Recently filed Las Vegas-area business-related lawsuits

Thursday, Dec. 20, 2001 | 10:03 a.m.

Recently filed Las Vegas-area business-related lawsuits. Except where noted, the defendants either couldn't be reached for comment, declined comment or haven't responded to the allegations.

* Online luxury goods publisher and franchisor Exotics.com Inc. sued to stop Andrew Maltin, a former executive and Scott London, a director, from interfering with its business, claiming they removed 25 of its franchisees' websites from its servers and transferred the websites to their servers. Exotics.com said it advertises luxury automobiles, estates, yachts and exotic travel services through the 25 franchisees' websites.

* The Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters and Carpenters Local 1780 sued two Las Vegas millwork shops, Swiss Services of Nevada Inc. and Millwork Unlimited LLC, alleging they breached a contract when they failed to pay agreed wage rates to their millworkers.

* Las Vegas outpatient rehabilitation clinics operator NovaCare Outpatient Rehabilitation sued to stop an unlicensed collection agency, its owner and three former NovaCare workers from illegally diverting more than $2 million of its accounts receivables into their accounts.

NovaCare accused JESCO Healthcare Billing & Collection Services and its owner, David Sweeney -- who collected delinquent NovaCare accounts receivables for NovaCare -- of violating a July 11 order from the Financial Institutions Division of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry to stop collecting without a license.

* Spring Oaks Village Homeowners Association Inc. sued its developer Spring Oaks Properties and seven partners and its contractors Paragon Construction Inc. and Triple Crown Construction, alleging defects in its 132-unit condominium complex at South Torrey Pines Drive and West Hacienda Avenue.

* Big Town Mechanical LLC sued the owners of Greek Isle Hotel, alleging they defaulted on a $146,851 payment for plumbing services.

Ron Garrett, Greek Isle's general manager, disputed the allegation. "We have no financial difficulty. All bills are being paid and we're pretty confident Big Town will be paid shortly as well."

* German luxury car maker BMW AG and its Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-based subsidiary BMW of North America LLC sued BMW Performance, a Las Vegas luxury car service center, and its owner Daniel Dunphy, alleging they illegally used the BMW trademark to offer car services.

But Dunphy denied the allegation, saying he acquired a Las Vegas company called BMW Performance in 1996 but changed its name to European Motorcars about three years ago because the company not only services BMWs but also other luxury cars including Mercedes and Jaguars.

"We changed our name because our customers were asking us to service and repair other cars like Mercedes and Jaguars, and not because we thought we were violating any trademarks," he said. "This is just BMW's attempt to stifle business from small independent companies like us."

* Educational Clearinghouse Inc. of Las Vegas sued to stop a former employee Jeff Frazee from using the "EducationalClearinghouse.com" domain name.

The Las Vegas educational video producer said Frazee registered himself as the owner of the domain name using company funds when he was allegedly instructed to register the account under the name of its owner Ronald Miller. Educational Clearinghouse said it feared Frazee could steal its online sales.

* Sony Electronics Inc. sued to repossess several pieces of video equipment from All American Sportpark, Sports Entertainment Enterprises Inc., Saint Andrews Golf Corp. and Urban Land of Nevada Inc., alleging they defaulted on a $286,779 in lease payments for the equipment.