Mandalay Bay files lawsuit against consultant for doors being too narrow

Sun Capital Bureau

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011 | 6:20 p.m.

CARSON CITY — The Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip maintains it had to spend $20 million to correct the doors on 3,000 rooms in the new structure, which were too narrow to comply with the federal disability law.

They are suing consulting architect Rolf Jensen & Associates, claiming it was the consultant's fault.

But Rolf Jensen is arguing Mandalay Bay is barred from the suit by prior doctrines and the federal law.

The Nevada Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday and then took the case under submission.

Jean Weil, an attorney for Rolf Jensen, told the court the federal law bars the suit in state court. She argued the court should issue a writ to stop the processing of the suit in the interest of “judicial economy” because a trial would last 60 days.

But Clark Thiel, attorney for Mandalay, argued the trial would last 15-20 days. He said the consulting architect firm was not exempt from suit.

The Mandalay filed suit and then amended its complaint. It now alleges negligence misrepresentation and breach of express warranty among allegations in the suit.

District Judge Elissa Cadish dismissed previous charges made by Mandalay but she refused to issue a writ of mandamus sought by Rolf Jensen to block the recent legal action from going forward. Rolf Jensen then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Rolf Jensen, in its briefs, has cited the Economic Loss Doctrine, which is a judicially created mechanism to provide reasonable limits on the liability of a tortfeasor from its negligent acts and omissions.

Weil has argued the Supreme Court should follow the lead of a federal appellate court that holds that an owner-developer of public accommodations may not bring state-based claims arising out of its own violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act against the design professional and their consultants.

Thiel, in his brief, said this $20 million cost was a violation of Rolf Jensen’s obligation to provide accurate information. And Rolf Jensen failed to notify the resort of the problem when he discovered it.

The Justice Department identified more than 425 occurrences of specific non-compliance of the disability at the resort.