Friday, June 29, 2001 | 10:46 a.m.
Three more executives leave LV tech firm
Three more executives have left Las Vegas-based software firm PurchasePro. The departures are part of an effort by the company to cut costs and restructure the business.
The former executives are Mike Kennedy, chief technology officer, Edward Kim, senior vice president of corporate development and Robert G. Layne, an executive vice president.
"These (departures) were all part of the realignment of the company," PurchasePro spokesman Steve Stern said.
These resignations follow the departure of PurchasePro founder Charles "Junior" Johnson, who quit or was fired in May. Also, the company said last week that President Shawn McGhee was leaving for a job elsewhere at the end of this week.
Vegas firm develops real estate website
Las Vegas-based North American Deed Co. has launched a web-based application that enables title companies, lenders and lawyers to communicate and coordinate online while producing out-of-state deeds and other legal documents.
The service, called TitleRight, allows users to access the filing, formatting and fee requirements of all 4,000-plus recording jurisdictions in the United States.
The service aims to reduce costs and improve efficiency in preparing real estate legal documents, the company said.
Receiver of LV firm defends his work
The court-appointed receiver of multilevel marketing company Equinox International Corp. of Las Vegas, which was shut down last year as an illegal pyramid scheme, has denied charges by five former Equinox distributors that he has dragged his feet on compensation issues.
The distributors, who filed a class action lawsuit against Equinox and founder Bill Gouldd in January 1997, said more than a year has lapsed since a settlement was reached between the company and the Federal Trade Commission in which Equinox agreed to close, but they've yet to receive settlement funds.
Robb Evans, Equinox's receiver, said he doesn't object to a requested conference to address the five distributors' issues.
But Evans said he hopes the federal court will promptly authorize him to continue negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service over various tax claims and "the proposed deficiency asserted by the IRS against BG Management (Equinox's sister company) for about $12 million."
Evans also disputed the distributors' claims that he failed to provide an appraised valuation of some of the estate's largest assets that are yet to be liquidated, saying he has declined to report such valuations for fear these would have an adverse effect on sales efforts.
LV timeshare seller sues attorney over lawsuits
A Las Vegas timeshare resort company and its parent sued a local attorney and his law firm, alleging their timeshare sales and stock prices suffered when the defendants filed "malicious, bad faith" lawsuits that included "groundless fraud-based claims."
Preferred Equities Corp., doing business as Ramada Vacation Suites, and its parent Mego Financial Corp. sued Ara Shirinian and his law firm, Shirinian and Roitman, in Clark County District Court.
Preferred said its business suffered because it has had to disclose to the Nevada Department of Real Estate and reference in sales materials information about a class action lawsuit Shirinian filed on behalf of a Preferred Equities client alleging what Preferred calls "groundless fraud claims."
The complaint, filed in February 2000, was based on an alleged breach of contract that the company said it had tried to remedy.
But Preferred Equities and its former president, Frederick Conte, said they were, in addition, accused of fraudulently marketing three real estate developments by misrepresenting the availability of water to accommodate residential building lots.
Preferred Equities claimed the fraud claims were groundless because they were "virtually identical" to separate complaints previously dismissed by Clark County District Court and the state Public Utilities Commission.
Mego Financial, which said it was also required to disclose the lawsuit to the Securities and Exchange Commission -- leading to a drop in its stock value -- said the decline wouldn't have occurred if the client's lawsuit was limited to non-fraud based claims.
Shirinian, however, disputed the charges.
"The case against Conte was dropped but the case against Preferred Equities isn't. Preferred Equities filed a motion to dismiss the class action but it was denied by the court.
"Also we saw no reason to appeal the PUC's decision because it already said it had no remedy concerning that complaint and so we had to take it back to court."
Vegas firm sues former owners
A Las Vegas bus tour operator sued to stop its former owners from breaching a non-compete agreement after they allegedly acquired a charter bus company and assisted a competitor to operate bus tours.
Nevada Coaches LLC, which operates under the name Showtime Tours of Las Vegas Inc., sued Showtime's former owners Gary Valorie Delcontie in Clark County District Court.
Nevada Coaches, which said the defendants agreed not to compete with Showtime after selling the company, alleged they violated that agreement when they bought Millenium Coaches, a company Nevada Coaches claims is a competitor.
The suit also said Gary Delcontie and his wife, Millenium's bookkeeper, allegedly helped Showtime's rival, Guaranteed Tours, and other companies to conduct bus tours to the Grand Canyon, Lake Mead, Hoover Dam and Laughlin by providing drivers for such tours.
Gary Delcontie denied the allegations.
"My company, Millenium Coaches, is not a tour operator. We are a charter bus company. We also move groups of people from the airport to the hotel, and from hotels to special events."
"Guaranteed Tours is a competitor of Nevada Coaches. But Millenium Coaches isn't. We don't arrange or sell any tours or seats. Our attorneys have looked at the situation and decided that chartering buses to companies that move groups of people to destinations isn't a breach of the non-compete," he said.
LV firm sued over failed music festival
A San Francisco-based music event producer sued All-American SportPark Inc. for damages, alleging its concert at the Las Vegas theme park was prematurely closed because All-American failed to obtain required permits to stage an all-night, all-age music festival.
Creative Artist Network Inc. doing business as Cool World Productions, sued All-American SportPark and SportPark Las Vegas Inc., former owners of the SportPark at 121 E. Sunset Road, and its chief financial officer, Kirk Hartle, in Clark County District Court.
The SportPark, under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Ron Boreta, has been a money loser since Day One after a total investment of more than $22 million. Through its history, the company refinanced debt and received infusions of cash from Sports Entertainment Enterprises Inc., which is controlled by Boreta's father, Voss.
Creative, which said it was supposed to have the SportPark for use from noon on March 30 through noon on April 1, said officers from several Las Vegas public safety entities closed the concert at about midnight, only four hours after it began at 8 p.m. on March 31. The concert was supposed to have ended at 6 a.m. on April 1.
Creative, which said said it incurred more than $60,000 in production and promotion costs, said it suffered additional "out-of-pocket losses for lost ticket sales, refunds on pre-sold tickets and the issuance of 'rain check' tickets to future events and damage to its reputation" because numerous ticket holders were denied admittance and prematurely ejected.
The defendants could not be reached for comment.
Vegas couple alleges defects in vehicles
The Las Vegas owners of a 1998 Dodge Intrepid filed a class action lawsuit against its maker, DaimlerChrysler, alleging the company compromised the safety of its buyers when it failed to install a safety device in its vehicles.
Claude and Ardella Short, on behalf of thousands of owners of Chrysler vehicles purchased between 1986 through 2000, alleged Chrysler's failure to include a park-brake interlock in its vehicles -- despite allegedly being recommended in 1994 by its own in-house safety team to install such devices -- has caused an "unknown number of accidents, with injuries and even deaths."
Joseph Benson, the plaintiffs' attorney, said the Shorts haven't suffered any injuries due to the alleged defect, but filed the suit to force Chrysler to recall the cars and install the safety feature to prevent potential accidents.
The park-brake interlock is a device that prevents a vehicle with an automatic transmission from being moved out of park until the driver depresses the brake pedal. This ensures that vehicles are not inadvertently moved into neutral, reverse or drive by the driver or passengers.
The suit said the alleged affected vehicles include the Dodge Intrepid, Chrysler Town and Country minivans, Dodge Caravan and Grand Caravan minivans, Plymouth Voyager and Grand Voyager minivans; Dodge Ram trucks, vans and wagons, Dodge Dakota pickup trucks and other vehicles.
The plaintiffs, who said installing the park-brake device at the time the vehicles are made would have cost about $10 a vehicle, said they seek punitive damages and about $750 per vehicle to install the device. They also seek rental costs of about $50 a day while the repairs are made and about $100 for each class member.
Elaine Lutz, a DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman in Auburn Hills, Mich., disputed the allegations.
"The brake shift interlock is not mandated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). But the key-interlock, which is a system that prevents vehicles with automatic transmissions from being shifted out of park without the key being placed in the 'on' position, is mandated by NHTSA and the Chrysler group is in full compliance with that mandate."
"With new model years, we've been adding brake shift interlocks. Our 2001 minivans now have that safety device," she said.
Kevorkian attorney named in LV company's lawsuit
A Las Vegas company sued to recover a $106,250 loan from a Farmington, Mich., woman, her two attorneys and their law firm.
Resolution Settlement Corp., a company that advances loans to help individuals with their legal expenses incurred in filing lawsuits, sued Mary Curry, her attorneys, Geoffrey Fieger and Rebecca Walsh and their Oakland, Mich.-based law firm, in Clark County District Court.
Fieger is well known as the attorney for assisted suicide Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Fieger ran for governor of Michigan in 1998 as a Democrat, but lost in the general election to a Republican.
Curry, who retained Fieger and Walsh to represent her in a lawsuit she filed to recover damages for injuries she suffered in an automobile accident in November 1994, allegedly agreed to reimburse Resolution Settlement the $106,250 loan it advanced if she won the lawsuit, the company said.
Detroit News archives say Curry suffered burns to her back in a fiery auto accident on Interstate 75 near Flint, Mich., on Nov. 7, 1994, after a truck crashed into several vehicles that had stopped on the freeway for former President Clinton's motorcade.
The accident killed three people. Curry was hospitalized for 10 days and suffered permanent burn scars. She sued the trucker and his employer, Commercial Carriers.
But the attorneys, whom Resolution said were instructed to disburse the funds to the company, said they failed to do so even after Curry "received a favorable result." Fieger won more than $20 million for Curry, a settlement that was later reduced to $4.7 million, the News reported.
The defendants could not be reached for comment on the allegations.
Fieger was retained after Curry fired her first attorney, Harvey Chayet, eight months into the case. Fieger, in a June 14, 1995, letter to Chayet, said he allegedly agreed to pay the lawyer a one-time referral fee as well as costs incurred from filing fees and research.
But Fieger later said Chayet didn't deserve the money because he did no work on the case. Fieger was ordered by a Circuit Court judge in Flint to deposit $530,000 of the settlement into an escrow account until Chayet's claim is settled.
archive
