On Friday, July 12, Dave Hester was ordered by a judge to pay $122,692 for A&E’s legal fees for the anti-SLAPP motion he filed against A&E.
YUUUP!
He lost BIG but Dave caught a break. The judge questioned the submitted legal fees (money grubbing lawyers) from A&E’s legal team of 8 lawyers and 4 paralegals at whopping $138,194; and from Original Productions 3 lawyers at $43,263.
Total legal fees: $181,457!
Combined legal team incurred 354 hours on the anti-SLAPP motion.
The judge however trimmed A&E’s legal fee amount by 30% and Original Production’s by 40%, but that’s still $122,692 Dave Hester must pay out to A&E’s legal team.
SLAPP stands for "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation." It’s under the first amendment act of freedom of speech. SLAPP can be a civil complaint or counterclaim filed against individuals or organizations.
Unfortunately Dave’s chance to win an anti-SLAPP motion is slim since these motions are highly unsuccessful in court; however they do well to bring awareness to the public arena.
The disgruntled ex-reality star, fresh from being kicked off the show, revealed in the lawsuit that A&E salted the storage units bought on Storage Wars. In layman’s terms the producers planted “items” in the storage units to generate drama and intrigue to increase ratings and interest.
THAT was the public awareness Hester wanted to come to the fore.
Dave’s stance was that Storage Wars made him look less adept than fellow bidders through “interference and manipulation of the outcomes of the auctions shown.”
Dave Hester then slapped an anti-SLAPP motion against A&E.
He lost.
Judge slapped Dave Hester with a $122,692 legal bill!
But it’s not over.
Dave Hester’s lawsuit is a five-part claim (sort of like a very costly mini-series). Pending lawsuit includes “claims of breach of contract and good faith.” Judge also gave Hester the chance to collect more evidence and re-file his wrongful termination claim.
The Dave Hester vs. A&E lawsuit saga continues…
Tell us what you think of the latest development in the Hester vs. A&E lawsuit in the comment box below.
Although I feel that Dave has a HUGE ego, if the producers salted the units, then they broke trust with the buyers and the public…sounds like they fired him and he called them on it…big corporations always try to screw over the little guy…so, good luck to ya Dave…see ya in the funny papers…
Paul: The lawsuit is still ongoing so it will be interesting to see if A&E and Original Productions have to show the paper trail that would solidify Hester’s claims.