In 2019, embattled anime voice actor Vic Mignogna, accused of sexual harassment by several parties, filed a defamation lawsuit against former employer Funimation and several other voice actors. The court ruled against him in October of that year, prompting him to file an appeal. Yesterday, he not only lost his appeal on all counts, but may be required to pay additional legal fees to the defendants of his suit.
The Court of Appeals in the Second Appellate District of Texas found that Mignogna did not provide enough evidence to prove that some of the statements made against him were false or that any were made with malice. According to the court’s decision, Mignogna will not only be responsible for paying off fees related to his appeal, but will likely have to pay more attorney’s fees to fellow voice actor Monica Rial and her fiance Ronald Toye. The court sent Mignogna’s lawsuit back to the lower court to come up with a higher, more appropriate attorney’s fee for him to pay, in part because the cost of Rial and Toye’s legal representation exceeded the ~$US125,000 ($173,525) the prior court decision had previously awarded the pair.
Read More: One of Anime’s Biggest Voices Accused of Sexual Harassment
In addition to voicing Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, Mignogna was a well-known voice actor behind the English dubbing of Broly in Dragon Ball Z and Junpei in Persona 3. When Dragon Ball Super: Broly was making the rounds in its U.S. theatrical release back in 2019, stories began to circulate from multiple fans who’d met Mignogna over the years concerning sexual harassment and other innappropriate interactions.
Fellow voice actors chimed in with their own stories. In a Twitter post, DBZ voice actor Monica Rial corroborated accusations from other voice actors against Mignogna which detailed similar, inappropriate interactions with him.
Mignogna denied the claims made against him in a long Twitter post in January 2019 before filing a defamation suit against Funimation, Rial, Toye, and voice actress Jamie Marchi in April. Later that year, Texas state district Judge John Chupp dismissed Mignogna’s 17 defamation claims, prompting Mignogna to file his appeal a few weeks later. He’s now lost the appeal as well, and the court may increase the amount he must pay to Rial and Toye.
When news broke of the accusations against Mignogna, comic conventions, Funimation, and Rooster Teeth all cut ties with the voice actor. Mignogna was also replaced as Broly’s — a character he’d voiced for 16 years — voice actor in Dragon Ball FighterZ, with Bleach voice actor Johnny Yong Bosch stepping into the role. For a full breakdown of Mignogna’s lawsuit, you can read the r/AnimeDubs subreddit thread.
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