Arkansas gambling regulators' decision to award a Mississippi company a casino license is "a cavalcade of errors, arbitrary actions and legal non-compliance" that failed to recognize the "objectively superior" application by the Cherokee Nations-backed resort company, which should have won the license, a lawsuit filed Tuesday says.
Attorneys for the Indian-owned Legends Resort and Casino LLC called for Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen to reverse the state Racing Commission's decision to deny it the casino license for Pope County in favor of Gulfside Casino Partnership.
Legends states that it's the only qualified applicant because it's the only company endorsed by both the county judge and Quorum Court of Pope County, has "substantially" more experience in operating casinos and promised to get the operation up and running faster while bankrolling the $250 million project itself rather than seek financing.
The suit broadens the litigation over the sole Pope County license. Gulfside sued the Racing Commission in Pulaski County Circuit Court in 2019 to get its application considered after commissioners rejected it.
Gulfside won last March, but earlier this month the Arkansas Supreme Court effectively called that victory into question in a ruling stating that Legends Resort was wrongly barred from being allowed to join the suit to defend the commission's ruling against Gulfside.
The latest litigation was promised two weeks ago by Legends lawyers Bart Calhoun, Scott Richardson and Dustin McDaniel when commissioners formalized their July vote -- a 3-2 decision -- to grant the license to Gulfside of Mississippi.
Attorneys followed through Tuesday with an 87-page lawsuit, backed by 43 exhibits, against the commission, its seven members and Gulfside, citing 12 errors Legends says commissioners made in favoring its competitor.
The appeal to circuit court is the only avenue available to Legends, which is owned by Cherokee Nation Businesses LLC of Oklahoma, under the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act.
Among that "plethora of errors" described in the suit are a failure by the commission to adopt legally-sufficient facts and conclusions as well as wrongfully deeming Gulfside to be a qualified applicant when the company should have been disqualified for submitting an inadequate application and violating gaming application rules, including deliberately submitting misleading information about Gulfside owners' financial history and casino experience.
Legends wants the judge to void the decision to license Gulfside and find that Gulfside does not meet constitutional requirements for a casino license and is otherwise disqualified from holding a license.
Legends further wants the judge to rule that racing commissioners broke the law to license Gulfside and order that they reconsider Legends' application as the only qualified applicant.