Appellate case law update

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Caesar's Riverboat Casino, LLC (Caesar's) filed suit in Harrison Circuit Court alleging that Genevieve M. Kephart (Kephart) failed to provide funds to cover checks written while gambling at Caesar's establishment. Kephart countersued alleging that Caesar's took advantage of her pathological gambling condition to unjustly enrich itself. Caesar's filed a Trial Rule 12(B)(6) motion on Kephart's counterclaim. The trial court denied Caesar's motion and Caesar's appeals.

Conclusion (slip op. at 2): Concluding that Indiana's common law does not provide Kephart a private cause of action in negligence against Caesar‟s in the form of a counterclaim, we reverse.

Key Analysis (slip op. at 14, 15): While Caesar's actions in allowing her to write six checks totaling $125,000 are extremely concerning and should be examined . . . Kephart has a responsibility to protect herself from her own proclivities and not rely on the casino to bear sole responsibility for her actions. . . One may argue that the statutory framework does not provide enough protections for compulsive gamblers, but that argument is more properly addressed to the (Indiana Gaming) Commission or to the General Assembly.