Richard Garriott awarded $32 million in NCSoft legal battle

When Richard Garriot (Garriott de Cayeux, now he's married) triumphed in his lawsuit against former employer NCSoft last year, being awarded $28 million, the publisher unsurprisingly appealed. However, the appeals court has also found in favor of the Ultima creator, and he's now due $32 million.

The lawsuit stems from when Garriott de Cayeux and NCSoft parted ways in 2008, after working on Tabula Rasa.

Garriott de Cayeux claimed that, while quarantined after a voyage into space, he was fired, then NCSoft presented it as him leaving voluntarily. Leaving, rather than being fired, meant his stock options expired sooner, and he was forced to sell in what his lawsuit described as "one of the worst equity markets in modern history."

This lost him tens of millions of dollars, Garriott de Cayeux said, and the court agreed, awarding him $28 million in July 2010. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has now also agreed, Gamasutra reports, and so, with interest and attorney's fees on top, that comes out at today's tidy $32 million.

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