According to a press release from the Ifrah law firm, a class action lawsuit filed in Illinois by Kelly Sonnenberg has been dismissed. The release detailed, “Sonnenberg sought to recover gambling losses of PokerStars‘ Illinois players under the Illinois Loss Recovery Act, which allows individuals to collect losses on behalf of third parties, provided those third parties fail to make their own claim within six months of losing the wager. Sonnenberg claimed to be related to someone who incurred a loss.”

Judge David Herndon ruled that PokerStars acted as a “conduit for transmission of the prize money” rather than risking anything itself and, therefore, was not liable for refunding the losses that Sonnenberg sought.

Also unclear was whether Sonnenberg or a relative lost anything in the first place, with Herndon writing, “While Sonnenberg’s affidavit in response to the motion to dismiss states that she is seeking recovery based on her son’s losses, the first amended complaint is devoid of allegations stating the ‘who,’ ‘what,’ and ‘when’ of the losses she seeks to recover.”

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2012 against PokerStars’ parent company, Rational Entertainment. Jeff Ifrah (pictured above), whom many PocketFivers are familiar with due to his representation of Full Tilt Poker, founded Ifrah Law and commented, “This is a major victory for PokerStars and instructive for other online gaming providers facing similar attacks from plaintiffs seeking unjust windfalls. In our very first pleading, we clearly proved that the plaintiff’s case lacked any merit.”

According to Ifrah Law attorney Rachel Hirsch, triple damages could have been awarded, meaning this week’s dismissal carries a high degree of importance for PokerStars and current gaming outlets in the Land of Lincoln: “As the Illinois Loss Recovery Act permits an award of triple the amount of losses, millions of dollars were at stake.” PokerStars vacated the US on Black Friday.

The heart of the legal action seemed to come down to the meaning of the word “winner” as spelled out by Illinois’ gaming statutes. Was PokerStars the primary “winner” because it took rake out of each game played by Illinois customers or were individual players “winners” because their bankrolls were bolstered?

To that end, CalvinAyre explained, “That’s when Chief Judge Herndon made the ruling, describing PokerStars as a third-party service provider that provides a venue for players to play poker. More importantly, the ruling also stated that Stars did not have any stake on how the games were decided.”

Last month, Ifrah saw charges against him from Black Friday payment processor Chad Elie (pictured) dismissed. Ifrah is currently considering defamation charges, according to a separate press release. According to Ifrah, “Elie knowingly and illegally processed payments for nearly two years before his first-ever contact with our firm and myself.”

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