OT: Clonie Gowen Sues FullTilt for $40 Million

festeringZit · Nov 18, 2008

http://www.pokernewsguru.com/poker-news/update-clonie-gowen-suing-full-tilt-poker-for-40-million/301

Update: Clonie Gowen Suing Full Tilt Poker For $40 Million!

16 November 2008 No Comment

As some of my readers have already seen, I posted a story on a pending lawsuit that was filed by Clonie Gowen’s attorneys in a Las Vegas court yesterday. At the time of the posting, it was unknown why she was bringing her former employers to court in the first place.
Well, after a few more hours from the initial breaking of the story - and some extra digging by the media staff over at PokerNews.com, it looks as if we finally have an answer:
She’s suing Full Tilt Poker for $40,000,000 over a breach of contract!
Gowen alleges that when she signed on as a Full Tilt pro back in 2004, she was promised a 1% ownership of the company. She went on to sport FTP gear around the tournament circuit, appeared in television commercials and promotional ads, and essentially did her part in promoting the Online Poker mega-brand as best she could - for no added compensation beyond her supposed 1% stake in the company.
Well, in 2007, when it came time to receive her distribution check, she was only given a fraction of what she thought she was owed - which was $250,000 from Howard Lederer, chief operator of Full Tilt Poker. Gowen felt the company was worth way more than what Lederer was making it seem to be, and refused the payment. The crazy thing is, despite not being paid she still went ahead and promoted the company anyways!
On November 11th, 2008, she was informed by Full Tilt Poker that she would no longer be apart of Team Full Tilt. This must’ve been the primary factor for Gowen to be bringing such a high-profile lawsuit against the company, especially considering she was supposedly never compensated for promoting the company for the last four years. The tough thing about this suit is that she openly admits to only having an oral contract that was made with Tiltware LLC executives (controlling company of Full Tilt Poker), and not a definitive written contract about her claims.
The suit alleges the company is worth $4 billion, and she’s owed the 1% she was promised by executives when she signed on with FTP in 2004. It is unclear why she not only named Tiltware LLC in the legal filing, but also other Full Tilt team members such as Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, and Erick Lindgren.
Tiltware LLC has released the following statement about the claims:

“Tiltware, LLC, has been made aware of the recent filing of a meritless lawsuit by a former Full Tilt Poker endorser — Ms. Cycalona Gowen. All claims have no merit and there are many inaccuracies improperly and unlawfully asserted by Ms. Gowen within her frivolous complaint. Tiltware LLC expects that this lawsuit will be dealt with accordingly by a competent court in due course.”

shdw01 · Nov 18, 2008

If the contract is oral, I don't see how she will get $40 million....

i imagine her sporting gear and being in commercials will be compensated on equivalent advertising expenses.....

ProPokerPlayer · Nov 18, 2008

Tiltware = fitting name

WorldNumberOne · Nov 18, 2008

cant stand her... someone told her a while back that she is " one of the best players in the world " .. and she took it seriously..

i think she has 4 kids.. can only wonder what kind of train wrecks they'll turn out to be..

cadillacman · Nov 18, 2008

World Number One said:
cant stand her... someone told her a while back that she is " one of the best players in the world " .. and she took it seriously..

i think she has 4 kids.. can only wonder what kind of train wrecks they'll turn out to be..

you may be thinking of Annie Duke

WorldNumberOne · Nov 18, 2008

cadillac man said:
you may be thinking of Annie Duke

i know who i mean...

PO69 · Nov 18, 2008

You isnt due 40 million, but $250,000 was wayyyy to short in my opinion.

She should get at least $2-4 million

SaltyVeteran · Nov 18, 2008

There's no way they don't settle this out of court. How could Lederer and the other owners let their poker site who still takes a ton of US action get in a courtroom here? She will get a nice chunk imo.

crookedlink · Nov 18, 2008

There is no way Full Tilt Poker is worth 4 billion dollars.

bellyputter · Nov 18, 2008

She may have to give oral to get her $40 million.

WorldNumberOne · Nov 18, 2008

she was lucky to get clothes and maybe a few entries paid..

no way they promised that gash 1 % of the company...

PokerKingJim · Nov 18, 2008

ProPokerPlayer said:
Tiltware = fitting name

You are a sad human being. May God have mercy on your soul.

nimue77 · Nov 18, 2008

What kind of a moron makes an oral contract for such a major deal?
I call bullshit.

nhoj · Nov 18, 2008

I let her give me an oral contract anyday.

Akillies · Nov 19, 2008

she should have gladly taken the 250, and said thank you

D2bets · Nov 19, 2008

One thing here though, assuming the story is true, they offered to give her $250,000. That tells me that is an admission of some sort of agreement. They ain't giving her a "distribution check" if she wasn't entitled to anything. Sounds like the dispute is more over the amount. Maybe the disagreement is over the percentage. Lots of people involved with FTP so maybe 1% was too high. Maybe it was .1% or .01% and she just misunderstood the decimal.

festeringZit · Jan 8, 2009

January 7th, 2009 9:48 pm EST
Motion to Dismiss Filed in Clonie Gowen Lawsuit Against FTP

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Late in 2008, Clonie Gowen shocked many in the poker world by filing a lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker.

The suit, "Gowen vs Tiltware LLC, et al.", was filed in the Las Vegas Office of the Nevada District Court in mid November.

A number of companies that are involved with Full Tilt Poker were listed as defendants in the suit, including Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware LLC and Pocket Kings Ltd.

On top of that, members of "Team Full Tilt" and original founders of the company were also listed as defendants, including Phil Ivey, Erick Lindgren and Patrik Antonius.

The suit alleged that Gowen was promised 1% of the company in 2004. A meeting was apparently held at Phil Ivey's suite at the Golden Nugget at that time, and was led by Howard Lederer.

Gowen claims that she was offered a 1% stake to represent and promote the company, and that she accepted. She goes on to claim that she was offered a 1% stake in both Full Tilt Poker and Tiltware LLC, the company that "leases" its software to Full Tilt Poker.

Anyways, Gowen claims to have represented the company for years without receiving any compensation. In her suit, Gowen claims that all members of "Team Full Tilt", except her, received distribution checks in 2007. She claims to have asked for her "fair share" at that time and was turned down.

Gowen went on to claim that Howard Lederer offered her $250,000 in November of 2007 to compensate Gowen for her past work with the company. Gowen apparently turned the offer down.

In late 2008, Gowen was told by Full Tilt Poker that a press release would be issued by the company, severing all ties with Gowen. Shortly thereafter, Gowen and her lawyers unleashed their lawsuit against Full Tilt and its associated entities. Gowen claimed damages of $40 million dollars - the lawsuit claimed that Full Tilt Poker was worth $4 billion dollars and that Gowen's rightful 1% stake was worth $40 million dollars.

The law firm of Olson, Cannon, Gormley & Desriusseaux filed a twelve-page motion to dismiss on Tuesday.

The motion to dismiss claims that "plaintiff Cycalona Gowen" is a "self-described celebrity poker player" who has launched a "typhoon of litigation". The motion states that Gowen "certainly does not have a shotgun claim for fraud against her thirteen fellow poker pros", and that the court should either dismiss the claim or "significantly clean up her almost random claims against the multiple defendants".

The motion goes on to say that "unless Gowen makes an offer of proof sufficient to satisfy the court", that the Court should dismiss the thirteen individual defendants from the suit.

The motion further states that this is a contract claim between Gowen and Tiltware, and that the 13 individual defendants have nothing to do with the situation.

We'll keep an eye on this situation as it progresses..

Betallsports · Jan 8, 2009

I wonder if they ( The 13 Pro players ) have Blackballed her ?? Could cause a problem in This years circuit...

There are some Big names in "Team Full Tilt"