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Thursday, March 04, 2010

Ind. Courts - "Gambler challenges casino for giving him credit, says he was drunk"

On May 30, 2006, Grace Schneider reported in the Louisville Courier Journal under the headline "Kentuckian battles Caesars over his gambling losses: Suit claims casino let him bet drunk." That story began:

A developer from Corbin, Ky., who said he has lost at least $500,000 over the years at the Caesars Indiana casino has gone to court to prevent the riverboat from getting even more of his money.

His claim: That he was drunk when he accepted $75,000 in credit from the casino and then lost it all in a single night.

"They kept serving me till I was totally intoxicated," Jimmy L. Vance said in an interview. "In fact, I don't remember losing all the money."

The legal maneuvering began last October when the casino, which is in Harrison County, Ind., near Louisville, sued Vance for failing to repay the $75,000. Last month Vance fired back, taking an approach that may be unprecedented in Indiana.

In his countersuit filed in Harrison Circuit Court, Vance, 64, maintains that he was visibly drunk and was "induced" by Caesars employees to take several credit advances during a night of gambling. Therefore, his suit claims, the casino is responsible for his losses.

Yesterday, 3 1/2 years later, Ms. Schneider reported in the LCJ:
PAOLI, Ind. — During a night of blackjack at the former Caesars Indiana, Kentucky businessman Jimmy L. Vance sipped at least seven bourbon cocktails and gambled away $75,000 loaned to him by the casino.

Vance, of Corbin, is now claiming in a lawsuit that he was so drunk he doesn’t remember most of that September 2004 night —and the casino took advantage of his intoxicated state, violating state law by providing him money on credit.

But during the trial of the case Wednesday before special Judge Larry Blanton in Orange Circuit Court, lawyers for the casino said surveillance video taken that night show no signs that Vance was intoxicated.

Vance “doesn’t sway. He doesn’t stagger,” said Gene Price, the casino’s lawyer.

The case isn’t the first time in Indiana or the country that a gambler has waged a legal battle arguing that he was impaired and that the casino was responsible for his losses. But such claims seldom sway skeptical judges, who have ruled repeatedly in favor of casinos.

The Vance case began in mid-2005 when Caesars, now Horseshoe Southern Indiana, sued him in Harrison Circuit Court, contending he failed to repay the loan after the markers bounced because of insufficient funds. Vance filed a countersuit, claiming he had been induced to gamble while drunk.

Wednesday’s trial came after several attempts to resolve the dispute failed. If the casino ultimately prevails, state law allows it to recoup triple damages — $225,000 — as well as interest, court costs and legal fees.

Blanton is expected to rule by this summer after reviewing a final round of briefs from the lawyers.

Vance’s lawyer, Larry Wilder of Jeffersonville, said after the trial that a key issue is whether Indiana law allows a casino to enter into a legal contract with a patron who is drunk.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 4, 2010 03:25 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts