Thurs Afternoon Roundup

A Nevada-Hawaii meth ring has been busted. (Las Vegas Now)

Do we have another Dr. Needles out there? Las Vegas Now reports another Hep-C case has been diagnosed, but at another clinic: the Desert Shadow clinic on Burnham Avenue. (Las Vegas Now)

Does anyone know if Pacman Jones is in town? There was a shooting at the Penthouse Strip Club when a patron got too aggressive and demanded that a dancer come home with him. (Las Vegas Now)

Oral arguments in Nevada Supreme Court's disciplinary hearing of the 4 ft 10" Heavy Hitter (In Re: Discipline of Glen Lerner) is now available by clicking here. (Nevada Supreme Court) The matters deals with Lerner's alleged facilitating the unlicensed practice of law.
[thanks to DI for the tip]

Thurs Roundup

Clark Co. bailed out District Court officials after learning they were $3.2 million over budget. (Las Vegas Sun)

General Patent Corporation International settled its patent infringement lawsuit against Vegas Experts.com of Cleveland, OH and Vegas Insider.com of the UK. (Gambling 911.com)

Nevada challenges the DOE's Yucca Mountain license, arguing there are no final designs or radiation health protection standards in place. (Review-Journal)

The woman convicted of cutting trees down on federal land received 4 minutes of probation in U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval's Reno courtroom. (Nevada Appeal)

An editorial calls for the Halverson hearing to be resolved prior to the judicial elections, so we can vote her out. (Review-Journal)

The Secretary of State rejected ballot access for petitioners trying to get a hotel room tax provision on the ballot, which directs the tax income to go to state programs. (Review-Journal)

Out in New Hampshire a group of men have been convicted in a murder-for-hire plot that was hatched in Vegas. (Review-Journal)

And due to the high number of petitions for measures to be put on the 2008 ballot, the Nevada Supreme Court has scheduled a case management hearing on June 13. (Review-Journal)

Wed Roundup

Dr. "Needles" Desai's attorneys are requesting that the civil suit brought by the [alleged] victims of Endoscopy Center, who are now permanently afflicted with Hep-C, be delayed until the end of any criminal case. Plaintiffs' attorneys objecting, stressing that no criminal case has been opened--prosecution is just being threatened. (Review-Journal)

18-25 yrs olds in Vegas who carry a gun better watch out because they're being targeted by a federal-state task force. (Review-Journal)

The Nevada Supreme Court will hear a constitutional challenge to a deadline set by the Legislature for signature gatherers filed by property tax cap proponent Sharron Angle. (Review-Journal)

Nevada death row inmate William Castillo, who last year came within 90 minutes of his wish to be executed for a 1995 Las Vegas murder, has changed his mind and has been given a stay by U.S. District Judge Robert Jones while Castillo appeals his case in federal court. (Review-Journal)

The Fernley flood hearings continue in Reno before U.S. District Judge Lloyd George and yesterday evidence showed the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's risk assessment team recommended water flows at less than half the level currently channeled through the irrigation canal. (Review-Journal)

Congratulations to Las Vegas lawyers Aaron D. Lovaas and Kristan E. Lehtinen on opening the new business litigation law firm of Lovaas & Lehtinen, P.C. as of June 1, 2008. (PR Web)

And in political news, the state's highest government attorney, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, endorsed Senator Barak Obama to be the Democratic nominee for President. (Review-Journal)

Arson is suspected in the North Las Vegas home fires. (Las Vegas Now)

Nevada Attorney General Cortez Masto filed a challenge to the Federal government's plan to build a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. (Las Vegas Now)

Santoro Driggs Merger Rumor Update

LATEST UPDATE: An attorney high up the Santoro Driggs chain says the firm has never received a phone call from Latham and Watkins. Which means a lowly associate at the firm is spreading rumors of a merger and someone in the Santoro hierarchy is saying no. So until we hear further rumblings, we'll assume the merger rumor was a bad lead.

Original post:
The latest merger rumor in the valley is that Santoro, Driggs, Walch, Kearney, Holley & Thompson may be the next local firm to jump on board with a larger firm.

It's still just a rumor, but word is that global law firm Latham & Watkins (over 1,500 attorneys firm-wide according to their Martindale page) is looking to open a Vegas office by purchasing Santoro Driggs.

If anyone in Santoro Driggs can provide details, let us know in the comments section or by emailing nevadalegal@gmail.com.

Endoscopy Update--waived 5th Amendment?

Did Dr. Needles waive his 5th Amendment right to self-incrimination in the civil suit over his clinic's [alleged] infecting potentially thousands of patients with Hep-C?

Plaintiff's attorneys say yes. The Las Vegas Sun reports:

Last month, Will Kemp, one of the lawyers for plaintiffs, filed court papers suggesting Desai waived his Fifth Amendment privilege when he submitted a three-sentence affidavit May 19 in the case. In the affidavit, Desai acknowledged he is the managing member of the Endoscopy Center and part of a committee that hired Quality Care Consultants, a politically connected medical inspection company, to conduct an audit of the clinic.

Getting a copy of the audit is important to the plaintiffs’ efforts to establish a direct link between the Endoscopy Center and the hepatitis outbreak. So far, Desai and company have stonewalled those efforts.

“We’ve had to fight for every bit of information,” complained Ed Bernstein, another attorney for plaintiffs.

Attorneys for Dr. "Needles" Desai contend the doctor did not waive his Fifth Amendment right in the affidavit. The argument is now before District Judge Allan Earl.



Meanwhile, in other Endoscopy news:


The state medical board's Investigations Division responded to complaints that it was interfering with investigations of Endoscopy and Dr. "Needles" Desai. The letter states the Investigations Division is " vigorously, urgently and professionally pursuing its investigation ... following every lead, interviewing every witness that will talk to them and cooperating fully with law enforcement." (Review-Journal)

Tues Roundup

The FBI is referring to Vegas as "mortgage fraud ground zero". (USA Today)

Justice courts may be evicting tenants too quickly and ignoring the 3 day notice requirement. (Review-Journal)

Editorial suggests the Nevada Judicial Commission should speed up the Halverson mess so voters will know whether our state's most infamous jurist will even be allowed to sit on the bench before voters have to cast their ballots on her seat. (Review-Journal) [I disagree. I think voters should assume that it would be a mistake, no matter what, to allow Judge Halverson to ever sit on the bench again--and they should vote her off--Constitutional challenge notwithstanding]

Bad news or good news for tax attorneys? The tax commission approved the Governor's tax amnesty plan. (Review-Journal)


Labor lawyers are suiting up for a battle as workers at MGM's City Center project walked off the job due to a dispute with management over safety concerns for the workers. (Review-Journal)


And the Nevada Supreme Court overturned a murder conviction yesterday based on judicial and prosecutorial errors. (Nevada Appeal)


Congratulations to William Devine II, who Armstrong Teasdale LLP named associate in the firm's intellectual property services group. And Congratulations to Brian Schusterman, who Lionel Sawyer picked up as an associate in the Reno firm's business law department. (Business Press.com)

Weekend Roundup

Vegas professional body builders Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan have entered guilty pleas in connection with the murder of the couple’s personal assistant. (Reno Gazette-Journal)

An editorial in the RJ says Steve Wynn's law firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, helped represent the Macau businessman who put the smackdown on Sands Corp. and Sheldon Adelson. The editorial notes that it's another chapter of Wynn v. Adelson and Wynn came away with the [sorry about this] win.

But we find it more interesting to consider that the case really involved Brownstein Hyatt going head to head with one [alleged] asshole attorney and the old Vegas guard of Lionel Sawyer. It's also interesting to note that Lionel Sawyer brought out the big guns, seating lead named partner Sam Lionel at the defense table, and Lionel Sawyer still went down to the tune of $43.8 million. (Review-Journal) [Chalk one up for the litigation team at Brownstein Hyatt]