One of the class action cases filed against sweepstakes industry leader VGW has been dropped, at least for the time being.
The Georgia Northern District Court rejected Fair Gaming Advocates’ planned class action lawsuit against VGW Holdings.
Judge Thomas Thrash rejected the complaint, claiming that the court lacks standing to hear the matter.
Fair Gaming argued that because VGW admits Georgia clients and has two workers who live in Georgia but work from home, the court was the proper venue for the lawsuit. Thrash disagreed, claiming that the nature of the gaming website did not justify inclusion under the state’s long-arm legislation.
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“The Defendants’ casino gaming websites were accessible to Georgia users, and they accepted payments from them to play the games. However, the Court finds this limited interaction insufficient to satisfy the transacting business prong in O.C.G.A. § 9-10-91(1).” Even if it were, the exercise of jurisdiction under the long-arm statute would violate traditional notions of fairness and substantial justice because the Defendants could not reasonably have expected to be hauled into court in Georgia (or any state, for that matter) solely because their websites are accessed by residents of the state,” the ruling stated.
Thrash further emphasized that because no good or service is given to the state of Georgia, VGW sites such as Chumba and Luckyland are passive websites and do not fall within the court’s jurisdiction, as decided in the case Pascarelli v Koehler, which dealt with a hotel reservation website.
VGW had sought the court to require arbitration for the case, which is where many of these social casino disputes have ended.
Thrash chose to dismiss the order, stating that if the court is unable to rule on the matter, it cannot compel arbitration.
Destiny Kennedy has filed a second VGW case in Georgia’s Southern District Court. In this instance, Kennedy says she opted out of the arbitration clause in VGW’s terms and conditions, while VGW maintains Kennedy accepted to revised terms and conditions after opening an account and did not opt out.
In addition, the corporation claimed that the court lacked standing to hear the matter. That lawsuit is currently continuing, awaiting a decision on VGW’s request to dismiss.
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