County official in legal spat

Bill Gang

Thursday, July 22, 1999 | 10:21 a.m.

The job of Clark County Public Administrator Jared Shafer is to oversee some estates and guardianships and protect the people and assets involved -- not himself.

But that was the case in court Wednesday when Shafer had to fend off a lawyer whose client was owed $27,000 by a near-penniless man dying of AIDS named Larry Frye.

Shafer is Frye's guardian and controls the few dollars the man has.

But attorney Thom Gover won a judgment from Frye on behalf of John Michael Knop, and since Shafer had Frye's money he also was named in a lien filed by the lawyer.

Shafer learned of it when an investment group he belongs to tried to swap some land. The deal legally couldn't close because of the lien.

"You can't sue me personally," Shafer fumed in court, charging that Gover was just trying to look for a deep pocket. "I'm not personally involved in this case."

His attorney, Dara Goldsmith, called the situation "an injustice" and asked for an order clearing Shafer's financial status and the roadblocks to the land swap.

Gover said Shafer could have avoided the situation if he had responded to a questions sent to his office about Frye's finances. But District Judge Mark Denton said Gover stepped over the line in pursuing Shafer personally and the bond of the public administrator's office.