Postle Dismissed Lawsuit, on the Hook for Legal Fees

Mike Postle decided he had enough of legal battles and filed a motion to dismiss all charges against everyone who he believed had sullied his name.

Postle Ditched Defamation Lawsuit

Following his motion filed on April Fool’s Day, the Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento, dismissed the defamation lawsuit Mike Postle filed against Veronica Brill and a plethora of others in October last year, seeking $330 million in damages he sustained to his poker career and reputation due to the allegations that he had somehow cheated his opponents at Stones Gambling Hall in Citrus Heights, California.

The defamation lawsuit followed a settlement agreement on the case against Postle, King’s Casino, and Justin Kuraitis in which 60 out of 88 plaintiffs agreed in August to free defendants including Mike Postle from further litigation, allowing the rest of the plaintiffs among which Veronica Brill, the one who first publicly accused Postle of cheating, to file an amended complaint.

Earlier, Judge William B. Shubb of the Eastern District of California dismissed with prejudice all allegations against the defendants, leaving open the option for an amended complaint against King’s Casino and Kuraitis. In November, as there was no amended complaint, Judge Shubb dismissed the remaining plaintiffs’ claims too.

Legal Fees

The latest action to dismiss the defamation case against everyone from Veronica Brill to ESPN ended the case but did not leave Mike Postle off the hook regarding legal fees incurred by some of the parties he sued for ruining his reputation, who meanwhile had hired prominent lawyers to file anti-SLAPP motions in their own defense and against Postle, while Postle himself had released Attorney Steven Lowe as his legal counsel.

Following Postle’s motion to dismiss, Eric Bensamochan, attorney for Todd Witteles, immediately filed a motion on Witteles’ behalf to keep Postle on the hook for attorney fees, which the court received April 2 and set a hearing date for May 12.

Marc Randazza, Veronica Brill’s attorney, stated that the motion to dismiss the case from Postle meant an automatic loss on the anti-SLAPP motion against him, implying he would also file a motion with regards to legal fees Brill had faced so far.

Postle’s ‘Counsel’

There was another interesting development related to the case which connected Mike Postle to the HONR Network, a nonprofit established in 2014 by one parent of a victim in the Sandy Hook massacre, “focused on the reporting and removal of defamatory, harassing, doxing, and other civil rights and TOS violating content”, as Director of Public Relations and Policy at HONR Alexandrea Merrell stated.

It turned out that “Merrell acted in a way consistent with being ‘Counsel’ to Postle”, Marc Randazza stated, outlining details regarding calls from him and his associate Postle, as well as similar experience from Witteles’ attorney who also had to talk to HONR’s director instead of with supposedly having no legal representation Mike Postle.