The list of people and organizations that have a bone to pick with Full Tilt Poker keeps growing. Two new lawsuits involving Full Tilt have brought the online poker room into the legal spotlight.
First, news broke that Brandon McSmith is suing Poker PROductions, the production company behind “High Stakes Poker,” “Poker After Dark,” and NBC’s “Face the Ace,” the latter of which features a roster of Full Tilt Pros facing off against contestants trying to win $1 million. McSmith alleges he came up with a similar idea for a poker-themed game show called “The All Star Poker Challenge” and is suing Poker PROductions for $85 million. No legal action is being taken by Smith towards Full Tilt directly, but the company’s close ties to the show mean they will have a vested interest in the matter should it go any further.
The other lawsuit that came to light this week involves Full Tilt Poker in a much more direct capacity. Pokerati.com broke the news that former Full Tilt employee Jason “JDN” Newitt is filing suit against Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware, Pocket Kings Consulting, and both Howard Lederer and Raymond Bitar. According to the case filing in the Nevada court system, Newitt is claiming that “he was unfairly fired and that his distribution payments were unfairly ceased. Defendants then took control of his ownership.” In other words, Newitt allegedly owned a percentage of Full Tilt Poker and is no longer receiving payments that stem from that percentage.
Prior to filing suit, Newitt was best known in the poker world for accidentally leaking internal correspondence between himself and Howard Lederer regarding potential sponsorship of 2007 Aussie Millions runner-up Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke. Newitt inadvertently forwarded an e-mail to Fricke in which Lederer referred to Fricke as a “freak” and a “kind of a weird dude.” Fricke then posted it on the TwoPlusTwo poker forum. In addition to simply revealing Lederer’s candid thoughts on the young online pro, the e-mail, which was copied to Bitar and Robert Wolf, shed some light on exactly how big of a role Lederer and Bitar play in the day-to-day dealings of the popular online poker site.
Newitt was let go in the wake of the Fricke faux pas and just recently filed suit for wrongful termination. Newitt is being represented by the law firm Howard & Howard, the same firm that represented Clonie Gowen in her lawsuit against Full Tilt. The two cases bear some resemblance to each other, as both individuals claim their distribution payments were ceased without just cause. A U.S. District Court dismissed the bulk of Gowen’s lawsuit back in May, but Bitar, Lederer, and Tiltware LLC were dismissed without prejudice, meaning that Gowen can re-file against them in the future. Her claims against several other individuals, including members of Team Full Tilt, were dismissed with prejudice, meaning Gowen can no longer pursue legal action against them in the matter.
At the time Gowen’s case was dismissed, Howard & Howard announced they disagreed with the court’s decision and were considering filing an appeal on Gowen’s behalf. So far, there has been no announcement from Newitt, Gowen, or Howard & Howard on whether or not Newitt’s case will prompt Gowen to re-file against Lederer, Bitar, or Tiltware.
