Wednesday, June 25, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.
A local entrepreneur who was ordered by a Clark County District Court judge to stop leasing luxury homes in an upscale neighborhood and operating an unlicensed private convention operation near the Las Vegas Convention Center was found in contempt of court last week for failing to comply with that order.
Kyle Waugh, owner of Oracle Real Estate Group Inc., also known as Vacation Homes of Las Vegas -- which comprised 27 country club residences within the Las Vegas International Country Club Estates -- was ordered on March 27 by Clark County District Judge Mark Denton to stop operating his controversial vacation home rental business.
Denton found the defendants' use of the properties at Bel Air Drive, Pinehurst Drive, Tam O'Shanter and Vegas Valley Drive for short-term lodging violated Clark County Business License codes and has a "deleterious impact on the public."
Waugh was also ordered to stop operating an office building called the White House at 3260 Joe W. Brown Drive as a private convention operation without special use permits and licenses.
But Waugh was found in contempt of court on June 19 after Clark County -- which wants to shut him down for operating without required building permits, licenses and zoning approvals -- brought new claims accusing the defendants of continuing to enter into new lease agreements and use the properties for short-term rentals.
Robert Warhola, Clark County's deputy district attorney, said Waugh has 30 days to prove he isn't using those homes for short-term lodging.
The defendants, however, disputed the county's allegations in court papers, saying they "have not entered into any leasehold agreements with any tenants where more than one lease is granted for one property during any 30-day period."
Waugh, who is believed to be operating his vacation rentals business under the name Intimations Inc. doing business as Fairway Homes Inc. of Las Vegas, has been in protracted litigation since 1998 with the country club and Clark County over his use of the properties as short-term rentals for travelling business people and tourists. Country club residents complained that Waugh's rentals to convention goers and tourists created a transient atmosphere that created excessive noise and traffic in the country club.
Clark County joined the legal fray in March 2001 when it sued Waugh and his companies for alleged non-compliance with a county ordinance that prohibits vacation rentals of less than 30 days in residential neighborhoods.
Waugh, who said he had helped increase the value of the neighboring homes by spending more than $1.5 million to renovate his properties, won a temporary reprieve in May 2001 after a Clark County District judge granted his request to stop the association from enforcing certain new regulations that he complained were selectively enforced.
Waugh, who also had Oracle Real Estate file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in March 2002 allegedly because the company suffered losses in bookings from potential conventioneers due to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, could not be reached for comment on the June 19 ruling against him.
Kenneth Frizzell, Oracle's former bankruptcy attorney, said he couldn't specify why Waugh had Oracle file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
"There were some issues between him and another partner in Oracle. And the drop in business due to the 9-11 attacks was the last straw that broke the camel's back," he said.
"Oracle was dissolved as soon as (it) filed bankruptcy. Prior to the bankruptcy filing, Oracle had rental home contracts that were assigned to Vacation Homes of Las Vegas. The homes were owned by Waugh and he leased the homes to Oracle, which paid him a fee for those homes," Frizzell said. "But these contracts were later transferred to Intimations. By the time Oracle filed, it only had debts and miscellaneous fixtures."
Oracle's bankruptcy case was closed on June 10 after its trustee, Tom Grimmett, said he couldn't recover any substantial assets for liquidation. The company listed assets of $1,000 and liabilities of $327,672.
"We found an overdrawn bank account. The properties at the country club weren't owned by Oracle and they had been foreclosed on prior to the filing of the bankruptcy," Grimmett said. "Nobody got paid anything because there were no assets to liquidate." But Oracle's creditors aren't the only parties who are unhappy.
At least one Fairway Villas customer, Meg O'Hearn of San Diego, said her vacation in Las Vegas was ruined when she arrived at the Las Vegas Country Club Estates on June 12 only to discover her reservation had been botched and she had to pay $2,100 for last-minute accommodations at the Mirage hotel-casino.
"I called to confirm two days before arrival and (Fairway Homes) said everything was fine," Tyndall said. "When we arrived at the country club with lease in hand, they said our names were not on the list and we could not come in. The security guard also mentioned Fairway Villas left their offices on Joe W. Brown Drive the previous week."
Fairway, which is located at the White House at 3260 Joe W. Brown Drive, is still operating a website at 2hotdesigns.com/fh/, but the company's contact number 702-241-2424 is no longer in service.
Robert Warhola, Clark County's deputy district attorney, said he hasn't received any complaints so far from other Fairway Villas customers.
"But six months to a year ago, we did receive three or four complaints from clients of Private Escapes, a company Waugh was (allegedly) trying to transfer his short-term lodging business to. But that deal was rendered invalid," he said. "Later, there were issues over whether Waugh had to honor leases entered between Private Escapes and some clients."
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