent gamemakers, has filed a motion for the reimbursement of $1.1 million in legal fees from the state of California, it said Monday.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a proposed California law to ban the sale or rental of violent videogames to minors was unconstitutional. With this motion, the ESA hopes to recoup the money it spent on attorneys and other fees while battling the law. It was originally introduced by California state Senator Leland Yee, who is now running for Mayor of San Francisco.
“From the start of this misguided legislation, then-Governor Schwarzenegger and specific California legislators knew that their efforts to censor and restrict expression were, as court after court ruled, unconstitutional and thus a waste of taxpayers’ money, government time, and state resources,” ESA CEO Michael D. Gallagher said in a press release.
There's precedent for this motion: In 2006, a district judge forced the state of Illinois to pay the ESA half a million dollars after shooting down the state's attempt to enact similar legislature. Courts have also struck down violent videogame laws in Michigan and Washington.
