Horses to remain at Wayne Newton’s estate, judge rules

By Dave Toplikar

Thursday, June 14, 2012 | 1:01 p.m.

Wayne Newton’s herd of 51 Arabian horses will get to stay on the Casa de Shenandoah property, a Clark County District Court judge ruled today.

“It’s truly one of the finest herds in the world,” the longtime Las Vegas entertainer said outside the courtroom after a hearing this morning. “It took 50 years to create this herd. People come from all over the world to see them and buy them. We’re very proud of them.”

Today’s court action was the latest involving a dispute between Newton and his partners over creating a tourist attraction at the 39.5-acre estate at 6629 South Pecos Road.

A lawsuit was filed last month by Newton’s partner, CSD LLC, complaining that the project, which was expected to open in February 2011, was derailed because Newton and his family have interfered with and frustrated development plans.

In today’s action, Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez denied a motion by CSD LLC, which is developing the attraction at the property to showcase Newton’s life, to move the horses.

CSD, which is partly owned by Newton and his wife, had filed a motion asking the judge for permission to have the herd boarded in the Mount Charleston area at the expense of the Newtons.

Doreen Hartwell, CSD’s attorney, argued that since June 2010, along with paying the Newtons $19.5 million for the property and investing millions of dollars into renovating it, CSD has spent about $888,000 to feed, house and care for the horses.

In the motion, Hartwell says CSD can’t afford to continue paying the $37,000 monthly cost to care for the herd while the planned attraction “languishes in an unfinished state.”

Part of the plan for the attraction involve horse shows at the property, although here has been a disagreement between the Newtons and the developers as to how many horses would be needed for the shows.

The developers say only 20 horses are needed — and they don’t want to lease or buy any of Newton’s horses for the shows.

CSD says that because the property has only about 15 acres of pasture or grazing land, there should be between 10 to 15 horses kept there.

Stephen Peek, Newton’s attorney, argued that the horses were a major part of the attraction and that using other horses would be “defrauding” vistors.

Peek said the Newtons were pleased by the outcome but had no other comment regarding the ongoing legal dispute.