Coffeezilla must face Logan Paul suit
Looks like Logan Paul’s legal battle can continue! A Texas magistrate judge has given the thumbs up for the influencer to proceed with his lawsuit against the YouTuber “Coffeezilla.” Paul claims Coffeezilla defamed him with remarks about his controversial CryptoZoo project.
In a report dated March 26th, filed in a San Antonio federal court, Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad recommended that Judge Orlando Garcia, who’s overseeing the case, should reject Stephen Findeisen’s (Coffeezilla’s real name) request to dismiss the lawsuit. Judge Bemporad reasoned that Findeisen’s statements came across more like factual claims than just personal opinions.
Judge Bemporad explained in his report that at this early stage of the lawsuit, Paul has “sufficiently alleged” that Coffeezilla’s statements could be seen as defamatory and aren’t simply just opinions that can’t be challenged legally.
He further stated, “The Court should not accept the Defendants’ argument that the context around Findeisen’s statements makes them non-defamatory.”
Paul originally filed the lawsuit back in June, arguing that an X (formerly Twitter) post and two YouTube videos by Findeisen about his CryptoZoo non-fungible token (NFT) project were intentionally harmful and damaged his reputation.
What’s CryptoZoo about? Well, it was supposed to be a blockchain game where players would purchase NFT “eggs” that would hatch into digital animals. These animals could then be bred to create even rarer, unique creatures, supposedly earning players tokens based on their rarity. However, the actual game never really took off.
Ever wondered what a shark-elephant hybrid would look like? Apparently, CryptoZoo did too! (Image source: CryptoZoo)
Paul is arguing that Findeisen labeled him a “serial scammer” and called CryptoZoo itself a “scam” and a “massive con,” all of which Paul denies.
Last month, Findeisen tried to get the case thrown out early, arguing that his statements were clearly opinions, and he even included disclaimers in his video descriptions stating they were opinions.
But Judge Bemporad wasn’t convinced. He concluded that “Findeisen’s three statements do meet the legal definition of defamatory.” He also pointed out that the disclaimers were “not particularly prominent” and only become visible if viewers expand the video description.
Even if the disclaimers were more obvious, Judge Bemporad added, “they wouldn’t really change the fact that Findeisen’s claims are presented as factual.”
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Both Paul and Findeisen have 14 days to challenge Judge Bemporad’s report. As of writing, lawyers for both parties haven’t responded to requests for comment outside of regular business hours.
Interestingly, Findeisen had already released three videos about CryptoZoo back in 2022, which Paul didn’t sue over at the time, though he did threaten legal action.
Paul later backtracked, apologized for CryptoZoo’s issues, and in January 2023, promised to create a plan to address the project – which finally materialized a year later. Paul earmarked $2.3 million for refunds, but with a catch: claimants had to agree not to sue him over CryptoZoo.
Meanwhile, a group of unhappy CryptoZoo buyers has already filed a class-action lawsuit against Paul and others involved in the project. Paul has requested that this lawsuit be dismissed. He’s also filed a counter-lawsuit against two business partners, claiming they are actually to blame for CryptoZoo’s problems.
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