Lawyers seek to merge gaming lawsuits

JONESBORO — Lawyers for two Arkansas families who accuse the video gaming industry of predatory marketing toward children want to merge their two federal lawsuits with three others the law firm has filed in other states.

Bullock Ward Mason LLC of Atlanta is representing Casey and Tomas Dunn of Poinsett County on behalf of their child in one case and a family from Texarkana in another in federal court in Arkansas.

Those same lawyers have filed suit against the same defendants in federal courts in Chicago, East St. Louis, Ill., and Jefferson City, Mo.

All the plaintiffs have authorized the Atlanta firm to request that the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation move all five complaints to the Western District of Missouri in Jefferson City.

In the meantime, the Arkansas judge assigned to hear the two cases in Jonesboro, James M.

Moody Jr., has been asked to put further action on hold until the multistate panel rules.

That request doesn’t appear to affect another case filed in Jonesboro on Monday on behalf of Kushanel Donerson of Mississippi County, who is seeking damages for her 14year-old child.

The Gates Law Firm of Little Rock initiated that complaint.

All the plaintiffs claim the software developers intentionally design the games to cause them to become addicted, and cause them to spend money they don’t have to continue playing.

“The schemes use psychological mechanisms, behavioral psychology, and neuroscience to encourage repeated play and increased spending among users, especially among vulnerable populations like minors, young adults, and neurodivergent individuals,” Donerson’s complaint alleges. The companies have said all the lawsuits should be dismissed because all their customers signed agreements that they would settle any disputes through out-of-court arbitration.

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LITTLE ROCK — “At an Arkansas detention facility, a sheriff implements a radical social experiment to grant men who are incarcerated more agency in this reality series.” That’s the intriguing log line for “Unlocked: A Jail Experiment,” an upcoming, eight-episode Netflix docuseries about a group of inmates at the Pulaski County jail who were afforded an opportunity to experience incarceration with “no locks and no officers,” according to a trailer released last week.

“The detainees will have six weeks to prove that they can act more like people and not criminals. It could end helping somebody to be free and stay free,” Pulaski County

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Sheriff Eric Higgins says in the trailer.

“This series explores the challenges faced by jails and prisons, such as low staffing, overcrowding, and the negative stigma,” Higgins said in a statement. “Despite these difficulties, my team and I are working on new ways to improve our facility in order to create a safer environment for our employees and help those in our care through responsibility and accountability. Did we face obstacles? YES!

However, I believe this journey will not only change the lives of the individuals involved but also challenge society’s views on incarceration and rehabilitation.”

Despite the trailer having some occasionally inspiring moments, it also includes scenes of inmates fighting, making prison “hooch” and rolling joints. What were the repercussions, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette smartly asked. One also can’t help but wonder about exactly how much say the inmates had regarding their appearance in the series in the first place.

The project came as a surprise to other county officials. Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde, 6th Judicial Circuit prosecutor Will Jones and the members of the Pulaski County Quorum Court told the Democrat-Gazette they were unaware of filming until the trailer was released last week.

A FOIA request by the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette revealed a production contract between the Pulaski County Sheriff’s office and Lucky 8 TV Inc. in which the sheriff’s office “agreed to not disclose their participation in the production until after an episode had aired and a media outlet asked about their participation, at which point officials could confirm they participated in the production.”

The contract, signed by Higgins, also states that Lucky 8 TV Inc. agreed to pay the sheriff’s office $1,000 for every day of filming.

As of Saturday, Higgins had not responded to the Democrat-Gazette’s request for comment. The sheriff’s office spokesperson referred questions from the newspaper to a Netflix publicist who also had not responded.

“Unlocked: A Jail Experiment” is set to come out on April 10.