Green Ronin Publishing is in a serious legal debacle. The tabletop developer of Mutants and Masterminds is caught in a dire scenario regarding its distributor, Diamond Comic, filing for bankruptcy. One that can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars lost, and the company potentially closing its doors for good.
The Green Ronin Publishing Legal Defense Fund
Green Ronin Publishing’s co-owners Nicole Lindroos and Troy Hewitt aptly explain their situation in a recently opened GoFundMe page. Earlier this year, Diamond Comic Distributors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which has severely impacted over 100 independent publishers, including Alliance Game Publishers and Green Ronin.
According to Green Ronin Publishing, Diamond is attempting to use a legal technicality to claim ownership of millions of dollars’ worth of consigned inventory. Inventory that can be liquidated to pay off Diamond Comic Distributors’ debt. The problem is that among that consigned inventory is unpaid product that Green Ronin owns.
This has resulted in several major issues for the company. First, it means hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of tabletop products they own may get sold without their input. Second, since Diamond Comic was the company’s main book distributor, it will vastly slow down the printing of their latest TTRPG books, The Fifth Season and The Expanse RPG. For a modest tabletop company, those are two major blows.
The banks are stopping at nothing to wring every last dollar out of Diamond – including taking several hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Green Ronin product to sell in order to pay Diamond’s debts – but they can’t do that, and we’ve got a legal agreement that says as much. Now, we just need to secure a law firm to represent us in the courts.
The current goal of Green Ronin’s GoFundMe page is $28,000. The funds will go towards covering escalating legal fees for fighting Diamond’s claim in bankruptcy court. These fees will include attorney retainers, court filing fees, and pursuing every avenue to recover and protect Green Ronin’s assets.