It was announced via TheWrap on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, that A&E has a partial victory in the first round of its ongoing lawsuit battle with former "Storage Wars" star, Dave Hester. The maser of the "Yuupppp" on "Storage Wars" claimed in a lawsuit against A&E that the reality show is rigged and fixed.
A ruling was made on Tuesday by Judge Michael Johnson of the Los Angeles Superior Court that sided with the network on a few points. The judge also threw out the Unfair Business Practices of Hester's complaint on grounds of the First Amendment.
Johnson has also sided with A&E in a ruling stating that an injunction against the series would violate the network's First Amendment rights.
Hester's suit was filed back in December 2012 in the Los Angeles Superior Court. He claimed that he had been fired for complaining about "Storage Wars" and how it was rigged. His most specific allegations are that the show's producers plant valuable items into storage lockers to have the stars bid on them.
A&E filed an anti-SLAAP motion to strike stating that the show can enjoy the protections of the First Amendment. A press release was issued by A&E refuting the claims made by Hester and said they were commercial speech which would not be protected.
Johnson stated that Hester did not provide "any citation to a particular policy within the (Communications) Act."
"We are pleased that Judge Johnson rejected Mr. Hester's baseless unfair business practices claim," one of A&E's attorneys, Kelli Sager of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, told TheWrap in a statement.
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