Jury:
New Frontier Must Pay $110,000 to Card Counter
A Clark County District
Court jury has awarded a gambler $110,000 for
an incident in 2001 in which he was detained
in a security office at the New Frontier.
Wednesday, the jury found the New
Frontier, its security chief and a security
guard liable for false imprisonment, assault,
battery, intentional infliction of emotional
distress and negligence.
Earlier this year, the court dismissed claims
for defamation, violation of civil rights and
unlawfully searching the gambler's personal
property.
New Frontier attorney Steven Jaffe said the
property is analyzing the verdict and "looking
at all of our options." Those could include
appealing the decision, pushing for a new trial
or asking the judge to reverse all or part of
the verdict.
Gambler David D'Aquin was not cheating at cards
but was admittedly counting cards -- an activity
that is legal in Nevada. Casinos don't want
card counters' business and have the legal right
to prohibit counters' play and ask them to leave
the property.
According to the New Frontier's account of
the 2001 incident, D'Aquin won about $4,000
after about 30 to 40 minutes at blackjack. He
was approached by security personnel after cashing
out his winnings and was escorted into a private
room, where he was detained and questioned for
less than 10 minutes.
D'Aquin asked for $100,000 in compensatory
damages. The court dismissed his claim for punitive
damages.
The New Frontier said D'Aquin didn't suffer
any damages. The casino said the surveillance
videotape of the incident does not show that
the man was assaulted and questioned his claim
of emotional distress.
"A review of that tape reveals nothing
as catastrophic as (D'Aquin) would have this
court believe," the casino said in a court
filing. The videotape shows a security employee
cursing at D'Aquin and placing him up against
a wall to be searched.
The casino also said D'Aquin committed a crime
by gambling at the property, obtaining a loyalty
club card and winning money under an assumed
name. But D'Aquin said he broke no laws by using
a fake name because he didn't use the name to
commit a crime.
During the trial, the New Frontier's security
chief testified that after the incident, the
property changed its practice of bringing suspected
card counters into a back room for questioning.
The security chief said the casino now approaches
unwanted gamblers on the casino floor and asks
them to leave, court filings show.
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