Following a chain of e-mails sent last week by attorneys for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the names of additional defendants in the state’s legal action against the owners of 141 internet gambling domain names remain a mystery.
In October, the Kentucky Supreme Court heard the case, which pits industry organizations like the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) and the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) against the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, led by Secretary J. Michael Brown. Despite a ruling by the state’s highest judicial body potentially being handed down any day now, Kentucky attorneys filed a motion to add parties to its complaint last week. How the latest filing will affect the Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision, if at all, remains unknown. The additional parties in question were U.S. citizens and companies engaged in internet gambling.
When lawyers for iMEGA tried to obtain a list of the additional names, counsel for the Commonwealth turned them down. iMEGA Chairman Joe Brennan told Poker News Daily, “They’ve basically said that they don’t recognize our standing. They’re just ignoring what happened in the Court of Appeals, which confirmed our standing.” In a chain of e-mails between opposing attorneys available on iMEGA’s website, William Hurt of Kentucky counsel Hurt, Crosbie, and May states, “I do not believe anyone has standing to file a response or motion to strike.”
Brennan lashed out at the State’s attorneys, who are purportedly working on a contingency basis, as part of a press release sent on Monday: “They were counting on a big payday from our members in the form of settlements to get their own property back, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Since they don’t get one nickel from the state to pursue this, it’s clear that the drive for big money has taken over and any sense of fair play or due process has gone out the window.”
The 141 internet gambling domain names in question include those belonging to online poker giants like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. If the Commonwealth of Kentucky were successful, these domains would be inaccessible not just in the southern state, but also around the world. The domains were seized back in September of 2008 on the grounds that they constituted “gambling devices,” a term that traditionally refers to tangible objects like slot machines and roulette wheels that you’d find in an underground casino.
In January, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled by a two-to-one margin that the Commonwealth did not have jurisdiction to act, setting up an appeal by the State to its Supreme Court. iMEGA attorney Jon Fleischaker noted in an e-mail, “The Court of Appeals ruled that we had standing in this case, and by implication, a right to intervene. I believe the Supreme Court is likely to rule the same thing.” Hurt retorted that the State would “object to anything that you file, but will nonetheless continue to send you notice.”
Brennan told Poker News Daily that Circuit Court judge Thomas Wingate did not act on the motion to add names filed by Kentucky’s attorneys last week and the next day that it can be considered is January 21st. The motion calls for a hearing on January 20th in front of Judge Wingate, although its future appears to be in doubt. Judge Wingate upheld the State’s actions as part of an October 2008 decision.
The Kentucky Supreme Court has given no indication as to when it will hand down a ruling. As it currently stands, the Kentucky Supreme Court does not have any oral arguments scheduled on its calendar until January 13th. However, Brennan expected a decision from the Kentucky Supreme Court to be issued in January.
