The alleged dishonest saga surrounding Mike Postle appears prefer it lastly got here to an finish as Postle is dropping his $330 million defamation lawsuit towards many within the poker neighborhood, together with whistleblower Veroncia Brill.
Postle filed the request Thursday with the Sacramento County Superior Court. Marc Randazza, a Las Vegas-based lawyer that was representing Brill within the defamation case, tweeted a photograph of the submitting and mentioned that since Postle is now not pursuing the defamation case, he’ll lose the Anti-SLAPP lawsuits he was dealing with from a few the defendants within the case.
“You can’t just cut and run,” tweeted Randazza. “You automatically lose the Anti-SLAPP motion if you do that.”
Brill and poker professional Todd Witteles, who have been each listed as defendants within the defamation case, filed anti-SLAPP motions towards Postle. SLAPP is an acronym for strategic lawsuit towards public participation. According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, SLAPPs have turn out to be a instrument utilized by some to intimidate and silence criticism via an costly and baseless authorized course of.
Anti-SLAPP legal guidelines are meant to guard individuals exercising their free speech from these proceedings. Since these motions have been filed, Randazza claims that by dismissing the defamation go well with, Postle will routinely lose the anti-SLAPP motions.
“Mike voluntarily dropped the case against me and many others,” tweeted Brill. “Now he owes me my legal fees.”
Postle filed a $330 million defamation case final October. He was in search of damages and injunctive reduction for defamation and slander, commerce libel, false gentle, intentional interference with potential financial benefit, and intentional infliction of emotional misery.
The go well with listed Witteles, Brill, six-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu, high-stakes gambler Haralbos Voulgaris, Joe Ingram, ESPN, and Poker News media as defendants. As properly as coaching websites Upswing Poker, Run It Once, Crush Live Poker, Solve For Why, and Poker Coaching, that are run by poker execs Doug Polk, Phil Galfond, Bart Hanson, Matt Berkey and Jonathan Little, respectively.
Just two months later, it got here to gentle that Postle’s legal professionals filed paperwork to drop him as a shopper. Witteles’ lawyer, Eric Bensamochan , mentioned that the submitting possible stems from an absence of fee by Postle. In January, a choose upheld the request and Postle now not had illustration for the go well with.
Many accused Postle of dishonest in a low-stakes dwell streamed poker recreation at Stones Gambling Hall within the Sacramento space. He reportedly received upwards of $250,000 in largely $1-$3 and $2-$5 no-limit maintain’em video games on Stones’s dwell stream via very unorthodox play.
Brill and lots of different outstanding professionals broke down hours of footage and illustrated how they thought Postle was dishonest. While there was no concrete reply as to the way it was being finished, the consensus from these trying on the footage was that Postle was acquiring details about his opponents’ gap playing cards from the dwell stream.
Gambling lawyer Mac VerStandig undertook a $30 million lawsuit, representing Brill and 88 others towards Postle, Stones Gambling Hall and Justin Kuriaitis, the property’s Tournament Director who was additionally accountable for the dwell stream.
A California choose finally dismissed the costs towards Postle and most plaintiffs accepted a settlement provide from Kuraitis and Stones Gambling Hall.