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Mike Post Case Dismissed With Prejudice

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Mike Postle Case Dismissed

The Mike Postle cheating scandal has been one of the most intriguing stories of the last year in poker. There is a lot of evidence out there suggesting that he knew player hole cards and won insane amounts of money using this information.

In recent months, Postle and Stones Gambling Hall was entangled in a legal dispute regarding the matter. That case is now settled, but not how poker fans had hoped. On June 3rd, a US District judge dismissed the lawsuit against all parties as California law prohibits courts stepping in regarding legal disputes over gambling.

Postle Case Dismissed

The Mike Postle cheating scandal took a less than favorable turn on June 3rd as US District Judge William B. Shubb granted the motion to dismiss filed by Mike Postle, Justin Kuraitis, and Stones Gambling Hall.

According to court documents, the judge granted the motion to dismiss because California law prohibits judicial intervention in gambling disputes. Part of the reasoning behind this is that the damages to plaintiffs are inherently speculative.

According to Shubb, all money that was lost to Postle and any opportunity to win money from Postle were quintessential gambling losses that are barred for recovery by California public policy.” Furthermore, Shubb wrote, “Accordingly, California’s strong public policy against judicial resolution of civil claims arising out of gambling disputes mandates the dismissal with prejudice of plaintiff’s claims against Postle for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, negligence per se, and unjust enrichment.”

The lawsuit also sought to bring RICO charges against Postle, but those were dismissed because that losses in gambling “are not sufficient injury to business or property for RICO standing.” Also, there were questions about the methods that Postle used for legal defense. Sanctions were called for, but the judge also dismissed them. The judge basically stated that it didn’t matter who wrote the legal brief because the court did not see a reason for sanctions.

Charges Against Kuraitis and Stones Dismissed

Charges of fraud against both Stones Gambling Hall and Tournament Director Justin Kuraitis were also dismissed. The allegations were too general. Judge Shubb pointed out that the plaintiffs failed to specify how much was lost in terms of rake during the cash games. Instead, they gave general estimates.

Negligence charges were dismissed because the plaintiffs failed to show any form of a special relationship between players and Stones. Negligent misrepresentation charges were dismissed because the Plaintiffs failed to ID Postle’s accomplice.

Veronica Brill had also made a libel claim against Stones saying that a tweet that called her claims fabricated was directed against her. The court disagreed, stating that multiple people participated in the suit.

Door Open for Amended Complaint on Some Charges

Charges against Stones and Kuraitis are open to being reheard if the plaintiffs file an amended complaint. It is expected that the plaintiffs will move forward with this complaint. If this happens, the complaint will only address the fraud and misrepresentation claims. This is because certain items can be proven to the court’s satisfaction, including the amount of rake collected during the streamed games.

However, the charges against Mike Postle were dismissed with prejudice. This means that he cannot be retried for those charges. However, an appeal can be filed in the matter. It seems unlikely that an appeal will be filed for the charges against Postle since California law is clear regarding gambling disputes.

The poker community is understandably upset over the results of this issue, but anyone looking at this case logically should not be shocked. Plaintiffs never produced anything equivalent of a smoking gun, such as clear pictures of Postle receiving hole card information. They also failed to produce an accomplice. Put all of these together and one could see this verdict coming.

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