Terms of Stone Gambling Hall Settlement Revealed

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Yesterday, we reported on how Mike Postle and Justin Kuraitis have spoken out regarding the lawsuit against Stones Gambling Hall. During that report, we told you that the plaintiffs of the lawsuit received a nominal amount as part of the settlement.

Today, we know just how nominal that is. PokerNews issued a report earlier today detailing the settlement received by plaintiffs. As guessed, the amount is nowhere near what was being asked for initially and one has to wonder if it will even cover lawyer fees.

Plaintiffs Receive $40,000 – Combined

On Friday, PokerNews issued a report stating that they have received a settlement term sheet that was distributed to the plaintiffs of the lawsuit. That document revealed that plaintiffs received $40,000 from Stones Gambling Hall. That’s about $645 per plaintiff, and that’s before they pay any attorney fees.

Reports had claimed that the settlement was nominal to the players, but it was unknown that it was this small. At the same time, it may be more than the plaintiffs could have received if they went to trial. As the PokerNews report mentioned, the expected amount of rake that plaintiffs could have recovered is just under $30,000. The $40,000 payment is more than they stood to win at trial.

Interesting Terms of Settlement

According to the settlement, both the plaintiffs and their attorney are required to issue a statement or sign a statement that clears Stones of any wrongdoing in terms of cheating. They must sign off that there was no evidence found of cheating. The statement also includes Justin Kuraitis as one of the parties where no evidence was found.

Also, plaintiffs are not allowed to discuss the terms of the agreement. However, defendants have the ability to discuss some matters of the case. In the end, to the victor goes the spoils, and they can talk about how they are vindicated.

Settlement Does Not Release Postle

What’s also interesting in this settlement is that Mike Postle is not one of the parties being released by the plaintiffs. The statement clearly spells out that, “under no circumstances shall Michael Postle be deemed one of the Defendants’ Released Parties, and Settling Plaintiffs expressly will not release Michael Postle.

Postle had already been released from the case, so this effectively leaves the door open for plaintiffs to try and pursue alternate legal remedies. However, those remedies are unclear at this time because the initial case was dismissed with prejudice.

If anything, this is the plaintiff’s way of saying they’re letting the casino off the hook but aren’t letting Mike Postle off.

Will Plaintiffs See Any Money at All?

One big question one has to ask at this point is whether the plaintiffs that signed off on the agreement will see any money whatsoever from the settlement. There’s been no indication that Stones will cover any lawyer’s fees, and $40,000 isn’t much to recover in a case such as this.

It seems unlikely that the plaintiff’s lawyer will do this for free, so one has to wonder if plaintiffs will see any of the $40k. If it turns out that the $40k is absorbed by the lawyer, the plaintiffs will have done all of this for nothing.

Based on the terms of the settlement, we can now see why some decided not to sign. Veronica Brill and others are still free to talk about what happened and are not shackled by an NDA. You really can’t blame her. If I had a beef against a suspected cheater, I wouldn’t let it go over $600 bucks, especially if that person allegedly stole over $100,000 from players. While I understand the settlement may be all that plaintiffs can expect to get, the plaintiffs that didn’t sign may have gotten the better deal.