Las Vegas business briefs

WILLIS ROOFING DENIES UNION CHARGE -- Willis Roofing denied charges by employees and union organizers that it charges for safety equipment and that it shortchanges roofers that are paid by square foot of work. Paul Schofield, attorney for Willis, said roofers are charged a deposit for safety equipment and the deposit is refunded when they leave the company. He said the company complies with a pay formula based on square footage that resulted from a settlement with the federal government in 1996. About 70 mostly Hispanic workers marched in protest of the company Thursday and the Building Trades Organizing Project said their strike will continue today. "The union is pushing on Willis Roofing but Willis does not believe the majority of its employees want to be in a union," Schofield said.

FRAUD EVIDENCE LACKING AT COLUMBIA-HCA -- A federal magistrate in Nashville has recommended dismissal of a shareholders' lawsuit charging Columbia-HCA Healthcare Corp. and its directors with fraud, saying there isn't enough evidence. Magistrate William Haynes Jr. also recommended that U.S. District Judge Thomas Higgins throw out a separate shareholders' suit against certain Columbia directors, including former chairman Richard Scott and former president David Vandewater. The lawsuits were filed last spring in response to a federal investigation into allegations Columbia overcharged Medicare and other federal health programs. Haynes said the shareholders didn't provide enough evidence indicating "a company-wide practice of knowing misrepresentations by the defendants."

NEVADA POWER RATE CASE DEFERRED -- The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada today deferred action on its own proposal to dismiss a rate increase sought by Nevada Power Co. Commissioners will vote later this month on dismissing the proposal to pass on a $43 million fuel increase to customers. Nevada Power is seeking the increase to cover costs it had already incurred, but commissioners want to review the company's proposed merger with Sierra Pacific Resources, which is expected to be brought to regulators this week.

WOMAN CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN TRAMPLED AT JAY LENO SHOW IN LV -- Kathy Mercer sued the MGM Grand hotel-casino, NBC Studios Inc. and the Jay Leno Show in Clark County District Court, claiming she was knocked to the ground when a crowd surged into the Hollywood Theater at the MGM when the Leno show was taping there in February 1997. Mercer claimed she suffered head and spinal injuries and emotional distress. MGM officials had no comment. Attempts to contact NBC officials failed.

To contact Sun Business Editor Steve Green, call 259-4083 or e-mail [email protected]

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