
Joe Francis loses more than his shirt in ongoing battle with Casino Mogul Steve Wynn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In an on-going legal battle with porn producer and Girl Gone Wild creator Joe Francis, Steve Wynn wins again.
Steve Wynn wins again sending a very strong message not only to Joe Francis but to numerous others who attempt to bring forth what is considered frivolous, damaging and false lawsuits against high profile people with tremendous assets.
The long running saga began after Francis ran up a casino debt in 2007 of nearly $2 million dollars that he simply defaulted on.
Earlier in the year, Steve Wynn was awarded $7.5 million in a defamation lawsuit against the porn producer; $5 million in for damaging Steve Wynn’s reputation and $2.5 million for punitive damages.
This week, Wynn won another $20 million in compensatory damages and ANOTHER $20 million in punitive damages due to Francis alleging that Steve Wynn threatened his life.
Joe Francis claimed that legendary music Quincy Jones knew about these threats because Steve Wynn allegedly send an email to Jones that Francis saw.
Joe Francis and Quincy Jones are next door neighbors.
Quincy Jones who originally did want to testify in the case, did indeed testify and his testimony did not support Francis’ claims of any threat made.
Francis, who is reportedly worth a whopping $160 million dollars, stands to lose, according to recent judgements 30% of his fortune.
He vows to fight on and said he expects the verdict to be overturned on appeal due to judicial error.
Francis said, according to the Las Vegas Sun,
California law is very clear. You can’t add a cause of action at the end of trial about something that had nothing to do with the trial,” Francis said. “Therefore we are 100 percent confident this jury verdict will be reversed on appeal
Francis has a civil case pending in California accusing Wynn of maliciously reporting their dispute to the local prosecutor’s office.
Steve Wynn wins again, making his record so far 3 and 0 in this battle with Francis. Wynn has said previously that he will donate the proceeds from the verdict.