LAS VEGAS — A judge on Friday froze the permit process for some new Nevada retail cannabis stores, issuing a ruling that sided with companies that lost bids to open recreational pot shops.
Clark County District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez issued an injunction halting several dozen new licenses where questions were raised about the owners’ compliance with the licensing requirements.
Losing bidders argued the process was so riddled with mistakes and bias that Gonzalez should void 61 licenses that were approved last December from among 462 applications.
Attorneys for the state and some companies that won retail dispensary licenses say the process wasn’t perfect, but tax officials are fairly enforcing a voter-approved initiative that legalized recreational pot sales to adults.
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Nevada hasn’t given up its fight to try to get the federal government to remove a half-metric ton of weapons-grade plutonium that was secretly sent to the Nevada National Security Site last fall.
The Nevada attorney general’s office on Thursday filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court to allow the state to amend its original complaint to request that the court force the Department of Energy to remove the nuclear material from the Nevada National Security Site.
“Even though the Ninth Circuit recently determined that Nevada’s interlocutory appeal from this court’s preliminary injunction denial was moot, Nevada’s fight to protect its citizens and environment from ongoing harm caused by the Department of Energy’s secret plutonium shipment will continue,” the motion from the attorney general’s office said.
The filing comes two days after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals shot down the state’s initial appeal, in part because the initial complaint in the lawsuit did not ask for the material to be removed. Nevada officials did not know when they filed the lawsuit in November 2018 that the material had already been shipped to Nevada. The federal government did not disclose that fact until January in a court filing.
A Reno federal judge denied the state’s original motion to stop the shipments from coming to Nevada because those shipments had already occurred, and the Ninth Circuit upheld that decision.
A different federal judge last year ordered the Energy Department to remove one metric ton of weapons-grade plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. A half-ton was shipped to Nevada last fall, and the Energy Department announced last week that the other half-ton had been shipped to either Texas or New Mexico.
In April, U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said that she had struck a deal with Energy Secretary Rick Perry to remove the plutonium from Nevada starting in 2021, and that no additional plutonium would be sent to Nevada.
LAS VEGAS – (Aug. 15, 2019) – Attorneys with Las Vegas-based Pisanelli Bice PLLC have been recognized by Best Lawyers©, a national peer-reviewed lawyer-ranking service. Four attorneys with the boutique law firm will appear in the 26th edition of The Best Lawyers in America© publication for their litigation work in Las Vegas.
Founding partner James J. Pisanelli has been recognized by Best Lawyers for the past 14 years. For 2020, he was selected for his work in bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, construction law, construction litigation and real estate litigation. Notably, he was also honored as a Las Vegas “Lawyer of the Year” for his work in construction law.
The Best Lawyers in America publication listed partner Todd L. Bice for the 13th consecutive year. For 2020, he was selected for bet-the company litigation, appellate practice, commercial litigation, construction law, First Amendment litigation, land use and zoning litigation, and mergers and acquisitions litigation.
Managing partner Debra Spinelli has been recognized by Best Lawyers for the past eight years. For 2020, she was selected for her work in commercial, construction and health care litigation. For the second consecutive year, of counsel attorney M. Magali Mercera was recognized for her work in commercial litigation.
Recognition by Best Lawyers is solely based on an exhaustive peer review and only a single lawyer in each practice area and community is honored with a “Lawyer of the Year” award. Best Lawyers has provided this ranking service for over 30 years and has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Those selected to the Best Lawyers lists are recognized in the Best Lawyers publication, The Best Lawyers in America.
For more information about Best Lawyers, visit www.bestlawyers.com.
About Best Lawyers:
Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected lawyer ranking service in the world. For more than 30 years, Best Lawyers has assisted those in need of legal services to identify the lawyers best qualified to represent them in distant jurisdictions or unfamiliar specialties. Best Lawyers lists are published in leading local, regional, and national publications across the globe.
LAS VEGAS – Aug. 14, 2019 – Pisanelli Bice announced the promotion of two attorneys, Jordan T. Smith and M. Magali Mercera.
Smith was promoted from Of Counsel to Partner. He joined the firm in 2012 and returned in 2019 after serving as deputy solicitor general of Nevada. His practice focuses on appellate and complex litigation. Smith has experience in all phases of litigation from strategic planning, trial and appeal. He has argued 18 times in various state and federal appellate courts on issues ranging from business disputes and administrative law to habeas corpus and the death penalty.
Smith also has published scholarly articles on subjects including gaming law, statutory interpretation, and appellate practice. While at the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, Smith represented the state in many constitutional cases and matters of statewide or national importance.
Smith has been recognized by his peers as one of Nevada’s leading litigators, including being named by Best Lawyers as the “Appellate Practice Lawyer of the Year” for Las Vegas. He also has been recognized by Super Lawyers, Nevada Business Magazine, and Desert Companion Magazine. Smith is also known for his community service. He has argued pro bono appeals in conjunction with the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, and he regularly volunteers for the Special Olympics of Nevada.
James Pisanelli, founding partner of Pisanelli Bice offered praise for the firm’s newest partner. “Jordan has a very impressive background litigating in the state and federal courts. He represents the firm extremely well in both small and complex cases.”
Mercera was promoted from Associate to Of Counsel. She joined Pisanelli Bice in 2011 and represents clients in a variety of complex business cases. Her litigation practice is focused on commercial disputes ranging from breach of contract and fiduciary duty claims to property and construction disputes. Mercera has experience with all aspects of litigation from discovery through motion practice and trial. Additionally, she is an active volunteer with the Children’s Attorney Project, representing children in the foster care system.
While attending law school, Mercera served as the managing editor of the Nevada Law Journal and as a judicial extern to The Honorable James C. Mahan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. Her accomplishments in the legal profession have earned her accolades from many organizations and publications, including Martindale-Hubbell, Super
Lawyers, VEGAS INC Magazine, Nevada Business Magazine, and the Las Vegas Business Press. She also was recognized by Best Lawyers in America in the area of commercial litigation.
“Magali is focused on excellence. She continually sets herself apart through her outstanding work ethic, her exceptional organizational skills and her passion for the litigation process,” said Pisanelli.
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled against Nevada in a battle with the U.S. government over its secret shipment of weapons-grade plutonium to a site near Las Vegas but the state’s attorney general says the fight isn’t over yet.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the state’s appeal after a judge refused to block any future shipments to Nevada. The court in San Francisco said the matter is moot because the Energy Department already sent the radioactive material and has promised that no more will be hauled there.
“The remedy Nevada sought — stopping the government from shipping plutonium from South Carolina to Nevada under the proposed action — is no longer available,” the court wrote.
Nevada also wanted the court to order the government to remove the plutonium it shipped last year but didn’t reveal had arrived there until January.
The 9th Circuit said that issue also is moot because the state failed to include that request in its original motion seeking to block future shipments.
“Because the government completed the shipment, any harm caused by the shipment cannot be ‘undone’ by granting the motion Nevada actually filed,” the ruling said.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said late Tuesday he’ll continue to press the state’s case in court but didn’t provide any immediate details of its next legal move.
“The Department of Energy’s deceitful behavior in handling these shipments demonstrates my office’s need to continue aggressively litigating to hold the Department of Energy to its promises,” Ford said in a statement.
“The health and safety of all Nevadans is of paramount importance to my office, and our dedicated team will continue to pursue all options for ensuring that no further unlawful plutonium shipments reach this state,” he said.
Among other options, Nevada could now request a hearing before the full 9th Circuit or seek a new court order to remove the plutonium that’s already been shipped.
The Energy Department didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment on Tuesday.
Nevada sued in federal court in Reno last November, accusing the agency of illegally deciding it could transport the material without completing a full environmental review of potential health and safety dangers.
Although Nevada wasn’t aware at the time, the government had already shipped a half metric ton of plutonium from South Carolina to the Nevada National Security Site, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas. That site is separate from but close to the Yucca Mountain site in the Mojave Desert where the Trump administration wants to build a high-level radioactive waste repository.
Nevada says the Trump administration abused “top secret” classifications to meet a court order to remove a ton of weapons-grade plutonium from the Savannah River site in South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2020.
While Nevada’s appeal was pending, Energy Secretary Rick Perry sent a letter to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat, pledging to expedite removal of the plutonium already sent to Nevada — beginning in 2021 — and promising no more will be sent there.
He’s visited the site twice in recent months and provided a classified briefing to Gov. Steve Sisolak to try to allay the state’s concerns.
The radioactive material isn’t intended to be unpacked in Nevada, only temporarily stored before it is moved again, most likely to New Mexico or Texas for reprocessing for use in building nuclear weapons.
The Energy Department has said it expects to move the plutonium from Nevada to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico “or another facility” by the “2026-2027 timeframe.”
Nevada’s lawyers argued that Energy Department couldn’t be trusted because of past misrepresentations about the covert shipment. The state said U.S. officials selectively declassified information as it suited their needs.
The Energy Department insists the plutonium was properly classified for security.
It disclosed the material was in Nevada on Jan. 30, the same day Judge Miranda Du in Reno denied a state request to temporarily halt all shipments. She also ruled that the matter was moot.
Nevada argued in its appeal to the 9th Circuit that the case wasn’t moot partly because the government had “voluntarily” ceased the shipments and could resume them at any time.
But the court ruled that “the alleged injury was no longer redressable.”
