E-gaming lawsuit filed
The companies suing the P.E.I. government and eight other parties in a lawsuit related to the province’s failed egaming scheme have filed a new statement of claim. Capital Markets Technologies Inc. and 7645686 Canada Inc. filed the claim on March 29 in P.E.I. Supreme Court.
A notice of intention to file a statement of claim initially listed former premier Robert Ghiz, lawyer Gary Scales and deputy minister of workforce and advanced learning Neil Stewart.
Those three are not included in the statement of claim. Garth Jenkins and Ventis Technology Partners Inc. were also named in the initial lawsuit but are not listed as defendants in the most recent statement of claim.
In their statement of claim filed this week, the plaintiffs are seeking $50 million in damages for allegations that include misfeasance in a public office by several of the defendants.
It also alleges a breach of fiduciary duty by Jenkins.
The latest court filing came after P.E.I. Supreme Court Justice Gordon Campbell struck out a previous statement of claim in February 2016.
Campbell said in his decision it constituted an abuse of the processes of the court meant to get a result that is fair and just to all parties.
That decision allowed the plaintiffs to file a new statement of claim.
Capital Markets Technologies was a shareholder in a company that worked with the province and the Mi’kmaq Confederacy in 2011-2012 on a plan to make P.E.I. an online-gaming regulator.
The government abandoned that plan but later signed a memorandum of understanding with 7645686 Canada Inc. about establishing a financial services platform in P.E.I. Capital Markets Technologies owned the numbered company.
Lawyer Jonathan Coady, who represents the province on the lawsuit, confirmed the government received a copy of the statement of claim and will be filing a full defence.
Coady said there is no legal merit to the claim.
“Once again, the claim has been designed for public consumption. We will answer it completely in a courtroom,” he said.