July 17, 2009
A judge denied Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc. its request for an immediate restoration of Rosecroft Raceway’s simulcast signal Thursday, a move that may indicate a tough road ahead for Cloverleaf’s $20 million law suit against the thoroughbred industry.
After three days of hearings — slightly unusual for this stage in the game — a judge found Cloverleaf failed to prove any of its claims and denied its request for a temporary restraining order to restore its simulcast signal for thoroughbred tracks.
Alan Foreman, the attorney for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (one of the 16 defendants in the $20 million suit) said Thursday’s ruling put Cloverleaf on shaky ground.
“We still have a hearing on a permanent restraining order but unless they pull a rabbit out of a hat, they’re going to have a tough time getting any injunctive relief,” he said.
He noted that rather than pay its debt to the thoroughbred industry, Cloverleaf’s choice to spend more than $500,000 on legal fees and $25,000 on Redskins tickets was irresponsible.
“You hardly look like a company that’s suffering irreparable harm when you’re doing that,” Foreman said. “They made an agreement and they decided to renege on that agreement. They created this.”
When asked about the tickets, Kelley Rogers, president of Cloverleaf, said that was contract made by the previous management (Rogers has been at the helm for about two years).
“We had no knowledge of that until we got a certified letter from the Redskins...
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