Old battle over Fremont Street Experience hits Supreme Court

Thursday, June 15, 2000 | 10:19 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Another chapter in the marathon legal battle between the Pappas family and the Las Vegas Downtown Redevelopment Agency over condemnation of property was played out Wednesday in the Nevada Supreme Court.

District Judge Mark Denton disqualified himself in the case, citing receipt of $3,000 in campaign contributions from four casinos that benefited from the downtown Fremont Street Experience.

Denton said he could be unbiased in the case but bowed out because of an appearance of bias.

The Supreme Court has ruled in several cases that a judge does not have to disqualify himself because he accepted campaign contributions. In a prior hearing on Wednesday, the justices disclosed they had received contributions from Mirage Resorts Inc., but they decided they could hear the case involving the Mirage.

The redevelopment agency wants Denton to remain on the case. The Pappas family is backing Denton's decision to recuse himself. Carol Pappas filed a declaration that Judge Denton should step down from the case because of the casino money.

The litigation has been going for seven years. Carol Pappas and her two sons, Harry and John, owned property on Las Vegas Boulevard near Fremont Street that had been in the family for seven years. The redevelopment agency condemned the land to make way for a parking garage for the Fremont Street Experience.

Former District Judge Don Chairez ruled the redevelopment agency didn't have the power to condemn. There have been continued District Court battles ever since.

Attorneys Glade Hall and A. Grant Gerber declined to say how much the Pappas family is seeking. Lawyers Daniel F. Polsenberg and Bill Henry said the appraised price was $500,000 and the redevelopment agency offered the family four times that amount.

Henry, senior litigation counsel for the city of Las Vegas, told the court there is a "crisis" in the District Court in Clark County. Five district judges have disqualified themselves from the case without legal reason.

Henry said the redevelopment agency can't get the case heard in Southern Nevada.

Polsenberg said both sides want to get this case going.

Hall told the court, however, that it was ironic that the redevelopment agency now says it's ready to proceed in the lower court. The redevelopment agency, he said, is the one that has filed all the appeals. And he said District Judge Ron Parraguirre is ready to step in and hear the case.

Hall said Carol Pappas has lost her source of income for seven years because the city took immediate occupancy of the property.

The Supreme Court took the arguments under study and will rule later.

It will also eventually be faced with the issue of whether the redevelopment agency has the right to condemn property. And then there will be a decision on the value of the property and how much damage the Pappas family suffered if the property was not legally taken in eminent domain.