Kentucky And DOJ Argue About Poker Claims


Wednesday July 18 2012 : TIT FOR TAT LEGAL MOTIONS ON BLACK FRIDAY CIVIL ACTION
 
Kentucky claims it has the inside track on claims against online poker companies, but the DoJ differs
 
Last week’s flurry of motions seeking the dismissal of civil claims against Black Friday-indicted online poker companies and individuals, and the subsequent counter-motions by US enforcement officials  continued this week.
 
First up was the state of Kentucky, notorious for its claimed jurisdictional over-reach in attempting to seize numerous international online gambling domains back in 2008 – a fight that is still weaving its way tortuously through the Kentucky courts system.
 
Kentucky waded into the Black Friday civil claim maelstrom with a motion to stay US federal government claims on the domain names of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, saying that the blue grass state had a prior constructive possession claim on the domains.
 
The government responded with a motion to dismiss the Kentucky claim, observing that a final ruling from the Kentucky courts on the attempted domain seizure was still outstanding, rendering the state without legal standing to pursue its motion…the legal standing argument was one deployed by Kentucky's outsourced lawyers in its attempts to stop the IGC and iMEGA, as trade associations, fighting the state’s actions against domain holders in the 2008 adventure!
 
The embattled CEO of Full Tilt Poker, Ray Bitar, had better luck when Judge Leonard B. Sand ruled that the civil action naming Bitar be held in abeyance until the extensive criminal charges against him have been finalised.  Bitar's attorneys sought the stay order on the civil claim last week