ESPN: Iowa-based athletes in betting inquiry sue for rights violations

[Voice of the Quakers]

Gentlemen, start your lawyers!!!

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/40029156/iowa-iowa-state-gambling-lawsuit-civil-rights

[billyhoyle]

GeoComply provides geolocation software to major sportsbooks to monitor users. The lawsuit notes that when users register with online betting companies, they "consent to share their location data with GeoComply, who in turn provides this data back to the companies." Written policies from DraftKings and FanDuel, the two online sportsbooks the athletes used, tell users the companies may disclose personally identifying information to law enforcement.

So they agreed to this by using the betting software?

 

 

The lawsuit alleges DCI agents told the athletes they were not the targets of the investigation but rather were assisting in an inquiry of sports betting companies.

Police lying to criminal suspects-nothing new there.  

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

3 minutes ago, billyhoyle said:

GeoComply provides geolocation software to major sportsbooks to monitor users. The lawsuit notes that when users register with online betting companies, they "consent to share their location data with GeoComply, who in turn provides this data back to the companies." Written policies from DraftKings and FanDuel, the two online sportsbooks the athletes used, tell users the companies may disclose personally identifying information to law enforcement.

So they agreed to this by using the betting software?

 

 

The lawsuit alleges DCI agents told the athletes they were not the targets of the investigation but rather were assisting in an inquiry of sports betting companies.

Police lying to criminal suspects-nothing new there.  

Police are allowed to lie unless they are under oath.

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Just to be clear, none of the athletes are denying that they placed bets in violation of NCAA rules...just that they're mad they got busted?

[Dogbone]

21 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Just to be clear, none of the athletes are denying that they placed bets in violation of NCAA rules...just that they're mad they got busted?

Yes. That's how Rights work in this country.  It is like an illegal search and seizure.  Their Rights were violated so they are suing. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

4 minutes ago, Dogbone said:

Yes. That's how Rights work in this country.  It is like an illegal search and seizure.  Their Rights were violated so they are suing. 

Even if they win how will that affect the NCAAs rules and enforcement?

[Dogbone]

28 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Even if they win how will that affect the NCAAs rules and enforcement?

It won't effect the NCAA ruling.   It is a legal case against the State of Iowa, not the NCAA. 

[wrestle87]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Just to be clear, none of the athletes are denying that they placed bets in violation of NCAA rules...just that they're mad they got busted?

To be clear, they are holding the justice system and government accountable to their own rules.

Those rules, limitations, and mechanisms for accountability are what keeps our country from really sucking fat donkey weiner.

[ionel]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Police are allowed to lie unless they are under oath.

And so is Jimmy.  

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

48 minutes ago, Dogbone said:

It won't effect the NCAA ruling.   It is a legal case against the State of Iowa, not the NCAA. 

Ok, so what could they gain if they win?  Some monetary compensation?

[AgaveMaria]

The lawsuit alleges DCI agents told the athletes they were not the targets of the investigation but rather were assisting in an inquiry of sports betting companies.

They may not have been the targets but an investigator is always looking for others who show up during an investigation.

Their defense is what... We Got Caught and that is not fair?

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Yes, basically that's the gist of it.

[jchapman]

46 minutes ago, AgaveMaria said:

The lawsuit alleges DCI agents told the athletes they were not the targets of the investigation but rather were assisting in an inquiry of sports betting companies.

They may not have been the targets but an investigator is always looking for others who show up during an investigation.

Their defense is what... We Got Caught and that is not fair?

They (athletes) don't have a defense because they are the plaintiffs in this civil suit.   

[Wrestleknownothing]

1 hour ago, AgaveMaria said:

The lawsuit alleges DCI agents told the athletes they were not the targets of the investigation but rather were assisting in an inquiry of sports betting companies.

They may not have been the targets but an investigator is always looking for others who show up during an investigation.

Their defense is what... We Got Caught and that is not fair?

Their claim is that their right to due process was violated by the failure of the DCI to get a warrant before accessing the geoloacting data.

[billyhoyle]

18 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Their claim is that their right to due process was violated by the failure of the DCI to get a warrant before accessing the geoloacting data.

The police use cell tower geolocation to identify murder suspects…Do they get warrants when they do this?  Does it matter that part of the TOS in the app is that the info can be shared with police? 

Edited April 27 by billyhoyle

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

This is not legal advice, and I'm not going to take the time to research even the most basic aspects of the case other than to skim the article. With those caveats, here are my opinions. 

This is a federal lawsuit. I had federal jury trials in the Central District of ILLINOIS, which I think will be similar to the jury pool in Iowa. There were a lot of "corn folks" and those who were deeply religious on the panel of prospective jurors. They were skimpy with money on the whole. That is a good thing and a bad thing for the athletes. There will be wrestling fans and skeptics of the government in that pool. On the other hand, there will also be the religious who think nobody should be gambling, much less young adults. And even if they win, those juries are notoriously tight-fisted with $$$. 

But to even get to trial, the athlete/plaintiffs will have to get past governmental/qualified immunity and motions to dismiss. These are huge hurdles in this case.

If I represented the state agencies and state officials, I would certainly want to argue that any information provided by GeoComply, a service that the athletes agreed to in their sign-up, could never be poisoned fruit. Anything like that that falls into the lap of enforcement agents (and is not coerced by them) is like free bacon at a buffet.

Eat as much of it as you can and avoid the stomach-filling toast. 

Once the enforcement agents had that information, which they had every right to receive, the article states that "state investigators subsequently had warrants to obtain and search the athletes' phones...." Seems pretty open and shut to me. 

Still, I have read (what may be wild conspiracy theories) on social media that enforcement agents were walking around on campus searching with electronic devices and computer programs. That would be a much harder question if they didn't get a search warrant for that. I think, though, that those are most likely conspiracy theories because GeoComply would give them all the information that they needed (name of athlete, address, email, etc.) so they could just get a warrant to search their phones. 

My main hopes in representing the athletes/plaintiffs would be: (1) To have a very government-skeptic judge, so I hope they did some really nice forum shopping to find that judge, and (2) Ask the court to hold that the Draft Kings and Fan Duel sign ups were adhesion contracts. I haven't kept up with the law in that area, but I have always felt that the standard internet sign up provisions that suggest you read pages of small print and click "yes" or not be able to join the site are adhesion contracts. 

Yet, even if they were held to be adhesion contracts, does that get past the immunity question? Were the enforcement agents acting in the course and scope of their duties, and, even if what they did was eventually held to be unconstitutional, was it within the gray area to which qualified immunity would apply? 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

P.S. I would not have taken this case on a contingency fee basis. 

[Wrestleknownothing]

1 hour ago, billyhoyle said:

The police use cell tower geolocation to identify murder suspects…Do they get warrants when they do this?  Does it matter that part of the TOS in the app is that the info can be shared with police? 

You seem to have mistaken me for their attorney.

[CHROMEBIRD]

1 hour ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

P.S. I would not have taken this case on a contingency fee basis. 

Yeah, it sounds like an expensive case to litigate. Who is paying the athletes' legal fees? I guess it helps to split it 26 or however many ways, bust still.

[ionel]

7 hours ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

 

This is a federal lawsuit. I had federal jury trials in the Central District of ILLINOIS, which I think will be similar to the jury pool in Iowa. There were a lot of "corn folks" and those who were deeply religious on the panel of prospective jurors. They were skimpy with money on the whole. That is a good thing and a bad thing for the athletes. There will be wrestling fans

I'd expect any wrestling fans will be excused.  If there are corn folk there will also be bean folk.

[WildTurk]

9 hours ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

This is not legal advice, and I'm not going to take the time to research even the most basic aspects of the case other than to skim the article. With those caveats, here are my opinions. 

This is a federal lawsuit. I had federal jury trials in the Central District of ILLINOIS, which I think will be similar to the jury pool in Iowa. There were a lot of "corn folks" and those who were deeply religious on the panel of prospective jurors. They were skimpy with money on the whole. That is a good thing and a bad thing for the athletes. There will be wrestling fans and skeptics of the government in that pool. On the other hand, there will also be the religious who think nobody should be gambling, much less young adults. And even if they win, those juries are notoriously tight-fisted with $$$. 

But to even get to trial, the athlete/plaintiffs will have to get past governmental/qualified immunity and motions to dismiss. These are huge hurdles in this case.

If I represented the state agencies and state officials, I would certainly want to argue that any information provided by GeoComply, a service that the athletes agreed to in their sign-up, could never be poisoned fruit. Anything like that that falls into the lap of enforcement agents (and is not coerced by them) is like free bacon at a buffet.

Eat as much of it as you can and avoid the stomach-filling toast. 

Once the enforcement agents had that information, which they had every right to receive, the article states that "state investigators subsequently had warrants to obtain and search the athletes' phones...." Seems pretty open and shut to me. 

Still, I have read (what may be wild conspiracy theories) on social media that enforcement agents were walking around on campus searching with electronic devices and computer programs. That would be a much harder question if they didn't get a search warrant for that. I think, though, that those are most likely conspiracy theories because GeoComply would give them all the information that they needed (name of athlete, address, email, etc.) so they could just get a warrant to search their phones. 

My main hopes in representing the athletes/plaintiffs would be: (1) To have a very government-skeptic judge, so I hope they did some really nice forum shopping to find that judge, and (2) Ask the court to hold that the Draft Kings and Fan Duel sign ups were adhesion contracts. I haven't kept up with the law in that area, but I have always felt that the standard internet sign up provisions that suggest you read pages of small print and click "yes" or not be able to join the site are adhesion contracts. 

Yet, even if they were held to be adhesion contracts, does that get past the immunity question? Were the enforcement agents acting in the course and scope of their duties, and, even if what they did was eventually held to be unconstitutional, was it within the gray area to which qualified immunity would apply? 

I stopped reading at "corn folks"

Around 5% of Iowa's personal income is from agriculture.  I've lived in Iowa my whole life and very few of my fiends and family are religious "corn folks"

[Jerry Valley]

10 hours ago, billyhoyle said:

The police use cell tower geolocation to identify murder suspects…Do they get warrants when they do this?  Does it matter that part of the TOS in the app is that the info can be shared with police? 

Yes the police need a search warrant to get a tower "dump"

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

11 hours ago, WildTurk said:

I stopped reading at "corn folks"

Around 5% of Iowa's personal income is from agriculture.  I've lived in Iowa my whole life and very few of my fiends and family are religious "corn folks"

I walked beans and detasseled corn from grade school to high school. We corn folk grew up that way. 

Just trying to impart some knowledge about my experience with juries in a similar area. Unlike a county court, Federal courts draw their juries from a large number of counties. Iowa has only two Federal Districts, the North and the South. There are 99 counties in Iowa divided into those two districts. And, I'm sorry, but most of the counties in Iowa are full up with corn folk. 

P.S. I also wouldn't take the case because I ******* hate Iowa. 

 

[WildTurk]

2 hours ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

I walked beans and detasseled corn from grade school to high school. We corn folk grew up that way. 

Just trying to impart some knowledge about my experience with juries in a similar area. Unlike a county court, Federal courts draw their juries from a large number of counties. Iowa has only two Federal Districts, the North and the South. There are 99 counties in Iowa divided into those two districts. And, I'm sorry, but most of the counties in Iowa are full up with corn folk. 

P.S. I also wouldn't take the case because I ******* hate Iowa. 

 

I know several thousand people in Iowa and most of them are not "corn folks".  Most of them don't live on farms, nor have many animals other than dogs or cats. 

 

You couldn’t pay me to live in Illinois. That state is ran terribly.  Shitshow infact

[WildTurk]

Chicago is ok to visit. During the day.  Definitely not a good place to raise kids or have a safe home.