According to The Beat, the trial judge dismissed a class action lawsuit filed against Action Lab Entertainment on behalf of nearly 60 comic book creators.
The lawsuit, filed in Allegheny County Court on February 22, 2024, claims that comic publisher Action Lab failed to pay for dozens of titles. News first circulated in 2021 about Action Lab’s non-payments, lack of reporting and other issues.
Prior to this, Action Lab seemed to be doing well as a comics publishing company, including the launch of a cute logo featuring a dog strapped to a rocket. The publisher was founded in 2010 and had some successes, such as Jeremy Whitley’s Princeless, but fell into non-payment status in 2021. Since the rumors began, the company has been extremely dormant, such as its Facebook page, which has had no new posts since September 2021. CEO/Publisher Brian Seaton, The person mentioned in the lawsuit is still the company’s technical director, but he has also remained silent on social media.
However, lawyers said the original complaint involved more than 300 pages of evidence, so it may take some time to sort it out Michael KatzThe trial judge representing the plaintiff dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that too many terms in the contractual agreements filed in the case were different. Plaintiffs brought too many different claims against Action Lab to truly constitute a class action lawsuit.
The case was previously voluntarily withdrawn from federal court in 2023 and refiled in state court for technical reasons. Creators involved in the lawsuit include:
Tom Rogers/Tillie Bridges/Susan Bridges/Chad Perkins/Corey Kalman/Brockton Rylund/Grant/David Peebles/Jorge Santiago Jr./David Schrader/Christian Horne/Joshua Herneman/Jeremy Whitley/Jason Strutz/Emily Martin/John J. Perez, John Reilly, Dexter Weeks, Massimo Rossi, Jason Inman, Ashley Victoria Robinson, Ben Matsuya, Dillon Gilbertson, James White, Jacqui Rofts, Riley Beal, Matthew Wade, Christopher Mir, Anthony Rutgeiser, Robert Harrington, Dwayne Feenstra, Colleen Douglas, John Matsuya, Rod E Spinosa, Steve Bryant, Mark Steigbauer, Kyle Putkamer, Marcelo Bundy, Miguel Martinez-Joffre, Charlie Mack Fran, Alexander Jovich, James Joseph Walsh, John Joseph Walsh, Jackson James Walsh, Jason Nutt, Alexis Vivallo, Ma Kisan Naso, Jason Mir, Orlando Baez, Eugene Selassie, Samantha South, Wes Locher and Luke Martinez.
Although Action Lab no longer actually exists as a publisher, creators may not be able to get their property back even with so-called unfulfilled contracts: Many contracts only restore rights to the creator when the book goes “out of print.” Even though Action Lab hasn’t put out any comics in a while, the books are still available through Comixology, which means they’re still technically “available” from Action Lab.
All in all, this is a stark reminder: read every word in your contract. Also, if the digital copy is considered a print edition, it will not go out of print as long as there is a computer, so be sure to read that contract carefully.
The judge gave the plaintiffs 45 days to file an amended complaint, so there may be further progress on the creator’s behalf, and we’ve reached out to several creators for comment.
