In a final judgment issued last week, United States District Court Judge James Nowlin has dismissed all claims by Deliverance Poker against 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final tablist Michael Mizrachi and Tiltware, LLC, the ownership behind Full Tilt Poker.
Two final statements on the case were lodged with the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin on March 22nd, one being Judge Nowlin’s orders on the case and the other being a full review of his actions. In the first judgment, Judge Nowlin ordered that Deliverance Poker’s case be dismissed without prejudice, meaning that – if there were new evidence – the case could be reheard in Federal or state court.
All motions that were pending as of last week, therefore, were rendered moot and the case was “hereby closed,” according to the document.
Two hours later, the full decision from Judge Nowlin was issued, detailing his findings in the dispute between Deliverance Poker and Mizrachi and Tiltware. At issue were two matters: whether the contract between Deliverance Poker and “The Grinder” had actually come into effect and whether Judge Nowlin could hear the case under current jurisdictional laws. Over his 14-page decision, Judge Nowlin addressed both of these issues.
On the contract between Deliverance Poker and Mizrachi, Judge Nowlin decided that it had not reached its full activation. “Deliverance Poker, LLC, is Carlos Benavides III’s dream of an online poker company that became a reality (on paper at least) when he caused the company to be organized under the laws of Texas,” Judge Nowlin wrote in his decision.
In addition to needing financial backing in order to get the venture started, Benavides also needed a face for the company. “Who better than The Grinder,” Judge Nowlin stated.
Benavides began to procure venture capitalist backing in order to get Deliverance Poker operational, while Mizrachi upheld his end of the deal by wearing Deliverance Poker apparel after signing a Promotional Representation Agreement on July 13th, 2009. By the end of the 2010 WSOP, however, “The Grinder” informed Deliverance Poker that he would no longer represent the site after receiving “an offer he couldn’t refuse” from the Tiltware.
Judge Nowlin noted that, after Mizrachi joined the Full Tilt Poker team, Deliverance Poker’s “marketing strategy collapsed, its investors fled, its website crumbled, and Benavides’ dreams were dashed.” However, Judge Nowlin determined that the contract between Mizrachi and Deliverance Poker had never actually become a full-fledged contract enforceable by law due to language that terminated it if proper capital had not been raised to bring Deliverance Poker to life by August 2009.
As to the second part of the dismissal, on the grounds that the court in Texas lacked jurisdiction, Judge Nowlin cited that Tiltware’s owners’ citizenship had not been fully determined. If Tiltware, under its LLC licensing, could not be found to be under legal jurisdiction in Texas, then any legal actions by Deliverance could not proceed against it.
Although he dismissed the actions in front of him, Judge Nowlin stated that Deliverance Poker could re-file the case in state court “the minute this Order is published.” The dismissal did not address any court costs incurred by either side, which could open the door to actions by Mizrachi and Tiltware to recoup their expenditures.
With the case’s dismissal, the future of Deliverance Poker is unknown. At the minimum, Deliverance Poker seems to have come to an end. After having a very well produced website and poker room around the time of the 2010 WSOP, there is currently no active website for the domain deliverancepoker.com, as typing the URL results in a redirect to search engines with references to Deliverance Poker.
