After filing for voluntary dismissal of its claims against Tiltware LLC, attorneys for Deliverance Poker were met with stern demands from Judge James Nowlin of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. In documents filed on Tuesday, Nowlin laid out several tasks for Deliverance Poker to complete and threatened “civil contempt if it fails to comply with this order.”
A preliminary injunction hearing is tentatively scheduled for November 9th in the case, which involves 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi allegedly jumping sponsors from Deliverance Poker to Full Tilt. Ironically, if the hearing were to go on as scheduled, it would take place on the same day as the final table of the Main Event airs on ESPN. The hearing is on the books for 2:00pm local time in Austin.
Despite dismissing its claims against Tiltware (the owners of Full Tilt), Nowlin ordered Deliverance to provide the company with notice. Nowlin wrote, “Tiltware LLC must be given notice of the preliminary injunction hearing because it is an ‘adverse party’… This requirement stands even after Plaintiff dismissed its claims against Tiltware LLC.” Nowlin further ordered that Deliverance should provide both Tiltware and Mizrachi with a copy of its original complaint, motion for injunctive relief, amended motion for injunctive relief, and a copy of Nowlin’s order dated on Tuesday.
Nowlin explained the timeline that Deliverance must follow in order to stay in the court’s good graces: “Plaintiff must not only give Tiltware LLC and Michael Mizrachi notice by providing the documents that this order requires, Plaintiff must also do so on or before October 19th, 2010. Finally, the second preliminary injunction hearing will take place only after proof of notice, in compliance with this order, has been properly filed with the court on or before October 19th, 2010.”
A preliminary injunction hearing had been scheduled for tomorrow in Austin, but has been postponed until the proper documentation can be filed. Entered on October 7th in the case was a letter from Deliverance Poker attorneys to Nowlin explaining why Mizrachi and Tiltware were not served properly. On the former, Deliverance counsel noted, “Our failure to timely serve Defendant Michael Mizrachi was due to our mistake and an accidental oversight.”
With regards to Tiltware, Deliverance counsel admitted, “We have been unable to locate Defendant Tiltware since the beginning of this lawsuit and therefore have been unable to properly serve them.” Full Tilt Poker is the world’s second largest online poker site and happily accepts action from the United States. Its fleet of sponsored pros includes Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and Howard Lederer.
Mizrachi, who was seen late in the Main Event donning Full Tilt gear, will come armed to the final table of the Main Event with the seventh largest chip stack at 14.5 million, about one-fifth of chip leader Jonathan Duhamel’s 65.9 million. Mizrachi is one of seven Full Tilt players to make the final table, as joining him will be Filippo Candio, Joseph Cheong, John Dolan, Matthew Jarvis, Soi Nguyen, and John Racener. Per WSOP rules, only three members of the group can don the traditional Full Tilt Poker patch; who will comprise the trio remains to be seen.
Mizrachi went on a tear at the 2010 WSOP, winning the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship for $1.5 million and his first gold bracelet. He knocked his brother, Robert Mizrachi, out of that event in fifth place and went on to make three more final tables this year. His epic run in the Main Event will guarantee him at least $811,000. In a twist of fate, Mizrachi had a run-in with the Internet Revenue Service (IRS) for back taxes prior to the 2010 WSOP.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest on the Deliverance Poker lawsuit against Mizrachi.
