Borgata Agrees To Advance Edge-Sorting Case Against Ivey

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa has submitted a response to poker pro Phil Ivey’s motion filed last week, the latest development in the long-standing legal battle between it and poker legend Phil Ivey.

The Atlantic City casino’s response states that it agrees with Ivey that a final judgement should be passed by the judge on the edge-sorting case which will allow it to move to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals. However Borgata has disagreed with Ivey with regards to his request to stay the judgment to return winnings of $10 million.

Citing a 1980 case, Borgata attorneys pointed out that the final judgement must provide a concluding ruling on claims entered in a court by the plaintiff, and stated that all parties agree to the Court’s order on October 21, 2016 being a final adjudication on the casino’s claims. Borgata’s brief also agrees that the pending claims between them and the playing card manufacturer Gemaco can be separated out since they are extricable from the case against Ivey.

CardPlayer

There are five claims made in the casino’s case against Gemaco, – breach of express warranty, breach of contract, and breach of implied warranty, and further two others related to failure in the production of the cards. As these issues are distinct from the claims against the poker players Ivey and his playing partner Sun, the attorneys have specified that any further appeals can also be treated separately.

On the matter of the proceeds of $10 million, however the casino’s attorneys have said that there was no reason to stay the settlement. The motion notes that the casino is in agreement that the decision on this would need to consider four parameters namely, irreparable harm, a strong possibility based on the likelihood of success on the merits, if the issuance of a stay will significantly hurt other interested parties and lastly public interest. The attorneys’ have expressed disagreement with the defendant’s claim of undergoing irreparable harm from the settlement due to its size.

According to the lawyers, simple economic harm was not a sufficient reason for deciding that the judgement amount would cause irreparable harm to Ivey. They further pointed out that Phil Ivey’s net worth was reportedly nearly $100 million and he was one of the top 3 poker professional players of all time in terms of winnings. Additionally, Ivey has a variety of business interests, all of which prove that the sum of $10 million would not cause significant amount of harm to him.