Casino can’t make bank pay on gambler’s marker

Charles Wolfe

Friday, March 24, 2000 | 4:12 a.m.

FRANKFORT, Ky. - A casino that gave a patron $52,500 in credit cannot make his bank pay off his markers, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

Players Casino claimed the bank had a duty, when it returned a credit report on James Wells, to disclose that it does not take counter checks.

Wells was a frequent patron of Players, which operates a casino boat at Metropolis, Ill., near Paducah.

Wells applied for a line of credit in April 1995. He consented to a confidential credit inquiry, which showed he had $163,000 in a personal money market account and $15,000 in a savings account at Edward D. Jones & Co. and State Street Bank in Boston.

The casino allowed Jones to sign seven markers totaling $52,500 in June and July 1996. When the markers were not redeemed in 30 days, Players deposited them for collection.

All were returned, and the Players collection manager was informed that the Massachusetts bank did not accept counter checks. Players then tried to collect from Wells, but he had filed for bankruptcy.

Players sued State Street and Edward D. Jones in Muhlenberg County, where Wells maintained an account at a Jones office. Muhlenberg Circuit Court dismissed the suit and was upheld on appeal Friday.

Writing for the appellate panel, Judge Wilfrid Schroder of Covington said Wells signed papers that only authorized his bankers to release his account information.

The inquiry form "has nothing to do with any type of agreement, proposed or implied, between the bank and Players," Schroder wrote.

Chief Judge Paul Gudgel of Lexington and Judge Joseph Huddleston of Bowling Green joined in the opinion.

In other cases, the appeals court:

The decision reversed a Kenton Circuit Court order abating the payments of Randall A. Marshall.

Marshall, who had been a bricklayer, was ordered in 1991 to pay $75 a week to support his two children. He pleaded guilty to wanton endangerment in 1992, got a two-year sentence in state prison, and asked the circuit court to terminate the order.

The court did so, ruling that Marshall's incarceration was "an extraordinary circumstance."

His former wife took Marshall to court in 1995 to collect a $5,000 arrearage. Marshall again asked the court for relief. He said he was indigent, had no assets and was awaiting sentencing on federal felony charges. The court did so, again.

Writing the appellate opinion, Judge Rick A. Johnson of Mayfield said Marshall "voluntarily engaged in conduct which he should have known would impair his ability to support his children."

Judges Sara Walter Combs of Stanton and William McAnulty of Louisville joined in the opinion.

"Apparently this issue has been of long standing in Logan County," Judge Daniel T. Guidugli of Newport wrote for the court. However, "we find nothing in either the statutes or administrative regulations ... to substantiate the circuit court's findings on this issue."

Combs and Schroder joined in the ruling.