Owner says commissioner hindered his ability to do business

Gary Naseef says he was forced out of business when Gates pulled some strings on behalf of her friend, who is his ex-wife. He says the move came during a nasty divorce battle between he and his wife.

Attorneys for the county and for Host Marriott Services Corp., the airport's master concessionaire, called the charges ridiculous.

The allegations stem from a lawsuit filed last week by the Las Vegas Gourmet Coffee company and Naseef, its owner. It names Gates, the county and Marriott.

Naseef's lawsuit is in response to one filed in January by Marriott trying to evict his business from the C gate at McCarran. The eviction has been stayed pending a trial but the kiosk shut down earlier this year.

Naseef opened the concession in October 1996. Under the terms of his lease agreement, he was to open a second airport kiosk at a later date, according to Naseef's lawsuit.

The second kiosk never opened because "Gates made the decision and communicated to the county and Host that (the coffee company) was not going to be allowed to open the second location as required by the sublease," the lawsuit charges.

Naseef's attorney, John Peter Lee, said there was a "relationship involving Mr. Naseef's former wife and commissioner Gates."

Lee said a certain amount of hostility was generated by the divorce, which led to Gates' actions.

The lease required the company to be certified as a disadvantaged business enterprise under the federal law that requires airports to provide a certain number of concession contracts for minorities or women.

The company was originally owned by both Naseef and his wife, and so it was believed they could get the required certification. They were allowed to open for business before receiving certification, according to Lee.

Late last year, Naseef and his wife, Jacqueline Turner, began divorce proceedings and as part of the divorce settlement Naseef was ordered to buy her share of the business, Lee said.

He then had to find a woman or a minority to buy the business, but deals were scuttled by Host or the county.

Paul Hejmanowski, attorney for Marriott, called Naseef's lawsuit "fanciful" and has filed a motion to have it dismissed that will be heard Monday before District Judge Mark Gibbons.

"I'm frankly bewildered that they've filed this," said Lee Thomson, a chief deputy district attorney who represents the county in airport matters. "Everything we've seen to date just utterly refutes Mr. Naseef's baseless claim."

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