Update: New Developments in Full Tilt Class Action

The latest reports in the Full Tilt Poker class action involve news that some of the defendants in the lawsuit that seeks to recover gambling losses from former Full Tilt Poker-Tiltware LLC individuals and entities requested a protective order against class action discovery from a federal judge. Reportedly, Tiltware LLC and five other defendants have requested an order staying the discovery process until the federal court for the Southern District of Illinois rules on their pending motions to dismiss the class action led by Judy Fahrner who claims that she and other Illinois residents invested money into the site's poker games and lost it all in 2011 when the Department of Justice shut down the card rooms on Black Friday. Their suit requests class action status to recover gambling losses and up to three times the amount of losses in damages under the Illinois Loss Recovery Act (LRA), 720 ILCS 5/28-8. According to the statute, “...any person who by gambling shall lose to any other person, any sum or money or thing of value, amounting to the sum of $50 or more …may sue for and recover the money or thing of value, so lost and paid or delivered, in a civil action against the winner thereof, with costs, in the circuit court.” However, the defendants claim that neither the LRA nor case law makes provision for class action relief, so they stated in their motion that “The reason for absence of class action cases involving third parties is simple—a third party instituting a claim under the LRA may only recover on behalf of herself, although she may recover losses sustained by multiple losers.” On the other side, regarding the admissibility of a class action, Fahrner said that she brought her class action complaint “...on behalf of similarly situated Illinois residents who are likewise closely related to gambling losers and are thus able to recover under the statute” and said that the defendants' motion to dismiss it should fail because her suit states a plausible claim, the court has jurisdiction over the defendants, and a prior court-ordered settlement does not bar the suit. At present, the judge's ruling on the class action admissibility is anxiously anticipated by both parties in what promises to be a long and intense dispute.