State Supreme Court hears case of tourist beaten by union picketers

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2000 | 11:36 a.m.

Sean White accused the hotel of failing to provide adequate protection from the strikers, but a District Court jury did not award him any money after a 1997 trial.

Las Vegas attorney Will Kemp, who represents White, argued before the Supreme Court justices Monday for a new trial.

Kemp told the panel District Judge Sally Loehrer erred during the trial when she excluded two areas of "critical evidence."

The strike began in September 1991, the attorney said, but Loehrer excluded any evidence of picket-line beatings before 1992.

"There were literally dozens of beatings during that particular time frame," Kemp said.

The attorney also said Loehrer refused to let jurors hear about provocative acts by the Elardi family, which owned the hotel at the time.

For instance, he said, John Elardi had a button in his office that allowed him to activate a "water cannon" and spray the pickets outside.

Frontier attorney Roy Weatherup of Santa Monica, Calif. denied that the Elardis had a water cannon. He said the spraying water was caused by strikers breaking off sprinkler heads on the property.

White has claimed the hotel knew or should have known the strikers had a propensity for violence.

After the trial, jury foreman Tyler Best said the hotel deserved a small amount of blame, but the panel thought White instigated the altercation by returning to the picket line after he had safely crossed it.

White and his wife, Gail, came to Las Vegas to celebrate the 21st birthday of White's sister, Shannon. A Frontier videotape showed strikers yelling insults at Shannon White as she left the hotel property.

Sean White testified that his sister was so upset by the comments that his wife confronted the pickets. He said two women then began hitting his wife, which spurred him to run back from across the street.

Gail White reached a confidential settlement with the Frontier before her husband's trial.

On Monday, Kemp claimed the jury deliberations in Sean White's case were tainted because the final verdict was reached while one panel member was in the bathroom, and because at least one juror had read a newspaper report about a settlement the Whites had reached with the union and discussed it with other jurors.

Loehrer previously denied a motion for a mistrial based on those issues. Weatherup said Loehrer ruled that discussions about the newspaper report had no effect on the verdict.