A lawsuit filed against the New York Racing Association by Thoro-Graph has been partially dismissed, with a judge deciding the terms of a contract between the parties provide for termination of the agreement at will.
The dispute stems from a partnership established in 2017 when Thoro-Graph began providing NYRA and NYRA Bets chart-style handicapping data that measures how fast Thoroughbreds ran races. The move was part of a business plan to attract customers outside New York to sign up and wager on NYRA’s advance deposit wagering platform, NYRA Bets.
The partnership eventually soured, and in December 2022 Thoro-Graph filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in New York County against its counter-parties alleging breach of contract and asking for compensatory damages of not less than $500,000, including actual damages in excess of $333,000, payment for a 50% share of profits from wagers, and attorney fees.
Thoro-Graph also claimed NYRA engaged in bad faith and unfair dealing by unlawfully terminating a successor contract formed in January 2022 in order to goad Thoro-Graph to drop its damages claims. That claim was dismissed Dec. 1. The portions of the lawsuit asking for damages are still intact.
“The written agreement between the parties explicitly states that ‘Any Party may terminate this Agreement upon providing the other Party(ies) hereto one hundred eighty (180) days prior written notice,'” wrote Justice Lyle E. Frank. “Therefore, Plaintiff cannot bring a cause of action for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.”
