Clonie Gowen Suing Full Tilt Poker for $40,000,000

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[Stu]

Clonie Gowen is suing Full Tilt Poker for $40,000,000 over a breach of contract!

Gowen alleges that when she signed on as a Full Tilt pro back in 2004, she was promised a 1% ownership of the company. She went on to sport FTP gear around the tournament circuit, appeared in television commercials and promotional ads, and essentially did her part in promoting the Online Poker mega-brand as best she could - for no added compensation beyond her supposed 1% stake in the company.

Well, in 2007, when it came time to receive her distribution check, she was only given a fraction of what she thought she was owed - which was $250,000 from Howard Lederer, chief operator of Full Tilt Poker. Gowen felt the company was worth way more than what Lederer was making it seem to be, and refused the payment. The crazy thing is, despite not being paid she still went ahead and promoted the company anyways!

On November 11th, 2008, she was informed by Full Tilt Poker that she would no longer be apart of Team Full Tilt. This must’ve been the primary factor for Gowen to be bringing such a high-profile lawsuit against the company, especially considering she was supposedly never compensated for promoting the company for the last four years.  The tough thing about this suit is that she openly admits to only having an oral contract that was made with Tiltware LLC executives (controlling company of Full Tilt Poker), and not a definitive written contract about her claims.

The suit alleges the company is worth $4 billion, and she’s owed the 1% she was promised by executives when she signed on with FTP in 2004. It is unclear why she not only named Tiltware LLC in the legal filing, but also other Full Tilt team members such as Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, and Erick Lindgren.

Tiltware LLC has released the following statement about the claims:

“Tiltware, LLC, has been made aware of the recent filing of a meritless lawsuit by a former Full Tilt Poker endorser — Ms. Cycalona Gowen. All claims have no merit and there are many inaccuracies improperly and unlawfully asserted by Ms. Gowen within her frivolous complaint. Tiltware LLC expects that this lawsuit will be dealt with accordingly by a competent court in due course.”

Source: Poker News Guru

[cryptic3]

Anyone read anything more about this??

[Stu]

The legal dispute between Clonie Gowen and Full Tilt Poker heated up last week when Gowen filed an amended complaint against the online poker site.

The amended complaint followed the defendants’ motion to dismiss her lawsuit, which was released in November of last year. The main focus of the motion to dismiss appeared to be an attempt to clear the professional poker players named as codefendants, including Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Howard Lederer and 10 others. These defendants claimed that the only reason they were named was because of their fame, and not because Gowen could state a valid claim against any of them.

Gowen and her legal team responded by modifying her first suit, adding two defendants and seven causes of action. The amendment also states further facts on which her claims are based.

Gowen initially sued Full Tilt Poker and its associated companies for $40 million, claiming that she was promised a 1% share in exchange for her work as a celebrity representative, promoter and spokesperson for the site. She contends that she was offered the 1% share, which she accepted, and then was rejected from receiving her cut when other players began collecting their distribution payments.

According to Gowen, Full Tilt offered to give her a six-figure payment in exchange for her time spent promoting the company. She rejected it and filed the lawsuit shortly after hearing that the company would be releasing her from its Full Tilt Team.

She estimates the value of Full Tilt at $4 billion, hence the $40 million figure. Her lawsuit names all of the following parties as plaintiffs: Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware LLC, Tiltproof, Pocket Kings Ltd., Kolyma Corporation, A.V.V., Raymond J. Bitar, Howard Lederer, Patrick Antonius, Andrew Bloch, Phillip Ivey, Gus Hansen, Christopher Ferguson, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Michael Matusow, Allen Cunningham and Phillip Gordon. Tiltproof and Pocket Kings Ltd. were added in the recent amended complaint.

An amended complaint is what results when the party suing changes the complaint it has filed. While the nature of the lawsuit stays the same in this case, Gowen went into further detail regarding a February 2004 conversation she had with Full Tilt Poker CEO/CFO Raymond Bitar.

Gowen alleges that Bitar entered into the supposed agreement during this conversation. While very little negotiating took place during the exchange, Gowen maintains that Bitar made the offer to add her as a promoter of the company and she accepted.

Gowen stated that each of the defendants, including members of Team Full Tilt, were directors and shareholders of the company and all actions taken were done with their authorization and consent and that Bitar made the agreement on their behalf.

She also added new claims for an accounting, quantum meruit, promissory estoppel, specific performance, declaratory relief, right of publicity and negligent misrepresentation.

The defendants have less than a month to respond to Gowen’s amended complaint. They can file that response as either an Answer or motion to dismiss. In order to properly file a motion to dismiss, there must be clear grounds to file a motion to dismiss. Given the recent assertions made by Gowen regarding the supposed breach of contract, a dismissal from the court is unlikely.

Source: Poker News Daily

[Stu]

Pokernewsdaily.com said that Clonie Gowen has been denied her civil suit against Full Tilt Poker, which was to be given by the District Court Judge, Las Vegas in the US.

This decision was given this week by the U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Jones. The decision had said that Gowen as well as her lawyers did not give sufficient data enough to prove that she had 1% right in the Full Tilt Poker as well as its other companies.

According to PokerNewsDaily , “the decision handed down earlier this week dismisses any further actions by Gowen in her attempt to prove that she was denied her share of Full Tilt Poker.”

Clonie Gowen had put up her lawsuit in November 2008.

The names included in the list of defendants were Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware LLc, Pocket Kings LTD, and even players like Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman and Erick Lindgren.

Gowen had claimed that during the Full Tilt Poker Game in May 2004 she was give a 1% stake in a meeting that was held at the Golden Nugget. Gowen mentioned that she was in charge of representing it and promoting the company in response to her stake.

Gowen said that in 2007 the team member of ‘Team FTP” had all received distribution checks while she was the only one who didn’t. Gowen thought that she was part of the team and hence went ahead and asked for her share, but was denied. She then went on to mention that Howard Lederer had given her $250,000 for her previous work with the company and she had not accepted the deal.