Casino wins injunction against customer

Friday, March 24, 2000 | 11 a.m.

Fitzgeralds Gaming Corp. won an injunction last week to stop Jo Meeks, a customer who claims she was sexually harrassed by its casino employees, from vandalizing the casino, disrupting its business and posting defamatory statements on the Internet.

Fitzgeralds Gaming, which owns Fitzgeralds Casino & Holiday Inn, sued Meeks in Clark County District Court, alleging Meeks filed a sexual harassment complaint with the Nevada Gaming Control Board on Nov. 20, 1999, and also threatened to tell the local media unless she received a financial settlement from the casino.

But the Gaming Control Board, which investigated the matter, told Meeks on Jan. 28 it didn't find any evidence to support her claims.

The suit said Meeks, in an alleged continued effort to extract a settlement, posted several stickers on Fitzgeralds' property and nearby public pay phones in early March that allegedly said the casino was being investigated for sexual harassment charges and encouraged the public to read Meeks' announcement of the incident on a website.

The suit said Meeks, who allegedly threatened Fitzgeralds that she would expand her smear campaign nationwide unless she was paid, allegedly published on March 9 defamatory statements on the Internet that allegedly claim the Gaming Control Board found problems with the casino's dice games.

Meeks could not be reached for comment.