A Van Nuys Superior Court judge will decide this month whether YouTube personality Jack Doherty must reveal his financial worth before trial in a lawsuit alleging he ordered his bodyguard to assault a man during a live-streamed Halloween party.
A Van Nuys Superior Court judge will decide whether YouTube star Jack Doherty must reveal his finances before trial in a lawsuit alleging he ordered his bodyguard to assault a man during a live-streamed Halloween party for viral content.
A Van Nuys Superior Court judge will decide this month whether YouTube personality Jack Doherty must reveal his financial worth before trial in a lawsuit alleging he ordered his bodyguard to assault a man during a live-streamed Halloween party.
Chase Cameron Gardella, the plaintiff, filed the lawsuit in February 2024 against Doherty, Jack Doherty LLC, Banger Official LLC, and bodyguard Justin "Kane Kongg" Goslee. The suit alleges assault, battery, negligence, negligent hiring, aiding and abetting, unjust enrichment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
According to court filings, the incident occurred in the early morning hours of October 31, 2023, outside a Sherman Oaks Halloween party. Gardella was on the street talking with Doherty and Goslee when the alleged confrontation began.
The suit states that Goslee asked, "What are we doing?" prompting Doherty to respond, "We're gonna fight. Us two versus you two, all right go," then gesturing that he and Goslee would attack Gardella and a friend.
Moments later, Goslee punched Gardella in the face, causing him to fall and injure his head, face, and neck, according to the February 2024 complaint.
"Defendant Doherty told his audience that physical injury and the lawsuits that follow can be economically worthwhile so long as the violence generates more content revenue than the claim costs," Gardella's lawyers state in their pleadings. "That profit-over-safety calculation is the exact conduct punitive damages are designed to punish and deter."
Doherty live-streamed the assault on the platform Kick and posted videos of the incident on YouTube, X, and TikTok, where he has a combined 22.8 million followers, the suit alleges.
Gardella's attorneys filed court papers on Friday with Judge Michael R. Amerian requesting pretrial access to Doherty's financial information ahead of a June 29 hearing.
Access to a defendant's assets normally occurs only after a trial, when jurors have formally found that the defendant acted with malice, oppression, or fraud. Gardella's legal team argues that Doherty's own recorded statements and conduct already establish malice.
The plaintiff's lawyers contend that Doherty hired Goslee in 2023 specifically because he wanted to profit from the bodyguard's tendency to engage in violent behavior.
"He uses security guards as pawns in his content and puts them in violent situations to entertain his viewers," according to the plaintiff's lawyers' pleadings.
The court papers allege that before leaving for the party, Doherty and Goslee watched a video of Goslee knocking a woman unconscious while working security for a previous employer. Doherty then allegedly sought ways to encourage Goslee to engage in violent behavior to impress viewers, and celebrated the resulting content.
Doherty's attorneys argue that Goslee was acting independently, driven by his own personal frustrations and "clearly outside the scope of any assigned duties as security for Mr. Doherty when (Goslee) struck plaintiff."
The defense contends that Gardella is not entitled to punitive damages because he cannot demonstrate that Doherty engaged in conduct involving malice, fraud, or oppression.
At its core, the lawsuit asks the court to hold Doherty liable for a punch he did not throw, an argument he did not provoke and conduct that fell entirely outside any conceivable scope of Kongg's duties as Doherty's independent contractor security guard, Doherty's lawyers further state.
Gardella, who was not an attorney at the time of the alleged attack, has since become a practicing lawyer. He now represents himself in the broader public narrative of the case while maintaining legal counsel for the litigation.
The suit also alleges that Doherty has a pattern of behavior.
"Doherty has a history, both before and after the subject incident, of filming himself harassing, assaulting and antagonizing members of the public by having his security guards step in to intimidate and assault them if they react to Doherty's harassment," the suit states.
Trial is scheduled for November 2 in Van Nuys Superior Court.
This story is based on court filings and reporting from MyNewsLA.com. All allegations remain unproven in court.
This article was generated with AI assistance.