Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Disputed Mirage case takes twist

Conflict-of-interest allegations persist against a District Court judge who said he wants to drastically reduce a $6 million judgment against The Mirage, but there is a new wrinkle to the case.

Mirage attorneys charge in court documents that the medical evidence used to support the jury award to a New York longshoreman with reputed underworld ties may not be accurate or may be "altogether false."

CAT scans and MRI tests on Joseph Canterino's head, according to Las Vegas doctor Mark Winkler, do not show the injuries that the plaintiff's doctor testified to during the trial earlier this year.

In addition, The Mirage's motion for a new trial alleges that Canterino's physical disabilities -- which he blamed on the beating he said he suffered at The Mirage as a result of negligent security -- have been with him since childhood.

If that is the case, according to the documents filed by attorney Steve Morris, the multimillion-dollar award should be tossed out and the case dismissed.

Affidavits from one of Canterino's junior high school teachers and from two former classmates from Brooklyn, N.Y., indicate Canterino suffered from a disease that caused him to utter loud grunts which sounded like "utt," accompanied by facial tics.

One former classmate, Richard Puccerelli of New Jersey, said the behavior earned Canterino the nickname "Joey Utt." Puccerelli stated that he now believes Canterino suffered from Tourette's Syndrome.

Morris said The Mirage only recently received copies of the MRI tests and CAT scans, although they had been requested early in the case that has been winding through the court system for nearly five years.

Attorney Marty Keach, who represents Canterino, has said District Judge Stephen Huffaker should no longer be the judge that makes decisions in the controversial case.

Keach criticized Huffaker's statement that he considered the $6 million "shocking" and that it would be "unconscionable" to let it stand. The judge indicated he wants to reduce the award to $1.5 million or grant a new trial.

The problem, Keach claims, is that Huffaker has a conflict of interest which should have kept him off the case from the beginning -- the judge's son was given an $11,000 Golden Nugget scholarship to help pay his expenses at Yale University.

On Wednesday, Huffaker said he recalled revealing the scholarship to the attorneys -- as he said he routinely does in all cases where it is an issue.

But neither Keach nor Mirage attorney Carolyn Ellsworth remembered the disclosure that could have resulted in the judge being asked to step aside.

The judge, who admitted he actually wouldn't have minded getting off the case because of its contentious nature, said Keach had quickly declined his offer to remove himself from the case.

"I wanted off the case at the time and I want off now," Huffaker said.

"I want you off," replied Keach, who has questioned whether the judge is impartial.

Huffaker denied taking sides in this or any case.

"I have absolutely no personal interest in any case," the judge said. "I work here, and that's all I do."

Huffaker denied taking any gratuities from Mirage Resorts Inc., but did admit that he attended three scholarship dinners with his son at The Mirage and played one round of golf at Shadow Creek as the guest of his son, who was a caddy and host there during one summer.

At this point in the case, Huffaker said the parties have four options:

* Settle the case on their own.

* Accept the reduction he has suggested.

* Appeal his actions to the Nevada Supreme Court.

* Have a new trial.

The fifth option, according to the documents filed Wednesday, is to dismiss the case and leave Canterino with nothing.

The jury award came after a nine-day trial over Canterino's 1992 visit to Las Vegas that he said left him physically disabled and emotionally crippled -- psychologically unable to venture outside his mother's home.

Canterino, son of a reputed Genovese crime family "captain" who died in prison, said he was robbed in the sparsely patrolled lobby of the 16th floor of The Mirage.

At the time, according to his testimony, he was carrying $72,000 in cash -- much of it given to him by fellow longshoremen as a gambling stake.

The perpetrators, according to Canterino, were two Hispanic men -- one with a big belly and the other with an open shirt and a hairy chest.

Keach had argued at the trial that The Mirage spent more on security for Siegfried and Roy's white tigers and for the dolphins than on security for 3,000 guests in the tower's 29 rooms.

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