State News

Louisiana casinos settle with gambler

     Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- A suit alleging that some Louisiana casinos took advantage of a compulsive gambler to the tune of $3 million has been settled.
A week before the Oct. 1 trial date, former Louisiana Tech football star and admitted gambling addict Joe McNeely reached a settlement with several Louisiana casinos he accused of soliciting his business even after he and his attorneys requested in writing that they stop.

      McNeely wanted to hold the casinos partly liable for the loss of his money, business, family and marriage, saying they knew he had a gambling problem and exploited it with aggressive marketing tactics that even included personal visits from casino executives at his mother's funeral.

      But the casinos said they owed McNeely nothing and that he alone was responsible. Furthermore, a system exists through which problem gamblers can ask the State Police to require casinos to exclude them, and McNeely did not use it, the casinos said.

      Court records show the parties compromised, but the details are confidential. Neither attorneys for McNeely, Players Lake Charles, the Showboat Star Partnership nor Horseshoe Gaming Inc., would comment other than to confirm the case is closed.

      The Isle of Capri Casino and Grand Casino-Coushatta had reached settlements with McNeely earlier and were not facing trial.

      "The case is settled; we'll leave it at that," said Bruce Schewe, who represented Players.

      The vast majority of all civil lawsuits are settled before trial, but legal experts say the McNeely case stands out because the casino industry typically battles until the end.
      "It is a little unusual because the casino industry has traditionally not settled," said I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School in California. "They don't want to look like an easy target. They are the ultimate deep pocket.

      "They would rather fight it all the way. But if it looks like there is a chance of losing, then they'll settle. They don't want the precedent," said Rose, an expert on gambling law.
      The industry has prevailed in a slate of similar lawsuits, including a recent case in which a Virginia woman, Najia Rahmani, sued two Atlantic City casinos to recover almost $4 million she lost over 13 years. A federal judge dismissed the suit and that action was upheld on appeal.

      Unlike McNeely, however, the woman did not notify any casinos that she had a problem or ask them to leave her alone.

      "That's the missing ingredient," said Barry Coburn, a Washington, D.C., attorney who represented Rahmani. "Normally casinos get off the hook because they don't owe any specialized duty to this individual."

      McNeely's attorney, State Rep. Mitch Landrieu, D-New Orleans, declined to discuss the case, but in previous interviews, he said his client's written notice to casinos gave him a strong case under Louisiana civil damage law.

      McNeely, who had a successful building company in Houston, said he lost more than $3 million in about two years, including $2 million after he notified the casinos. McNeely admitted he did not send a letter to the Horseshoe casinos but said their managers knew he was a compulsive gambler, a claim the casino company denied.

      A turning point in the case came last December, when U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle refused to dismiss the lawsuit, saying whether or not the casinos owed any duty to McNeely was a question worthy of trial.

      Rose said there is scant case law that says casinos are liable for compulsive gamblers and that the McNeely case, because it was settled, does not create any.

      The McNeely case marks at least the second lawsuit over compulsive gambling that was settled in New Orleans this year. Last spring, a credit card company reached a settlement with a West Bank man who had sued after his 37-year-old wife committed suicide in 1997 over gambling debts.

      Attorneys for the woman's family and the credit card company, MBNA America, confirmed they had reached a settlement but would not comment on the lawsuit.
     
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