I think it's pretty funny to watch everyone pile on Barnes. For those of you that have actually taken the time to have a look at the lawsuit before you start berrating people, the two primary components are: 1) Cumulus/99X illegally used portions of audio and video from a privately owned company, and 2) defamatory statements were made by principals of said company, primarily statements around the nature of Barnes' disengagement from Cumulus/99X.
Both of these are actionable positions. For those of us that have watched a movie before on DVD or VHS, we've all seen the "FBI Warning" at the beginning of the movie. You know, the whole reproduction, distribution, dissemination without express written consent thing, So, 99X did, in fact, break this law by playing clips both on the air, and promoting a public viewing, without receiving permission from the production company. American Pie profited through this by the food and alcohol sales from the patrons that attended the viewing. also a big no-no.
Secondly, as a large company and employer, it is generally improper to discuss the terms of a persons employment in a public forum, whether that be their engagement or disengagement. So, the fact that it was said numerous times that Barnes was fired, if in fact he wasn't, this is a valid complaint in Employment Practices Law.
The secondary comments, while incindiary and probably hurtful, are really meaningless. That isn't the teeth in this particular lawsuit, and I certainly wouldn;t categorize it as frivalous.
So, as I said, he has an actionable position for both of these items. It seems like it's just more of the same, however,for people to call Barnes names and make a big joke out of this. All the while, he is operating within his rights to make suit and proceed down a legal course of action. Either the parties will opt to settle, or a jury will hear the case and determine it's merit. The American Juducial System as it was intended.
And, also, while everyone likes to talk about what an a$$ he is and what a bad guy he is, he never used his show, or any medium, for that matter, the bash his former mates the way that they attacked him.