Court blocks city takeover of troubled apartment complex

A temporary restraining order has been issued to prevent the city of Las Vegas from taking over an apartment complex owned by the Rev. Marion Bennett that the city had claimed was dilapidated and dangerous.

The city's Neighborhood Services Department had given Bennett notice Friday that all of the tenants had to be out of the low-income dwellings by Wednesday and that the electricity would be turned off then.

But the restraining order, signed Monday by District Judge Mark Denton as a result of a lawsuit filed earlier that day, gives Bennett a reprieve until a hearing on Aug. 24.

Bennett's lawsuit, filed by attorney John Fadgen, claims the 14 "deficiencies" that led city officials in March to demand the complex be vacated have been repaired and the forced closure should be rescinded.

The complaints specified electrical and plumbing problems in addition to broken fences, a lack of fire extinguishers and smoke detectors and piles of trash.

Bennett is a former state senator.

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