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WASHINGTON — Ifrah Law PLLC, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm focused on complex civil and criminal litigation, won dismissals yesterday in two attempted class actions against PokerStars, the world’s largest publicly traded gaming company.
Judge David R. Herndon granted the motion to dismiss a second amended complaint filed by Kelly Sonneberg and Casey Sonnenberg, while simultaneously dismissing a companion claim brought by the same law firm by plaintiff Daniel and Judy Fahrner against PokerStars’ sister operator Full Tilt.
The dismissal in the plaintiff-friendly Southern District of Illinois ends the plaintiffs’ long-running attempts to exploit a centuries-old statute to form a class action of thousands—and potentially millions—of Illinois residents who allegedly held personal accounts with PokerStars.
“This is a major victory for PokerStars and instructive for other online gaming providers facing similar attacks from plaintiffs seeking unjust windfalls,” said Jeff Ifrah, the founder of Ifrah Law. “Through three amended filings by the plaintiffs—alleging many new claims—we clearly proved that the plaintiffs’ cases lacked any merit.”
In August 2012, Sonnenberg filed a class action suit in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Rational Entertainment, which operates PokerStars, as well as several of its executives and associated companies. Sonnenberg sought to recover gambling losses of PokerStars’ Illinois players under the Illinois Loss Recovery Act, which allows individuals to collect losses on behalf of third parties, provided those third parties fail to make their own claim within six months of losing the wager. Sonnenberg claimed to be related to someone who incurred a loss.
However, Illinois courts have held that the winner, and not the “keeper of the house,” is liable to the loser, unless the keeper of the house also risks money in the gambling activity (Holmes v. Brickey).
“In what is a traditionally plaintiff-friendly court, the judge agreed with all of our arguments—including the plaintiffs’ failures to specify a specific loss and to allege that either Full Tilt Poker or PokerStars, as the ‘house,’ could be considered winners within the meaning of the Illinois gambling-loss recovery statute,” Ifrah said.
Herndon also found that Sonnenberg had not sufficiently detailed a “loser” or a “loss.”
“Among many other points, the judge agreed with us that the addition of the affidavits from Daniel Fahrner and Casey Sonnenberg did not overcome the plaintiffs’ failures to allege when the losses occurred, to whom the losses were sustained, and what the loss amounts were,” Ifrah said.
“This was an incredibly high-stakes case,” said Ifrah Law attorney Rachel Hirsch. “As the Illinois Loss Recovery Act permits an award of triple the amount of losses, millions of dollars were at stake. This win will protect other online gaming providers from similar meritless actions.”
Ifrah Law lawyers Jeff Ifrah, David Deitch and Rachel Hirsch represented PokerStars and Rational FT. Bill Niehoff of Mathis, Marifian & Richter of Belleville, Illinois, served as local counsel on the matter.
The cases are Sonnenberg v. Scheinberg et al (3:13-cv-00344-DRH-SCW) and Fahrner v. Bitar et al (3:13-cv-00227-DRH-SCW) in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Illinois.
