Description: Cale Group pursues an anti-trust federal investigation against Masters Corporation, with the intent of breaking up the various fighting leagues in holding by the large corporation. Representing Cale Group is Company Executive Bethany Cale. Representing Masters Corporation is Actress Lightning Spangles. Judge overseeing the case is the honorable Judge Herman Winthrop the Third.
There are many sides to Bethany Cale. There's the narcissitic party animal which most people associate with her. There's the cold-hearted monster people like Jezebel have glimpsed. There's the thrill-seeking maniac that her Mad Gear days brought out in her. But none of these sides suit the trouble she wants to cause today. Today, she needs to be Bethany Cale: The respectable businesswoman and would-be media mogul.
Dressed in a sharp Armani pantsuit, Beth has her hair up and her notes prepared. She has arrived fastidiously on time, and settled herself in place with not a speck out of line. America loves an underdog, but it also has an almost fetishitic attachment to entrepreneurs; and these are images that she wants to project today. Presenting her case herself, as a businesswoman trying to climb onto the fighting circuit, fighting a world stacked against her (in spite of all the many ways this just isn't true in reality), she can present an image as well as any actress alive.
She has a staff; it is minimal. A bodyguard kept discretely to the back, an assistant to help her ensure her notes are in order. But she'll be handling this herself. It is too much fun for her to let anyone else handle it, and it plays into the image if she doesn't have a crack legal team between herself and the judge.
Bethany has repeatedly stated that she herself is not a fighter any more, having abandoned that path in her misbegotten youth. But the atmosphere in the courtroom is as tense as before any battle. She has never lost in what she's set out to do before... she has no intention of starting today.
And yet, the thousand faces of Bethany Cale could not compare to the mask of Jezebel Failblesse.
In the Masters Corporation corner, they had picked an interesting spokeswoman to handle the Cale offense, while Ken Masters recovers from his bear attack. A crack team of lawyers? An expert 'image controller?'' No, it was a celebrity. A fairly... comical one, actually.
Lightning Spangles, the All-American Heroine.
But Lightning Spangles was not in the courtroom, not yet. She was standing in the woman's room, staring into the mirror at the woman looking back at her. Like Bethany, she had dressed for the occasion. Blue pantsuit, but with the fancy cowgirl hat upon her head. After all, she could not be in a full Lightning Spangles regelia. And yet, she let little cracks show; Lightning-themed jewelry, a hand full of rings. There was a guady flare in everything, though just barely within the confines of a courthouse setting. She had arrived early, but she was not on time yet. She was just staring into that mirror. Staring into the face of Jezebel. "You can do this, Jezze." She tells her herself. "If you do this, your carreer will be set. You will never have to look in the past. Nobody will look at the old you. You will be Lightning Spangles. Official Spokewoman of Masters Corporation. You will be the biggest name in the fighting circuit. You will be a heroine to the big shots. You will know all the right people. You can do this."
"You can do this, Lightning Spangles."
Lightning Spangles moves in place behind the her corner, the desk beside Bethany. She unfortunately arrives slightly after the mistress of Cale Corporation, late due to her psyche up ritual. But that warm grin, those sparkling eyes, she places the briefcase on the table, and unpacks the notes that were prepared by the brilliant legal minds of Masters Corporation. A gambit, a gamble, all placed on this old actress from Disney. Eyes bright, she waits behind the desk, barely containing her energy.
She was going to do this.
It is unusual for a claim from a citizen to be pushed to court in any reasonable time frame; even less so when a filing involves the Federal Court. Be it through connections, bribes, or simply personal desire to see one Ken Masters forced to writhe while following the news, Bethany Cale has garnered a whole lot of attention in very little time.
Journalists abound in the courtroom today, all clutching some manny of pad be it paper or prepended with an overpriced lowercase letter. Cameras have been banned from the courtroom to maximize the space available for real law enthusiasts as well as to keep the event from turning into a media circus. After all, who READS about court proceedings anymore when there's no video to go along with it?
At the appointed time of the trial's commencement, there is a call put out.
"All rise for the honorable Judge Herman Winthrop the Third."
As people stand, an aged man steps in from a wooden door behind the stand, adorned in the usual black robe. He's a plain-looking figure save for the presence of an especially bulbous nose that looks as though it had been busted at a young age and fattened itself to avoid a similar accident for the rest of his life. He steps to his own chair, pulling his hands beneath his knees to tug the robe up against them and, with a regal flourish, sits in the most comfortable seat that tax dollars can buy. "Please be seated," he says, prompting a visual cue from the appointed bailiff for those unable to hear him. "Are the Prosecution and Defense ready?" he asks, even as he's handed a filled binder and manilla folder, each of which he opens upon his built-in desk. Papers are spread out for his viewing alone, his eyes squinting slightly as he goes over minute print.
And then he realizes who is going to be representing each side. He looks upon the women with a skeptical furrow in his brow. "Who is your counsel?" he asks, not recognizing either of them for having experience with a bar that's not of the alcoholic kind.
When Jezebel enters, Bethany makes a point of making eye contact, and simply smiling the widest, most genuine smile that she can manage. Nodding her head to indicate that she sees the woman, and hey, she almost looks happy to do it! As though she's greeting an old friend.
The smile is gone when the judge enters, and she stands up. She may not be a lawyer, but she'd rehearsed enough with people who were to think she has a pretty good handle on what she's going to have to do in this one instance. Besides, she doesn't need to outplay an /actual/ lawyer. Just Jezebel James of the ole Wild West. Overall, she's pretty optimistic about her chances. She, at least, is not wearing a ridiculous hat.
"The prosecution is ready Your Honor." She says, perfectly at ease. "I have elected to make my case myself." She doesn't smile, instead she glances to her aide, who shuffles some papers in a helpful manner. Apparently to indicate that she's not doing it entirely on her own; there are rather a lot of papers after all. She's spent the time to prepare a lot of evidence!
Oh, Lightning Spangles smiles back at Bethany.
While thinking quietly about what a lying, fake skank she was behind that smile. Jezebel was an actress; and she had seen the real Bethany. She knew what roles she was meant to play. If she wanted to be Little Ole' Miss Homebodies, then let her play that role.
But Jezebel wasn't buying it for a moment.
Rising for the judge, she takes off the cowgirl hat out of respect for the judge. Where Bethany was building herself as the underdog, Lightning Spangles had a different job. Present the evidence in a winning, charismatic fashion, and to keep the evidence credible. Her eccentric persona was unassuming for the courthouse; if she could keep people's expectations low for her performance, she could overwhelm them. And unlike Bethany, and possibly fortunately for her, Jezebel was NOT downplaying the support she is getting.
Dear god, she needed it.
"Well, your honor," Lightning Spangles begins with that hearty western drawl of a real country girl. "Williams and Bowse Inc has, under agency of Masters Corporation, assigned me to be the representative of Masters Corporation using the notes and preperation from the attorneys themselves, as per documentation sent in to y'all! Masters Corporation is all right and rarin' to get this defense right on track, Your Honor!"
And then, she lets loose that bright-eyed wink.
The Honorable Judge Winthrop (the Third) wrinkles his brow at Bethany for a few seconds before looking at all of his papers, pulling some up and aside to look at the documents beneath. Jezebel, for her part, is given a short nod in return; apparently what he'd read has appeased him somewhat as he no longer looks quite as nonplussed. "Very well, Miss--" He leans forward to look at the top of his paper stack once more. "Spangles?" There's a very slight sigh with that, but it's what's been presented.
"All of the filings seem to be in order, anyway. Let me say that this court will not tolerate the wasting of tax payers' dollars, so I trust that you will both conduct yourselves in a manner befitting your roles."
He shuffles his papers into one stack and, leaning back in his seat, intertwines his fingers and rests his hands in his lap. He looks directly at Bethany and informs, "In this case, Cale versus Masters Conglomerate, is in session. The Prosecution may make opening statements."
"Naturally, Your Honor."
Bethany's voice is clear and businesslike; and she glances down only momentarily to take in her opening statement notes. "Today, I intend to prove that the position the Masters Corporation occupies within the fighting media constitutes an effective barrier to entry for any new competitors to the industry."
"I will make this argument in three ways. The first is to expose evidence that Mr. Masters is part of a cartel which colludes today in order to ensure that only privileged figures are given the right to make bids for assets within the fighting media."
"The second is to demonstrate that the pricing schemes offered by Mr. Masters are clearly slanted towards dominating the time of up and coming fighters, and that they far outstrip any reasonable competition within the industry."
"Finally, I will demonstrate that the amount of airtime that the Masters Corporation is able to command due to its command of production, distribution and advertising constitutes a direct barrier to competition given the limited resource that competition fighters represent, and is a status which can only be achieved through the acquisition of multiple companies at the expense of millions or perhaps billions of dollars."
After giving her opening statement, she calmly sits back down.
While Bethany talks, she has the judge's full attention. He makes no visible cue as to what he thinks of anything she states, but neither does he interrupt her. It would appear that her statement matches with the filed claims well enough, nor does any claim sound unrelated to the court.
"Very well." He now turns to Jezebel, the other side of the coin. "The Defense may now make her opening statements." Exactly as before, all things in order.
"Sure shootin', Your Honor!"
Where Bethany holds a formal air, Lightning Spangles carries the bright, southern-fried lawyer air. With her drawls, her swagger, and her sheer presence, she was carrying herself with an almost comically laid back edge. Even her words held an improvised air, shooting off the cuff with natural flow.
"Now, the Masters Corporation doesn't need to put out the specifics on how it isn't breaking the law, as the burden of guilt lies with you, Your Honor. But those are some mighty big points what Mizz Cale is concerned about. The real big picture is whether or not a private firm can get it on and break into the wide world of Fighting Media! Now, every single one of them is plumb wrong, but mighty good points nevertheless! So here are MY three points I'm gonna make on the defense against this accusations!"
"That per the Sherman Act of 1890, Masters Corporation is neither operating as an cartel with other competing firms, nor is it conducting any business with competiting firms to prevent marketplace entry!"
"Now, the second big deal is all about the private contracts between employees and Masters Corporation ,and how does it compare to the competition. There are no laws in place about the regulation of private contracts for martial artists, outside the protection of the fighters against unfair business practices, and whether or not that outbids the competition is a matter of legal, fair business transactions."
"Finally, Masters Corporation is gonna get on and make it clear that holding a majority the marketplace is not a violation of US anti-trust law! Being successful in business is not a crime; but certain unlawful actions to prevent marketplace entry IS a crime, and I am done ready and set to prove that everything Masters Corporation has done as an operating business to be legal, ethical, and moral!"
Bowing her head, she takes a seat, that smile not fading for an instant.
As soon as Jezebel starts speaking, the people in the stands are scribbling /furiously/. That, or touch-typing as quickly as they can. There will be a lot of direct quoting from this, the defense "attorney" with the southern drawl so rich that one can scoop it with a stick.
The judge himself again seems content with the starlet's arguments, and is in truth, surprised with the points that she makes...if not her presentation of them. The old man's hands lift up, fingers steepled. His slightly-crooked pinkies part and tap against one another time and time again, the whole mesh of triangular digit-weaving blocking, for the most part, his mouth. It's lower for just a few seconds, time enough for him to turn back to the court clerk. "Do you have all of that?" he asks, mindful of the shift in mental gears necessary to wade through such an accent and properly document the statements. After receiving a positive response, His Honor turns back to Bethany.
"The Prosecution may now present its exhibits for evidence as well as any witnesses that she may wish to have address the court."
Bethany stands up, and clears her throat. "Thank you Your Honor. If I am truthful, I struggled with the best way to present the evidence mounting against Mr. Masters. In the end, I decided that the best way to do so was to call an expert witness. Therefore, I would like to call Mr. Ken Masters."
She pauses for just a moment, and then smiles. "Of course, Mr. Masters couldn't deign us with his presence today, dazzling us with his celebrity guest instead. Therefore, I took the liberty of preparing the evidence from his own recent statements."
A tape recorder is produced, and... click!
Ken Master's voice rings out into the courtroom.
"The Saturday Night Fight brand was Geese Howard's creation. When he fell from the public eye, it was agreed that Masters Corporation would receive controlling intrest in order to keep it afloat. To that extent, I have upheld the accqusition with the utmost integrity. I have spoken to Geese numerous times in regards to this, and every time he has stated he does not want the brand back."
Bethany pauses it, and interjects. "Here we see clear evidence of collaberation between the two major players in the fighting world at the time in order to exclude companies - such as my own - from being able to make an offer and compete for ownership of the property. Note that whilst Mr. Masters no longer has an interest in the property - saying that he's tried to give it back to Mr. Howard - he has never publicly floated the rights to the property and seems determined to keep it in the hands of either himself or Geese Howard. Now why would that be? Well, lets ask Mr. Masters again."
Click. Ken continues speaking.
"The Neo Development Project is NOT a sole Masters Media project. It never has been. From day one, it was a /joint/ project between myself and Howard Industries. As such, Geese Howard is infact on the board of trustees FOR the Neo Development Project. So really, the claims of me having a monopoly are really.. well.. Stupid."
Bethany smiles thinly after the end of the recording. "Mr. Masters wants to keep the Saturday Night Fight brand between himself and Mr. Howard, because the pair are good friends who work together to shape the world of fighting. I'm ... amazed that Mr. Masters' defence against having a monopoly, is that he conspires with one other man to the exclusion of all others. When Mr. Howard was directly involved as a competitor, an argument could be made that the market was split - now it seems that these two men between them actively exclude anything like a fair process for new entrants into the market."
As before, the scratches of pen and type heads against paper resound in the silence once Bethany is silent. The judge, however, is quick to speak, apparently not willing to keep much in the way of idle time. "Unless the Defense finds objection, the court will accept this exhibit as number one in the list of evidence against Masters Corporation." He looks expectantly at Jezebel, and to his credit, shows a fine poker face. It's hard to tell just what he thinks of this recording, but there is due process to follow!
"Now right on there, I do object!"
Standing up, Lightning Spangles thrusts out a finger straight for the judge, before easing off softly. "Sorry for raising my voice, your honor, but I was just dumbstruck by the sheer unprofessionalism of that kind of evidence. What we are having here is a serious legal proceeding on whether or not Masters Corporation is breaking the law, and frankly, using an advertisement is just a gosh-dern mockery of the whole American court system." Shaking her hand, she nods her head.
"Here, let me explain!"
"Part of the reason I was brought right on in is because Ken Masters is in no condition to defend himself, in the wake of his bear assault by the CEO of Mishima Zaibatsu! Now, Mizz Bethany's recording is in fact straight from the man's mouth... while in the hospital. Recovering. Now, Ken Masters is a nice guy. When you get a nice guy put up on enough painkillers to knock out an elephant, you bet he is gonna be real gushy about his business associates. Cale Corporation just happened to jump him at a gosh darn confused state. I mean, all Mizz Cale has evidences of is why you don't do press releases when high on painkillers."
"Which is why I will bring much more reliable information on the terms of the relationship between Howard Enterprises and Masters Corporations
Frisking out a set of document, she steps out of from behind the desk, strutting up towards the Judge. "Now, what we have here is an executive report of every single high-level contract between Masters Corporationt and Howard Enterprises. Every contract, every gosh darn transaction, and how every single matter is reported to the SEC. The fact that this is being tossed in your lap, your Honor, is just like you say: A waste of taxpayers dollars. The fact they are friends MIGHT be a conflict of interest... but under the guidence and reporting of the SEC, in the end it is just business. You can HAVE friends in business. Why, you probably go out golfing for a few associates yourself, your honor!"
"But that isn't evidence of acting in a cartel!"
"I request that the audio recording be struck as evidence, due to the innate unreliablity of it! Its from a confused CEO recovering from a bear attack, clearly on painkillers affecting his judgement, and above all, has no relevance on the fact they are acting on a cartel. The only evidence it provides is that Ken Masters likes Geese Howard, and then he is probably a friendly drunk too. In any case, there is far more reliable evidence in the public and SEC filings of all transactions between Ken Masters and Geese Howard's business! Whether or not they have a positive working relationship is not evidence of a cartal, but evidence of a businessman who conducts himself formally, politely, and above all, in a professional manner amongst his competition. If Mizz Cale wants to present evidence of a Cartel, she should present evidence of how her company was unable to break into the competitive fighting field, and where the organized efforts of Howards Enterprises and Masters Corporation prevented Cale Corporation from entering in detail! Otherwise, this is just as pretend as my good friend, the Hoedown Dillo."
Lightning Spangles suddenly gives a wink to an empty seat in the courthouse behind her.
With a nod toward the bailiff, Jezebel's papers are handed off and then handed off again, ending up upon the judge's desktop. While she continues to speak, he's flipping through them, scanning for relevant information. He continues scanning even after she finishes talking, scrunching his his pudgy nose to make clear some of the footnotes.
"You are correct, Miss Spangles, that--" He pauses for a moment, suddenly taken aback. He leans toward the court stenographer and asks in a low tone, "Did she say /bear attack/?" After receiving confirmation that that is indeed what Jezebel said, he sits back in his seat once more and continues.
"You are correct in that a witness needs to be in a lucid state to offer acceptable testamony. May I assume that you have medical records showing Mister Masters' medication at the time frame in which the Prosecution gained this interview?" He turns to Bethany, "And the Prosecution, I assume, has officially-notarized documentation affirming the exact date, time, and speaker of the exhibit?"
"Your Honor. Before we blow the bear attack out of proportion, I would like to note that Ken Masters is a man who has traded blows with Vega. He can shrug off tank rounds and punch his way through twelve inches of steel if the mood takes his fancy. Implying that a bear is in any way a serious threat to Ken Masters is little more than utterly ridiculous."
She shakes her head sadly, "Indeed, this whole sorry business is further evidence of the collusion at the upper echelons of the fighting world. Ken Masters put out this release in direct response to my comments on July 9th 2012. He has declined to share his medical records with the prosecution - if Ms. Spingles' argument is correct, then I can only presume that this is because he doesn't wish to share that information for fear of harming his case."
"Heihachi Mishima of the Mishima Zaibatsu was, however, able to gain access to Mr. Masters - something which I have attempted on sixteen occassions over the past year - and this so-called mauling took place just before this case became public knowledge. Not bad enough, apparently, to stop him making a robust defense in public, and to belittle me and my company, but bad enough to trot Ms. Spingles out here, and just before Mr. Mishima was able to get a new fighting league underway inside a week."
"I would submit that this only strengthens the fact that the people at the top of the fighting media are intricately linked to Mr. Masters, and their success is predicated on his involvement. The Cale Group's own attempts to break into the fighting media will be documented in more detail in the third stage of the argument, unless you would like the facts and figures now."
"Sure shootin' Your Honor!"
Hustling over to the edge of the desk, she draws out some forms. Almost casually, she listens to Bethany's counter-point, a riposte against the heart of her argument. There was a vague script that Jezebel was told to stick VERY close to. Naturally, Jezebel has already thrown that out of the window, relying on keeping the heart of the legal argument... while giving it her own Spangles twist. Of course, as Bethany winds down, she just expresses with playful exasperation at the end of her argument.
"Lightning -Spangles- dear! Springles are a kind of potato chip!"
Approaching the judge with the documents, she continues. "Well, other than downplaying a bear attack, the bear WAS stated as helped by Heihachi Mishima. I won't go into the details of that assault case, since that's well outside what we are focusing on. But what Mizz Cale seems to be upset about is that she can't get access with Ken Masters himself. Well, as a private citizen, doesn't Mister Masters have a gosh darn right in choosing who he does and does not hold meetings with. It sounds like that there Cale Group is getting sour grapes on being bad at their business. I mean, if you had some darn homeless person asking for an audience with the President, it isn't a crime if the President says no. Ken Masters doesn't have to do business with Cale Group. Cale Group doesn't have to do business with Masters Corporation either in order to break it on out in the Fighting Circuit. There is no evidence that Cale Group NEEDS to work through Howard Enterprises, or Mishima Zaibatsu, or even Masters Corporation, nor is there any evidence that, short of providing a high-quality product, that it actively will block any product Cale Group may wish to put out. To dictate that Masters Corporation MUST do business with Cale Group would be a violation of Masters Corporation personal rights, and would bring undue power to the federal government! I mean, lets face it pardners."
"Bethany Cale can sometimes be just gosh darn unlikable!!"
Handing up the documents up to the judge, the bear the specific medical records of Ken Masters, per some black marker on personal information, in regards to his medical stay in the wake of the Heihachi attack. "As for the lack of documentation provided towards Mizz Cale, I just plain don't know why she couldn't just request it from the legal counsel! Maybe she was all screwed up on the protocol. I might not be the most savvy legal person here." Lightning Spangles begins, passing a wink towards Bethany.
"But maybe the prosecution should learn not to keep coorespondance through Twitter!"
Once again, Jezebel's documents are taken, passed along, and examined under protracted scrutiny. Judge Winthrop apologizes for his mispronunciation and corrects himself, but that doesn't stop him from pointing at the young lady with a stern finger. "I'll remind you that this is a court of law, not a playground. We've no need for petty verbal jabs in my courtroom."
With that said, he again leans back in his seat, holding up a file in each hand as he compares notes and scrawlings. After a few minutes, having apparently memorized what he needs to, he tidies them up and returns them to the Bailiff. "The court accepts both exhibits," he says, leaving the documents to be processed appropriately.
"Unless the Prosecution has any further arguments, the Defense may not present any further exhibits for display."
"No further arguments on this point, Your Honor." Bethany says, though, she'd clearly bristled throughout some parts of Jezebel's response... she doesn't rise to the bait, apparently doing her best to blank the woman and instead focus on just getting her case out.
"The next argument demonstrating Mr. Master's systematic attempt to block new entrants to the fighting scene is evident in the prize money alloted to fighters in the Neo Development Project. This is a project set up specifically to encourage new and upcoming fighters rather than those with more experience. In itself, I am not convinced of how genuine this is, given that the same man has won the Project twice in a row... but leaving that aside, I contest that this project has been set up purely to set unreasonable expectations for new fighters as to their potential wages."
"The average tournament victory may net a winner approximately ten thousand dollars. The last season of the Neo Development Project paid $100,000 per fight. The average wage in the United States in $40,000. The Masters Corporation has been paying new and upcoming fighters up to two and a half times the average annual wage of a United States citizen PER FIGHT. Since I made my claim against him, the upcoming season will pay only $10,000 per fight. But this is still as much as one could reasonably expect in an entire tournament outside of the Project, and given we regularly see fighters competing over a dozen times in a season, can still represent easily three times the average annual wage."
"This recent step towards slightly more reasonable earnings is clearly a callous and cynical move to try and avoid the consequences of their blatant attempt to monopolize all up and coming fighters now that I am bringing it into the open. I would dearly like to hear how one is supposed to compete with this kind of draw, when there are only so many fighters to go around and the ones who have yet to establish a name capable of earning on their own can ensure they have no need to work for a year or more just by taking a week to fight a few times for Masters' cameras."
"Sorry Your Honor!"
Lightning Spangles backs down for a moment, politely listening to Bethany, knee bouncing in time. She was, in comparison to Bethany Hale, well unconfined, and like the Judge did point out, making this seem like a playground. She was having fun, and was showing it. It was almost easy to forget the billions she was playing around with. Bethany continues on her spiel, and when she finally finishes...
Lightning Spangles objects.
"I object, your honor! What Mizz Cale is arguing is that not only should Masters Corporation should be forced to do business with her, but also fixed their wages to professional fights to whatever she can afford! The very idea that there should be wage caps is absurd, considering that per the contracts of the fighters, none of them are specifically blocked from taking on other tournaments. Now, Masters Corporation took a hit with those big-draw payouts. But the result was that it got a LOT of fighters in the scene, and with the next season raring up, it has the clout of a lot of big name fighters not only for the NDP, but for the Neo-League as well. So what if they are amazing payouts."
"It's not illegal to pay out the nose for fights!"
Lightning Spangles runs her hands on her hat. "In theory, Cale Group could provide a whole different set of services. They could give a bigger payout, but less benefits, like medical assistance or paid-for transportation. Or they could have a smaller payout, but more benefits to pamper their top-level fighters! There a whole mess of business models. I mean, if I paid everyone a million dollars to join my deputy troupe, that wouldn't be against the law, but I would be out of a whole lot of money! Now, I do in fact see where Mizz Cale is running with this. It CAN be anti-competitive by making the bid for the fighters, and then blocking them from any rival tournament, such as anything Mishima puts out. But Masters Corporation has never done that, nor will they ever do that. Fighters are free to come and go with Masters Corporation, based solely on payouts if they wish.'
"And Thus, it provides a freedom of entry for any business to hop on it, and sift through the pool of fighters without restriction."
As flashy as Jezebel may be, she seems to know what she's talking about...or has she been coached to know what to parrot? The judge crosses his arms before his chest, holding an elbow in the palm of a hand while the other hand taps a single fingertip against his cheek. He does this through her whole rebuttal, looking ever so attentive. When she stops speaking, he leans forward, placing his arms on the desk before him.
"In this country, there is indeed no law against paying one beyond their ability." There are a great number of protests the world over regarding things like this in the current economic crisis, so it's not even limited to the national scope. "And it is certainly not against the law to lose money on a prospect." He turns to Bethany, his chair swivelling as he leans forward to address her. "Miss Cale, do you have evidence of a collective effort of Masters Corporation, Howard Industries, and the Mishima Zaibatsu to prevent any participants from taking part in other such events?" He does his best not to sound accusatory. Rather, he would prefer to cut right to the meat of the argument.
Bethany clears her throat. "With due respect Your Honor, Price discrimination is made illegal under the Sherman Antitrust Act. 15 U.S.C. 2, the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. 13, and by the Robinson-Patman Act, 15 U.S.C. 13-13b, 21a, when engaged in for the purpose of lessening competition. In this instance, this is clearly the case because fighters cannot be in two places at the same time, nor can they devote their energies to success in multiple tournaments simultaneously."
"A reasonable difference between the average winnings and those afforded by competitors would be one thing. Two and a half times the average wage of a United States citizen per fight, in order to ensure that the only sensible game in town is Ken Master's Neo Development Project is quite another."
"I never said Mr. Masters should be forced to do business with me. I said he should be forced to make his offerings public rather than between a privileged few. I never said he should be forced to fix his wages. I am merely pointing out that he is engaging in business practices which are illegal under United States law by any reasonable definition. Mr. Masters does not need to make fighters sign non-competition agreements. He only needs to starve out those in the industry who are not part of his cartel."
At this remark, the Judge seems appeased enough. His lower lip pushes out a little bit, his eyes lift up, and he considers the letter of the acts in question. Again, he returns to sitting back in his seat, letting his fingertip rest against his cheek. "I will decide as a matter of law as to whether such discrimination of price extends to those taking part in the events, rather than the customers who are expected to pay for the programming." There's a pause before he turns back to Jezebel, prompting her for the next argument!
Oh, crap. She was citing stuff.
Lightning Spangles returns back to her table, visibly a little flustered. Sorting through the yellow-tabbed memos, she seems to be looking for the right paper. Inspecting it carefully. she suddenly flinches and snaps up as she realizes that she was being watched by the judge. Smiling innocently, she pulls up the memo, looking it over once, before clearing her throat.
"Sorry, your honor!"
Placing the memo down on the table, she continues. "Price discrimination is usually associated with a clear product. The product in this case is the actual fight, not the fighter itself. In a way, a fighter is promoting his or her 'service' of performance. I mean, I'm an ex-actress. I would get paid differently based on different gigs. Now, I would LIKE to say a lot of it is based on talent but, uh, a lot of it really hangs on the role you are doing, and how you present yourself. Now, people aren't products. If one person is willing to pay you $5,000, and another person is willing to pay you $1,000; it makes absolutely no sense to force the person that is paying you $5,000 to reduce their wages or face anti-trust legal action."
"And on that public offering."
Jezebel shrugs. "Masters Corporation is a publically traded company, with a large reserve of treasury stock. Which as I understand, means they keep enough reserve to avoid a hostile takeover. You want influence over Masters Corporation? You start sweeping up minority stockholders, or see if you can get a seat on the board of directors. Lots of legal options that doesn't involve going straight to the courts. Legal options that you just plain skipped over coming in here." Lightning Spangles looks towards the judge. "I think that's all from me, Your Honor!"
And Lightning Spangles takes her seat behind the table, giving Bethany a warm, toothy grin.
Bethany doesn't meet Jezebel's eye - still blanking her as she stands up, apparently choosing not to dignify the comment on her business decisions with an answer at all, and instead press on to the final part of her case.
"Your Honor, I will now make the third and final part of my argument. Ahem."
"The fact that we live in a world where literally billions of people worldwide love fighting, but the three regular household names of the modern fighting media are all controlled by Ken Masters should be evidence enough that the barrier of entry is being manipulated. Unless you believe that the entreprenurial spirit of our great nation does not extend into showing footage of one man punching another man in the face for some reason.
"The Masters Conglomerate utilizes a vertical supply chain in order to effectively dominate the production of fighting content. This is part of what allows him to run the outrageous pricing schemes I have just mentioned. The Masters Conglomorate does not just produce fighting media, nor does it just train fighters such as Ken's own prodigies or those highlighted in the Neo Development Project, nor does it just own television stations and other media outlets, design companies, public relations people, or actresses."
"Ken Masters controls all of these things, and he utilizes the full weight of his multi-industry presence in order to enforce his vision of what the fighting world should be on others. As I have mentioned, eighty seven per cent of all fighting media given to consumers has Ken Master's hand in it."
"In order to effectively compete with the prices Ken Masters can offer other airspace, one would need to own a stable of fighters, and at least one each of a design company, a telecommunications company, a video production company, and myriad other companies whom you can force to work with each other at vastly reduced rates in order to make the final product as low as Ken Masters offers the rest of the world. And you will still not break into the television companies that Mr. Masters himself owns."
"In 2006, 2008, 2009, twice in 2010, and 2011 The Cale Group has attempted to put together programs to follow existing tournaments, or to create our own competitors in the marketplace. I have the accounting here, and you can plainly see that even with the considerable existing advantage in our own media outlets, our inability to compete in the vast range of other areas Masters enjoys a dominant position in, ensures that we cannot match his pricing to other networks without running at a significant operating loss."
At this point she gestures to Jezebel herself. "I would like to point out, for instance, that whilst Ms. Spangles has clearly enjoyed the backing of a highly experienced legal team, I doubt there is another company in the world which could command such an energetic and charming face to appear and dance for the cameras in the name of the cameras."
"And that, I believe, concludes my argument, Your Honor. Thank you for your time, and for bearing with any amateurish mistakes I may have made in presenting my case."
For a good ten seconds or so, Judge Winthrop sits in silence, musing over the things that he's heard. After both sides have made their arguments and rebuttals, it now rests upon him to make a decision. The fact that he appears so deep in thought betrays a victor to neither side over the other. Eventually, he leans forward in his seat, elbows supporting him as they rest on his desk.
"This court will take a brief recess to examine the evidence and acts presented in this case. You may leave the courtroom, but I expect all invested parties to return in no less than fifteen minutes for a ruling."
With that, he stands from his seat, swinging down his gavel upon its stand to put a point on the order. With the Bailiff standing nearby, His Honor walks back into the door from which he entered, and with his departure comes a massive shuffling of the crowd. Most of them are eager to leave, to reach a part of the courthouse that allows the use of cell phones.
Log created on 18:47:32 07/19/2012 by Jezebel, and last modified on 00:06:24 07/20/2012.