Texas Lacks Personal Jurisdiction Over Claim of Gambler with Parkinson's Disease
In a major victory for five Las Vegas-based casinos, a federal District Court in Texas dismissed, for lack of personal jurisdiction, the claim of an Austin physician who alleged that the casinos knew that his medication for Parkinson's disease made him a compulsive gambler. In Wells v. Smithkline Beecham Corp., No. A-06-CA-126-LY (Feb. 20, 2007), the Court dismissed the casinos from the lawsuit filed by Dr. Max Wells to recover $14 million in gambling losses. The manufacturer of the prescription medication, Requip, remains as the sole defendant in the lawsuit.
Dr. Wells argued that the Las Vegas casinos – Wynn Las Vegas, the Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino (whose parent company, Las Vegas Sands, was named in the suit), Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Treasure Island Hotel and Casino, and Harrah's Las Vegas—could be sued in Texas because they contacted him there in connection with his own gambling, and also because of numerous e-mail and Web site contacts between the casinos and Texas residents.
The casino defendants responded that they are all Nevada corporations without any offices or employees in Texas. Moreover, they insisted, Dr. Wells signed markers at each casino with choice-of-law clauses, forum-selection clauses, or personal-jurisdiction provisions, all of which the Court described as providing that "Nevada law shall govern, venue shall solely lie in Nevada, and that Wells consents to personal jurisdiction in Nevada."
Judge Lee Yeakel specifically ruled that Dr. Wells could not establish that the casino defendants had "minimum contacts" with Texas for jurisdiction purposes based on a variety of factors, including: promotional gifts sent to Texas residents, "[c]ontracting with Texas residents, sending agreements and checks to Texas, [or] engaging in extensive telephone and written communications with [Dr. Wells],even when viewed cumulatively." (Emphasis added.)
Judge Yeakel also held that jurisdiction could not be based on the casinos' Web sites and "blast e-mails" to Texas residents. Those actions, he concluded are "aimed at no particular place" and thus "are not aimed at nor about Texas."
As of mid-May, Dr. Wells was pursuing only the drug manufacturer on the claim that he became a compulsive gambler because of the impact of Requip. He has made no effort to sue the casino companies in Nevada courts. One casino defendant, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, settled with Dr. Wells on undisclosed terms before Judge Yeakel ruled on the dismissal motions.
