Postle Hit With Two Motions to Strike
Poker pro Mike Postle has been hit with two motions to strike his complaints in California courts, by defendants in his lawsuit alleging defamation and seeking hundreds of millions in damages.
Postle alleges individuals wrongfully accused him of cheating during live streaming poker games.
According to one of the named defendants, Tom Witteles, attorneys for Postle have successfully dropped him as a client.
"The whole lawsuit was absurd," Witteles said on one of his radio shows last month. "It was kind of just meant to harass everybody here, in my opinion.
"It's very frustrating when you're the defendant in a frivolous lawsuit."
PokerNews.com, which is named in the suit filed by Postle, claims the poker player will now be responsible for his own legal fees.
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From the actual motion filed:
"It is apparent that Plaintiff filed this meritless lawsuit in an attempt to better his own public image, with full disregard for the rights of Witteles," says Witteles' motion, filed by Eric Bensamochan. "This is the exact situation the Anti-SLAPP legislation was designed for. The Court should grant this special motion to strike based on Witteles’ well-founded right to free speech, and in the interests of equity and justice."
The allegations against Postle first came to light in the fall of 2019.
Veronica Brill (aka “Angry Polak”) claimed to have caught Postle cheating during a live stream at Stones Gambling Hall poker room in Northern California. Within a week, a number of individuals in the poker community had dissected the entire playing history of Mike Postle, every hand and every session of his streamed play logged, every time he looked at the phone in his crotch, every touch of his strangely-bulging baseball cap.
Postle claimed there was no proof of cheating. Justin Kuraitis, who was also implicated, says "the truth is finally coming out". Kuraitis was the supervisor who presided over some of the allegedly crooked games.
Mac Verstandig, the lawyer who represented 88 claimants in a lawsuit filed against both individuals, told the Sac Bee following an intensive review of the matter:
“After reviewing evidence with the cooperation of Stones, my co-counsel and I have found no evidence supporting the plaintiffs’ claims against Stones, Stones Live Poker, or Justin Kuraitis.”
Nonetheless, many in the poker community continue to have their doubts.
- Ace King, Gambling911.co
