Thursday, Jan. 8, 1998 | 10:05 a.m.
Chief District Judge Myron Leavitt will hear a request from Clark County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates to kill a state Ethics Commission subpoena demanding all her records for the past two years.
Her lawyers claim the subpoena invades her privacy by demanding information unrelated to the focus of its investigation -- whether Gates told the truth about her role in securing leases for a frozen daiquiri business at hotel-casinos she helps regulate.
Leavitt made his decision Wednesday after three district civil judges recused themselves from taking the case because it involves the wife of fellow District Judge Lee Gates.
They were judges Stephen Huffaker, Nancy Becker and Mark Gibbons.
"I'm going to take the case," Leavitt said. "I don't want it to go outside to another judge and jurisdiction. This is something we should take care of here."
If no one took the case, Leavitt would have had to request a visiting judge to hear the matter, which could have delayed the hearing until after a Jan. 22 ethics hearing scheduled for the commission chairwoman.
Richard Segerblom, one of two lawyers working for Gates, said he was glad that Judge Leavitt was willing to take the case because of the delay it might otherwise have created.
"I know that Judge Leavitt is a very fair judge," Segerblom said. "All we're asking is that some neutral third party review what the Ethics Commission is attempting to do."
The ethics panel is entitled to ask for a pre-emption because of Leavitt's friendship with Judge Gates, Segerblom said, "but I would be shocked if they would pre-empt a judge who probably is going to be on the Supreme Court a year from now."
Leavitt has been named as a Supreme Court candidate along with Becker, Lee Gates and Washoe County District Judge Debbie Agosti.
The Ethics Commission is investigating whether Gates, at a previous hearing, misrepresented her involvement in securing leases at a hotel-casino for a frozen daiquiri business venture she had with developer Ed Nigro.
As part of its investigation, the panel issued a subpoena Dec. 18 requesting all of Gates' personal and business records since Jan. 1, 1996. It asks for business records and documents, personal records and all office and home telephone and cellular calls, and fax and modem transmissions.
That would include any calls made by Gates' husband and two children.
"Anyone would realize what they're asking for is absurd in view of what we're fighting here," Segerblom said.
Co-counsel Kathy England's motion to quash the subpoena states it "suffers from many deficiencies, some of which may render it void."
The motion also said the subpoena is "patently overbroad and seeks information which has no possible relationship to the investigation ..."
England also said it lacks the specificity required by statute and violates Gates' and her family's right of privacy and seeks information and documents protected by the deliberative process privilege.
At the least, England's motion said, the subpoena should be narrowed to require disclosure of only those materials relevant to the investigation.
"Ms. Atkinson Gates intends to provide the Ethics Commission with many relevant and important documents related to the daiquiri business," the motion states.
England also filed a notice to the Ethics Commission that Gates intended to produce documents related to the Daiquiri Development Group and other businesses related to her daiquiri venture with Nigro.
The motion also claims the commission acted without proper authorization
According to an official transcript, a motion was made to go forward with an investigation of Gates. But when asked if the subpoenas should be in the motion, Ethics Chairwoman Mary Boetsch said, "[W]e don't need to do it that way."
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