Michael Willman, CEO of Redev and moderator of the r/WPDrama subreddit, has filed a Motion to Intervene in the WP Engine lawsuit against Automattic and Matt Mullenweg. Willman claims the feud between Automattic and WP Engine, exacerbated by Mullenweg’s actions, has caused him significant harm, including financial loss, panic attacks, depressive episodes, and damages to his reputation.
Willman stated that he suffered a financial loss of $14,500 and that two potential clients backed out due to the banning of WP Engine customers. He also mentioned his inability to access mental health services due to financial constraints. In a message to Mullenweg in the #ranting Slack Channel, he expressed that his personal losses are rapidly reaching six figures, including the layoff of three employees.
He was later banned from the WordPress Slack platform by Mullenweg.
In the 83-page legal document, Willman explains that he seeks to “intervene to assert a set of broader claims that include, but are not limited to; tortious interference, unlawful access to a computer system, antitrust claims, unfair competition, damages to his business and reputation arising from Automattic’s and Matt Mullenweg’s actions.”
He has requested the court to take the following actions:
- Hold Mullenweg and Automattic in civil contempt for violating the preliminary injunction.
- Hold Mullenweg in criminal contempt for violating the preliminary injunction in a willful and intentional manner.
- Order Defendants to immediately restore Michael Willman’s access to the Make.WordPress.org Slack workspace.
- Order Defendant Mullenweg to establish a Governance Oversight Board.
- Impose sanctions, including non-monetary ones, sufficient to coerce compliance and compensate Willman for the harm caused by Mullenweg’s actions.
- Grant any additional relief the court finds just and proper.
Willman has pledged portions of any potential monetary compensation to benefit the WordPress community. On Reddit, he stated: “In the spirit of Five for the Future, I pledge 5% of any compensatory damages awarded to AspirePress or its successor/s and 5% to the WP Community Collective. I furthermore pledge twice that amount (20%) of any punitive damages awarded, and it is my intent to give away a majority of punitive damages if the court decides to grant them.”
Willman also requested the court to restrict Matt from “taking any further actions in his capacity as Director of the WordPress Foundation that may interfere with the operations of WordPress.org or its affiliated platforms.”
The WordPress Governance Oversight Board
Willman has asked the court to order the establishment of a seven-member WordPress Governance Oversight Board to oversee the WordPress Foundation, WordPress.org, and related entities and subdomains.
His suggestions for the seven members include himself, Joost de Valk, Karim Maruuchi, Sé Reed, and one representative each from WP Engine, WordPress Community Team and WordPress Incident Response Team.
The Board may oversee major and minor WordPress releases and ensure that future releases cannot be used as a method of retaliation. It should exist solely to maintain stability in the open-source WordPress project and to prevent further retaliation against members of the WordPress community.
The Court’s decision on this Motion will have far-reaching consequences because it could open the door for others banned by Mullenweg to join the lawsuit and also curtail Mullenweg’s hold over WordPress.