$25M e-gaming lawsuit against P.E.I. government in court

A $25-million lawsuit against the P.E.I. government involving e-gaming made its first appearance in P.E.I. Supreme Court Monday.

Capital Markets Technologies (CMT) is making a number of claimsincluding that it was involved in discussions on e-gaming with the P.E.I. governmentand thatgovernment didn't act in good faith regarding a memorandum of understanding to develop a financial services centre.

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Much of Monday's discussions in court dealt with how much the case might eventually cost in legal bills.

Lawyers representing the government estimate their costs will be $1.2 million. Adding two other defendants named in the suit, P.E.I. businessmen Paul Jenkins and Garth Jenkins,the total estimate to defend the case is about $3 million.

The defendants all asked Justice Gordon Campbell to order CMT to make a security deposit in the event the case goes to trial. They argue ifCMT loses andhas to pay costs, there should be money set aside to cover it.

CMT estimates its costs as plaintiffs will be about $100,000.

Campbell has to sort through these very different estimates and decide how large a security deposit CMT has to make, if any, before the case moves forward.

Later in the day Monday, defence lawyers critiqued CMT's statement of claim, contending it contravenes a number of rules and is long, rambling, and, at times, irrelevant. They argued thata numberof paragraphs that begin with "Sheridan lied..." referring to formerfinance minister Wes Sheridan represent opinion, not fact.

A lawyer representing Paul Jenkins requested the entire claim be struck.

Campbell has six months to issue a ruling on Monday's motions. But some lawyers in the case suggested a ruling could be available early in the new year.

CMT's lawyer argued his client's case is very complex, and asked Campbell for latitude to prove the allegations.