Wednesday, Sept. 10, 1997 | 9:50 a.m.
ATLANTIC CITY -- Enough is enough, Mirage Resorts Inc. says.
The Las Vegas-based casino giant, frustrated by competitors' opposition to its planned $750 million casino resort here, filed suit Tuesday against Donald Trump, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. and Hilton Hotels Corp., accusing them of violating antitrust laws.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, says Trump and Hilton violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by purposely clogging the courts with lawsuits aimed at delaying the project. It seeks $150 million in damages.
"I believe this relentless campaign has been designed and executed by the defendants to prevent competition," Mirage Chairman Steve Wynn said. "In doing so, their vicious and vindictive attacks have been directed at virtually every person or institution, public or private, which in the normal course of business has had any contact with Mirage Resorts ..."'
The suit also accused Trump and Hilton of inducing one of Mirage's executives to commit a breach of fiduciary duty. Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman identified him as O'Brien Murray, a former employee of New City Development Corp., Mirage's development subsidiary, who was hired by Hilton earlier this year.
Trump promised a countersuit.
"This lawsuit is just a pathetic attempt to put the blame on Trump and Hilton for Mirage's inability to have the taxpayers of New Jersey foot the huge bill to build an unnecessary tunnel to a casino in the already successful Atlantic City gaming market," said Trump, who is chairman of Trump Hotels.
Hilton spokesman Marc Grossman declined comment, saying the company's officials had not seen the suit yet.
The suit marks the latest salvo in a vitriolic two-year war between Trump, whose company owns three casinos here, and Wynn's company, which beat out Trump for the rights to develop a 150-acre marina district site that formerly housed a municipal dump.
Mirage plans a 2,000-room Las Vegas-style resort on the site, and has invited fellow Nevada casino companies Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. and Boyd Gaming Corp. to develop neighboring parcels on it with similar resorts.
The plan hinges on construction of a $330 million road-and-tunnel connector that would improve access to the marina district by linking it with the Atlantic City Expressway.
Trump has filed lawsuits seeking to stop the tunnel from being built and has helped underwrite a citizen's group suing as well.
Trump spent $505,933 on matters relating to the project during a 15-month period ending last January, $293,588 of which was for anti-tunnel litigation, according to a state Division of Gaming Enforcement report issued in July.
The rest was for his own lawyers, investigators and other Mirage site-related expenses, the report said.
Trump, through his Trump Casino Services subsidiary, paid $111,497 to the Neighborhood Preservation Legal Defense Fund, which was set up to finance a suit by residents seeking to stop construction of the tunnel, according to the DGE report.
Hilton, which owns two hotel-casinos here, also has opposed the tunnel project.
"Steve Wynn came in with a poorly conceived plan and he expects the public to pay for it," Trump said. "Based on New Jersey polls, however, the public is not as stupid as the plan; a large majority of New Jersey residents do not want this money spent in order to benefit a gaming company."
In a prepared statement, Wynn said his company was "as determined as ever to build a spectacular new resort" in Atlantic City and that the suit was aimed at stopping Trump and Hilton's efforts and recovering costs associated with delays.
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