Casino news source: Courier Press - http://www.courierpress.com
Lawyer taking new suit to casino
By Katherine Braser (Contact)
Sunday, September 9, 2007
An Evansville attorney whose 2002 lawsuit on behalf of a client against Casino Aztar garnered national attention is at it again.
Personal injury lawyer Terry Noffsinger said he never set out to be known as the legal face of anti-gambling, but that changed a bit after he agreed to represent David N. Williams.
Williams claimed Casino Aztar knew of his gambling addiction, banned him from its Evansville riverboat but then lured him back to gambling.
After his first meeting with Williams, Noffsinger wasn't completely sold. But he researched pathological gambling, and what he learned moved him to take the case.
It was watched carefully by both opponents and supporters of legalized gambling.
Legal professionals said if Williams prevailed, it could lead to success in tougher legal sanctions against the gambling industry.
Noffsinger was unsuccessful in the lawsuit, but now says the case opened his eyes to aspects of the gambling industry's marketing techniques that he finds troubling.
Noffsinger said his critics have been harsh, painting him as an "ambulance-chasing" lawyer who takes on "frivolous" cases for clients portrayed as lacking personal responsibility.
But Noffsinger is passionate about his profession and his disdain for casino marketing techniques, for which he is an unapologetic critic.
"I am by no means unbiased," Noffsinger said. "I am so sorry about what gambling has done to this country. Most people don't know, and government, which should know, is the partner because of the tax dollars they receive."
Noffsinger said the U.S. has a "great tradition of looking out for the little guy."
"Except when it comes to those who suffer from compulsive gambling," he adds.
Despite a list pages long of potential clients from across the country seeking his representation in gambling cases, Noffsinger didn't take another one after Williams'.
"I don't know why," he said. "I just didn't."
But in January, he met a woman from Nashville, Tenn., named Jenny Kephart.
After inheriting $1 million, Kephart says she was lured back to the casinos where she previously gambled herself into debt and bankruptcy.
Now Kephart is being sued by Caesars Indiana. The New Albany, Ind., casino claims she failed to repay $125,000 she borrowed during a March 2006 visit.
Kephart argues Caesars made money for gambling available to her through a loan even though Harrah's — which owns the Ohio River casino — was one of her creditors in the bankruptcy four years earlier.
In records filed in Kephart's case, Noffsinger contends she is a pathological gambler, and Caesars "knowingly and willingly takes advantage of such patrons who are addicted to gambling."
He said Caesars breached their duty of care to Kephart by failing to properly acknowledge her "psychological infirmities" and deny her access to the casino.
Indiana courts have previously ruled casino operators don't have to prevent customers from gambling and aren't responsible for such losses.
Noffsinger, however, holds the theory that casinos should be legally responsible for reaching out to people who are known to be problem gamblers.
"This case is different from Williams' because in his case, I had a hard time proving (casino employees) knew him," Noffsinger said. "It's also different because (Caesars) are suing her."
Noffsinger said if Kephart wins her case, it would set a precedent.
"It doesn't seem right that a casino could go after a compulsive gambler for a second time, after she had gone through bankruptcy where they were a creditor," he said of Kephart's case.
To win the case, Noffsinger will have to prove Kephart is a pathological gambler, that the casino knew she had a problem and that they went after her despite that knowledge.
A Corydon, Ind., judge has yet to make a ruling in Kephart's case, but Noffsinger is already being sought by national media: In one day this week, he did interviews with radio stations in Los Angeles and Cleveland and was interviewed by Fox News' Shepard Smith in a nationally aired segment. |
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