Big Black casino lawsuit moved to federal court

Paul Payne

Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2000 | 12:50 p.m.

JACKSON, Miss. - A second lawsuit accusing three Vicksburg casinos and a Mississippi bank of conspiring to block development along the Big Black River has been moved from state to federal court.

Attorney David Kaufman, who represents Harrah's Vicksburg Corp., said he moved the case from Pike County where it was originally filed to the U.S. District Court in Jackson on Dec. 30.

"The case has no connection to Pike County," said Kaufman.

Kaufman said a trial in Jackson would be more convenient.

The suit was filed Nov. 22 by attorney Wayne Dowdy on behalf of two Hinds County residents. It mirrors a case that resulted in a $3 million judgment against the same defendants, Ameristar Casinos Inc., Isle of Capri Casinos, Deposit Guranty National Bank and Harrah's.

Kaufman said his client's loss in Pike County did not influence his decision to move the trial to the federal court in Jackson.

The next step is a case management conference in which the two sides will meet with court officials and decide when the case can go to trial, Kaufman said.

Kaufman said the complexity of the case could push it back to next year.

"It quite possibly won't come to trial this year," Kaufman said.

Dowdy represents Walter H. Gibbes Jr. and Margaret S. Dozier, both of whom owned interest in property on which the Big Black casino would have been built.

The Mississippi Gaming Commission rejected Horsehoe Gaming's Big Black application in 1996. A Hinds County Circuit Court judge overturned the commission's ruling and the case is now before the state Supreme Court.

According to the suit, which represents only one side of a legal argument, the defendants "attempted to restrain the freedom of trade," the same charge made in the previous case. Gibbes claims $3.3 million in actual damages, Dozier $1.26 million.

Earlier, Dowdy and Clinton attorney Bill Spell represented Warren County landowner E.L. Pennebaker and casino developer Jim Belisle. They said the Vicksburg casinos and the bank conspired to persuade state gaming commissioners to deny an application for a casino on Big Black between Jackson and Vicksburg.

A jury found for the plaintiffs after a two-week trial in October. The defendants have appealed.

In the Pennebaker case, the defendants said they exercised their constitutional right to free speech in opposing the Big Black site, which they said was unsuitable for a variety of reasons including environmental and historical.