Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Lawyers debate 10 biggest events in Nevada history

Ask 100 lawyers what the single most important legal event in Nevada's history is and you'll get 100 different answers. Ask them what the 10 most important events over the past 100 years are and you'll have an evening filled with laughs.

Such was the case Wednesday night at the Foley Federal Building.

Nearly every month, experienced lawyers meet with newer lawyers at the federal courthouse in the hopes of passing on their knowledge and expertise through mock trials and other means. The national program, which is called the American Inns of Court, was started by former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger in 1980.

Las Vegas attorney Stan Hunterton thought this month's meeting should be a little different and decided to modify a program that was partially developed by Michael Green, a history instructor at Community College Southern Nevada.

In June, Green and the late Gary Elliott presented the 10 most important events in the history of the gaming industry at the second annual Gaming Business and Law Update conference.

So, earlier this month, Hunterton and other members of the Inn of Court had several younger attorneys conduct a survey of older attorneys to see what they thought were the most significant legal events in Nevada over the last 100 years.

Once the answers were compiled, Hunterton's group narrowed the list to 10 over a long lunch.

Just before unveiling the results Wednesday night, Hunterton said that while the results weren't exactly scientific they were a "little better than throwing darts."

Some of the events are actually combined into one category or took place over a span of years.

The top 10 events were, in order of most important to least: The modernization of gaming control, the mob's influence and removal, the growth of the Nevada court system, three disasters (the MGM and Hilton fires, the PEPCON explosion), the civil rights movement, the impeachment of U.S. District Judge Harry Claiborne, turmoil in the Nevada Supreme Court, the creation of the William Boyd School of Law, the implementation of a six-week residency requirement for divorce and the Tailhook trial.

A handful of presenters, including U.S. District Judge Philip Pro, Hunterton and Green, gave a five-minute explanation of each event.

Pro joked that the Tailhook scandal ended up 10th only because they had props left over from the trial.

In 1994 a Las Vegas jury awarded former Navy Lt. Paula Coughlin nearly $6.7 million after she sued the Hilton Hotels Corp., claiming that it did not provide enough security during a 1991 Tailhook Association convention. During that convention of military aviators, 83 women and seven men were assaulted and harassed.

Pro, who presided over the trial, said the trial ultimately served to change the way the U.S. military handles sexual harassment.

Attorney Joseph Kyle said that when Nevada reduced its residency requirements for divorce from six months to six weeks in 1931, it resulted in thousands of people flocking to Nevada and several states arguing against the legality of Nevada divorces. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled the divorces legal.

Green, who spoke about turmoil in the Nevada Supreme Court, said infighting among judges over former Washoe District Judge Jerry Whitehead and his alleged improprieties in the 1990s made Nevada the national judicial laughingstock.

The MGM and Hilton fires and the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada (PEPCON) explosion in 1988 made the list because the trials that followed resulted in changed safety standards, Pro said.

It also showed that Nevada attorneys could hold their own with the multitude of out-of-state attorneys who ended up on the other side, said attorney Erika Pike Turner.

Attorney David Jennings used a Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd video to illustrate how Nevada's judicial system has grown, almost rabbit-like, over the years.

Among the events that didn't make the final list were: the building of the Hoover Dam and Flamingo hotel, the creation of the public defender's office and the advent of the Black Book, a listing of people banned from state casinos.

After the event, Green said he was pleased because the attorneys were able to differentiate between important historical events as opposed to important legal events.

"I thought the results were excellent," Green said.

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