Pennebaker asks judge to order Mississippi regulators to act on complaint

E.L. Pennebaker Jr. had petitioned the Mississippi Gaming Commission in February 1998 to find that the two casinos did plot to stop the licensing of the Big Black site.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Hinds County Circuit Court, Pennebaker asked the court to require the commission to act.

"Either accept it or reject it, but take some action so we can appeal the decision if we need to," said Bill Spell of Clinton, Pennebaker's attorney.

Pennebaker and casino developer Jim Belisle received a $3.9 million verdict from a Pike County jury in October.

Pennebaker and Belisle accused Ameristar, Harrah's and Deposit Guaranty National Bank - now AmSouth Bank - of unlawfully preventing competition by influencing the Gaming Commission to deny a site location for a proposed $150 million casino and auto race track in Warren County.

Pennebaker owned the right of way to a portion of the land on which the casino proposed to build.

The Pike County verdict is being appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Gaming Commission spokeswoman Ashley Skellie said the commission could not decide on Pennebaker's petition until it knows the outcome of the Supreme Court case.

Also pending before the Supreme Court is a lawsuit over the Gaming Commission's decision in 1996 that the Big Black site was "unsuitable" for a casino.

In 1997, Hinds County Circuit Judge L. Breland Hilburn ruled the commission was wrong. The commission then appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court heard arguments in March.

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