Coffeezilla shouldn’t duck Logan Paul suit over CryptoZoo claims: Judge

Influencer Logan Paul should be allowed to continue a lawsuit accusing YouTuber known as Coffeezilla of making defamatory remarks about Pauls failed CryptoZoo project, a Texas magistrate judge says.In a March 26 report filed in a San Antonio federal court, Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad recommended that federal Judge Orlando Garcia, overseeing the case, deny Stephen Findeisens bid to toss Pauls lawsuit, as Findeisen presented his claims more akin to facts than mere opinion.At the pleading stage, Plaintiff [Paul] has sufficiently alleged that the statements at issue in this case are reasonably capable of defamatory meaning and are not unactionable opinions, Bemporad wrote.The Court should reject Defendants contention that context renders Findeisens statements nondefamatory, he added.Paul sued Findeisen in June, claiming one of Findeisens X posts and two YouTube videos about his CryptoZoo non-fungible token (NFT) project were malicious and caused reputational damage.CryptoZoo was pinned as a blockchain game where players buy NFT eggs that would hatch into animals that could be bred to create unique animals to earn tokens depending on their rarity. The game is yet to materialize.An example of a CryptoZoo NFT animal that combines a shark and an elephant. Source: CryptoZooPaul claimed Findeisen called him a serial scammer and that CryptoZoo was a scam and a massive con, which Paul denied.Findeisen asked the court for an early judgment last month, claiming his statements were made to be taken as opinions and his videos had disclaimers in the description section saying as such.But Bemporad found that Findeisens three statements meet the legal definition of defamatory and noted that the disclaimers are not particularly prominent and are visible only when the section is expanded.Even if the disclaimers were more prominently on display, however, they would not materially change the factual nature of Findeisens assertions, he added.Related: Crypto influencer Ben BitBoy Armstrong arrested in FloridaPaul or Findeisen can object to Bemporads report within 14 days. Lawyers for Paul and Findeisen did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of business hours.Findeisen also released three videos in 2022 on CryptoZoo, which Paul did not bring defamation accusations against but previously threatened to sue over.He later backtracked, apologized, and in January 2023, promised to come up with a plan for CryptoZoo which came a year later with Paul earmarking $2.3 million for refunds so long as claimants agreed not to sue over the project.Meanwhile, a group of CryptoZoo buyers sued Paul and others they accused of being involved in the business in a class-action lawsuit, which Paul has asked to have tossed. He has also filed a counter-suit against two business partners who he claimed were to blame for CryptoZoos failure.Magazine: Meet lawyer Max Burwick The ambulance chaser of crypto