Editorial: Rejecting sure thing is big risk

Saturday, Aug. 26, 2000 | 3:08 a.m.

It was shocking last week when Harry Pappas walked away from a multimillion-dollar offer by the city of Las Vegas to settle his family's lawsuit over the government's use of eminent domain. In a controversial decision in 1993, the city seized the family's 7,000 square feet of downtown property to make way for the Fremont Street Experience garage. The Pappas family filed a lawsuit in response, contesting the city's $340,000 appraisal of the land's value. In 1996 a District Court judge determined that the city had in fact violated eminent domain laws by seizing the land and transferring it to the casinos that belong to the Fremont Street Experience.

Since then the case has been tied up in litigation. So after he was elected mayor last year, Goodman, a defense attorney, diligently sought to settle this matter by negotiating with the family himself. A tentative $4.5 million deal had been reached earlier this month, but the next day Harry Pappas backed out of it, saying he now wanted an extra $120,000 in compensation for the business the family lost from the condemnation. Goodman, who had been remarkably patient during the negotiations, finally had had enough. Last week he set a Thursday deadline for the family to either sign the agreement or head to court and take its chances there. The Pappases never showed up to sign the settlement.

The mayor understandably was upset over Harry Pappas' indecision. Pappas' subsequent demands to hike the amount after the initial agreement certainly will erode the goodwill many Las Vegans have felt for him and his family. Goodman believed Harry Pappas was foolish to walk away from a sure thing, since the mayor believes the family won't be able to match the $4.5 million if they go to trial. We agree. It's the family's right to pursue this action in court, and anything can happen during a trial, including a larger judgment than offered by the city. But it's also possible -- and more likely -- that the family will get less. So if a court doesn't match what the city has offered, Harry Pappas will find out that there won't be many Las Vegans willing to hear his bellyaching about how unfair the city was to him and his family.