The Supreme Court of P.E.I. has received a $300,000 security required for an amended e-gaming lawsuit, levelled against former premier Robert Ghiz and the P.E.I. government.
The $300,000 security was posted last week by Capital Markets Technologies, which is suing the provincial government for $50 million. CMT filed an amended statement of claim on Thursday, adding seven new defendants to the lawsuit, bringing the total number to 14.
A response to CMT’s amended statement of claim was also filed on Thursday by Stewart McKelvey, the legal firm representing the provincial government, Robert Ghiz and eight other defendants.
CMT is seeking damages related to a scuttled attempt to establish a platform for processing online financial payments. The suit alleges the government breached “its good faith performance of contract” and failed to “act honestly in the performance of its contractual obligations.”
The response from Stewart McKelvey says the allegations made in the amended statement of claim are “scandalous, frivolous, vexatious or an abuse of process” and states that there is “no genuine issue requiring a trial.”
CMT was a shareholder in a company that worked with the provincial government in 2011 and 2012 to establish P.E.I. as a national internet gambling regulator. The plan was abandoned after it was determined to be illegal.
An initial lawsuit filed by CMT against the provincial government was struck down by the P.E.I. supreme court in February of 2016. The lawsuit was deemed an abuse of the processes of the court, but CMT was allowed to file a new statement of claim.
The new statement of claim was filed in March of 2017, but the amendments added the new defendants.
The $300,000 security was required in order to allow three of these new defendants, William Dow, Gary Scales and Tracey Cutcliffe, to be included in the lawsuit. CMT had already paid another $732,098 security to cover potential costs for the P.E.I. government and for Paul Jenkins, a businessman named in the lawsuit.
