CARSON CITY — An attorney for Wynn Resorts Ltd. asked the Nevada Supreme Court on Monday to overturn two district court orders compelling the gaming company to turn over documents to Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada in a long-running legal dispute over his ouster as a majority shareholder.
The information was used by the Wynn board of directors in February 2012 to determine that Okada and his related companies were unsuitable parties that could jeopardize Wynn Resorts gaming licenses.
The board voted to redeem all of the outstanding shares of Wynn Resorts stock held by Okada in exchange for a promissory note with a principal value of approximately $1.9 billion.
In the two combined cases heard in oral arguments in the capital, Wynn’s attorney said that Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez erred when she required that some information used by the board in its decision be turned over to Okada, Aruze USA Inc. and its parent corporation, Universal Entertainment Corp., known as the Okada Parties.
Attorneys for the city of Las Vegas and a developer argued Thursday in court that the City Council should have a chance to decide the fate of a controversial plan to develop the Badlands golf course before a judge weighs in.
The nearly three-hour hearing in 8th Judicial District Court largely centered on the language of a state statute regulating planned developments and if public notice requirements were followed when the development was proposed.
A group of homeowners from the nearby Queensridge community filed a lawsuit in late 2015 against the city and three limited liability companies that own portions of the 250-acre course to stop plans to put a residential development on the course that their properties overlook. Two development applications to build homes on the closed course are pending at City Hall.
EHB Cos. attorney Jim Jimmerson called the lawsuit “frivolous,” asserting a landowner has a right to develop his own property.
City Attorney Philip Byrnes called the issue “very hotly contested,” and said the city could face litigation whether it approves or shoots down the development.
The Las Vegas City Council yet again delayed action on a controversial proposal for a large residential development on the Badlands golf course, after a more than seven-and-a-half-hour session Wednesday that turned testy and dramatic at times.
The housing complex was the only part of a larger luxury housing development proposed for the Badlands golf course that wasn’t withdrawn from city consideration earlier this month. The proposal for 720 units at the eastern corner of the Badlands golf course will return to the council in January.
The council voted 4-3 earlier Wednesday to allow developers proposing controversial residential units on the Badlands golf course to withdraw a substantial part of their plan without certain restrictions, but urged negotiations toward a compromise with neighbors.
Councilman Bob Beers, who represents the area of the city that includes Badlands and surrounding neighborhoods, warned that council members would “frown on” an application for development of that portion of the course returning to the council sooner than six months from now.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and other council members chided people — both in favor of and against the development — for failing to work together and compromise. Goodman directed Attorney Shauna Hughes, who represents the Queensridge Homeowners Association, and EHB Companies President Frank Pankratz to lead the negotiations.
“Nothing would make the seven of us happier than that accord being reached,” Beers said.
A clearly frustrated developer, EHB Companies CEO Yohan Lowie, addressed the council toward the end of Wednesday’s meeting, which led council members to question whether their earlier calls for negotiations between the two sides would happen.
Residents in neighboring developments have fiercely opposed Lowie’s proposal to develop on the golf course, located southwest of the intersection of Alta Drive and Rampart Boulevard.
The original application covered a much larger area of the golf course, totaling nearly 2,700 multifamily and assisted living units and larger single-family estates.
The application for all but the 720 units was withdrawn earlier this month, after the Las Vegas Planning Commission shot down that part of the proposal.
Opponents continued to rail Wednesday against the project for traffic and drainage concerns, the density of the proposed development and the removal of the golf course as open space.
They lamented what they said are declining property values since the new development was proposed, and the sides continued to butt heads over whether residential units can be developed on the golf course. That concern is one of the issues in a pending lawsuit opponents filed nearly a year ago.
Goodman said she felt as if she had returned to the time of her grown children’s youth during her interaction with project proponents and opponents.
The mayor had to quiet crowd members who were shouting that they wanted to lengthen the timeline for the withdrawn part of the application to return to the council.
A crowd of roughly 150 people gathered in the council chambers, some wielding signs that read “Hear Our Voices” and “Not the Select Few.”
Councilman Stavros Anthony called the past year “unproductive” in working through the Badlands issues and called it one of the most “toxic land use discussions” the council has had in his time in office.
“I think we need to use a mulligan on this whole thing,” Anthony said. “I think we need to start completely over.”
Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian said she was “disappointed” that more efforts weren’t made to try to bring the two sides together.
Councilman Bob Coffin noted he hadn’t been in a meeting where both sides had been present and at least willing to “give an inch.”
Gaming attorney Frank Schreck, one of the Queensridge residents leading the charge against the golf course development proposal, said the developers have approached city staff about a different plan to develop another segment of the golf course.
City planning staff and City Attorney Brad Jerbic acknowledged a pre-application conference about the potential for developing a subdivision on part of the golf course, as an alternative to a development agreement with the city for the entire 250 acres.
Tarkanian, who said she fielded many calls about the development proposal, said council members should have known about that.
“Our own staff should be letting us know what they’re talking about doing,” Tarkanian said. “And I feel really badly about that.”
LAS VEGAS – (Sep. 14, 2016) – James J. Pisanelli and Todd L. Bice, founding partners of Pisanelli Bice PLLC, announce that Brittnie T. Watkins has joined the firm as an associate attorney. Ms. Watkins will primarily practice commercial litigation.
Prior to joining Pisanelli Bice, Ms. Watkins was a judicial law clerk to Justice Michael L. Douglas of the Supreme Court of Nevada for the 2014-2016 term. During her term, Ms. Watkins assisted the Court in making precedential legal determinations in a variety of matters, including corporate and contractual, gaming, constitutional, intellectual and real property, medical malpractice, and construction defect.
While earning her juris doctor and doctorate degrees at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Ms. Watkins served on the Nevada Law Journal, Boyd’s nationally recognized Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition team, and as a member of the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition team. Ms. Watkins also served as a public interest fellow and graduate research and teaching assistant. Ms. Watkins gained experiential learning as a student attorney in the Family Justice Clinic, legal extern for the Children’s Attorney Project of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, and law clerk for the Office of the Clark County Public Defender. Amid extra-curricular activities, Ms. Watkins achieved a top 30% ranking and Dean’s List honors. Upon graduation, Ms. Watkins received the Barbara Buckley Community Service Award and the Roosevelt Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Leadership. Ms. Watkins’ dissertation focusing on courtroom stress in witnesses was recently bestowed the Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award.
Ms. Watkins received two bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice, with high honor, and psychology, with honor from Michigan State University. She also received her master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
About Pisanelli Bice
Pisanelli Bice is a Las Vegas-based firm focused primarily on commercial litigation. The firm, founded by attorneys James J. Pisanelli and Todd L. Bice, represents clients ranging from single entity developers and entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies, municipalities, public agencies as well as some of Nevada’s largest gaming companies. For more information, please visit pisanellibice.com.
The founding partners of Pisanelli Bice PLLC, James J. Pisanelli and Todd L. Bice, announced that the boutique law firm has been named among the best litigation firms in the country by Chambers and Partners. In addition, Bice has been selected Las Vegas Lawyer of the Year in the Litigation-Land Use and Zoning category by the Best Lawyers in America rating service, based on attorneys’ peer reviews.
Chambers and Partners ranks attorneys and firms based on interviews with their clients and legal colleagues. Pisanelli Bice is one of only three Nevada firms honored in Band 1 of the Chambers USA 2016 guide for General Commercial Litigation. The firm, which has represented Caesars Entertainment, Bally Technologies, MGM Resorts, City National Bank and Wynn Resorts, rose from Band 2 in 2015 to Band 1 distinction this year based on its handling of pre-trial negotiations, documentation and preparation for trial, summary judgment motions, trial, appeals and commercial enforcement proceedings in state, circuit and federal courts.
Bice achieved the highest rating in this year’s Litigation-Land Use and Zoning category for his familiarity and skill in handling the complex litigation surrounding public and private construction and development. Attorneys listed in Best Lawyers in America are voted into practice areas as a result of the votes they receive from their peers. Best Lawyers assigns the subspecialties based on analysis of information from a variety of sources.
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