The much-publicised geo-location litigation filed by poker player Gordon Vayo against online poker giant PokerStars (see previous InfoPowa reports) made the headlines again this week when Vayo unexpectedly withdrew his action, filed in May this year with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
InfoPowa readers may recall that Vuyo complained that he was denied almost $700,000 in online poker tournament winnings back in May 2017 following claims by PokerStars that he had deployed technology to illegally play from the United States of America according to geo-location information.
Vayo vehemently denied this and claimed he was playing from Canada at the time and should therefore be paid his winnings.
The issue was characterised by acrimony between the parties and achieved wide media and social media coverage, however, news of Vayo’s withdrawing his case on November 12 has been followed by reports that PokerStars filed a motion with the court asking for $280,000 in attorney fees amid claims of Vayo’s “bad faith conduct.”
The court filing indicates that PokerStars legal representatives received a tip-off that Vayo had hired a “document forger” who altered his bank and internet records to help his case.
The PokerStars filing reveals that the company cited provisions in its T&Cs allowing it to file to recoup any costs in fighting litigation, that the Vayo action was “frivolous” and that once it “discovered the forgery and confronted Vayo about it, Vayo voluntarily and unconditionally dismissed this action, and his counsel withdrew.”
“Vayo’s swift voluntary dismissal here is effectively an admission of defeat,” PokerStars lawyers claimed in the motion, which will be heard by federal Judge Frederick Mumm on December 18 this year.