PartyGaming has filed a motion to dismiss the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s litigation involving alleged losses by state residents whom the Commonwealth claims gambled on the site between August 2005 and October 2006 (when Party pulled out of the American market post-UIGEA). The lawsuit was originally filed against Pocket Kings, the parent company of Full Tilt Poker, back in April. PartyGaming’s name was added to the lawsuit in August, and Microgaming was added just last month.
PartyGaming’s motion to dismiss takes a three-pronged approach, the first prong being that the Commonwealth neglected to follow Hague Convention guidelines for issuing legal documents to foreign firms. Second, Party’s lawyers claim that the state Attorney General is the only one legally authorized to launch such a lawsuit, and thus Kentucky’s Secretary of Justice has overstepped his mandate.
Finally, Party asserts that Kentucky has yet to identify a single state resident who actually lost money on their site, nor how much money they lost, nor any specific date on which the loss supposedly occurred. In bringing the case against Party et al, Kentucky is using a century-old statute that allows third parties to sue to recover gambling losses if the person who actually lost the wagers makes no claim in the six-months following the loss. In saner circles, this is known as the ‘Seriously, WTF?’ law.
Party’s motion will be given a hearing in Franklin Circuit Court, although no date has yet been announced.
