Business briefs for July 31,2001

Tuesday, July 31, 2001 | 10:35 a.m.

Firm executes 30,000 purchases on PPRO network

Hilton Hotels Corp. has executed nearly 30,000 electronic purchase orders in the past year through its proprietary hospitality marketplace, said PurchasePro, the Las Vegas-based firm that powers the online network.

The network allows businesses that cater to the hospitality industry to buy and sell products online. The Hilton network has about 500 member hotels as users and added about 1,200 national and regional suppliers since being launched in July 2000.

Vegas mortgage companies in litigation

Sunbelt 1st Financial USA, a Las Vegas mortgage loan company, sued a rival, First Source Financial USA of Las Vegas, its president and 13 of Sunbelt's former loan officers, alleging the officers stole its proprietary company information, defamed the company and defected to its rival.

Sunbelt sued the loan officers, First Source and its president, Joseph Giuliano, in Clark County District Court.

The suit also said the defendants "inflicted emotional distress" on its employees by allegedly making telephone calls that falsely claimed an employee was dead or that certain employees or their spouses were having affairs with other employees.

Giuliano could not be reached for comment.

Vegas dance school sues rival

The principals of a Las Vegas children's dance school sued to stop two former employees from recruiting its clients to start a rival dance school.

Richard and Valerie Bernstein, and their company, Puttin' on the Kidz, sued Blaine Senior, a former vice president and dance teacher and Kay Garfield, a former secretary, alleging they took confidential company information, equipment and customer lists to start a rival dance school called Vegas City Kids.

Joseph Sciscento, the defendants' attorney, denied the allegations. "This is a frivolous suit. The Bernsteins didn't have the business background they claimed. They didn't fund the school properly."

"The company has no assets and no teachers. It was incorporated in June 2000 and closed around June this year. Blaine is still teaching some of the school's students at various locations," he said.

Missouri company fights for right to name in Nevada

National Hearing Centers Inc. of Springfield, Mo., which was sued by National Hearing Center Inc. of Las Vegas, another hearing aid company, for allegedly confusing its customers with its similar name, has opposed the Las Vegas company's attempts to stop it from using the name.

National Hearing Centers, which said it acquired rights to the trade name National Hearing Centers Inc. on May 8 and now has outlets in two Wal-Mart supercenters in Henderson and North Las Vegas, said it could incur losses of more than $400,000 if it was prohibited from using the name.

Grocer denies responsibility for Vegas shootings

Albertson's Inc., which was sued by two former workers for emotional trauma they said they suffered during and after Zane Floyd's shooting rampage in a Las Vegas store, has denied responsibility for the assault and seeks to dismiss the lawsuit because the workers failed to bring their claims within a six-month statute of limitations.

Kelly Ann Pearce, a former Albertson's service deli clerk and Janine Martinez, a former general merchandise non-food clerk, sued Albertson's and store director Tony Pre to recover damages for the "extreme and severe mental anguish and post traumatic stress disorders" they said they suffered during and after the shooting on June 3, 1999, which left four people dead and one injured.

But Albertson's denied responsibility, saying the assault was committed by Floyd, who wasn't an Albertson's worker.

Pearce, in her lawsuit, also claims Pre violated her statutory rights to workers' compensation when he denied her claims and fired her "based on her daring to file such claims."

But Albertson's, which said it is party to a collective bargaining agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers local 711, said Pearce and Martinez, as union workers, should have filed their claims within six months of the incident. It said they filed their lawsuit on June 1, nearly two years after the incident and Pearce's discharge.

Albertson's also said Pearce was terminated for dishonesty, which constitutes a "legitimate non-retaliatory basis" for discharge under the union agreement.

Worker claims he was fired for publicizing safety issues

A former worker at Timet's Henderson plant sued the titanium producer and the Steelworkers' union, alleging he was wrongfully fired for publishing newsletters that highlighted the wages and working conditions of Timet workers.

David Smallwood, who said he began publishing the Titanium Times in 1997 and the Tungsten Times in 1999 because of accidents and safety problems at the plant, sued Denver-based Titanium Metals Corp. and the United Steelworkers of America Local 4856 in Clark County District Court.

Smallwood, who said he was terminated in June 1999, alleged the union deprived him of union protection when it failed to arbitrate his case and instead allegedly "entered into an agreement with Timet (last February) that (he) wasn't discharged for engaging in protected activities of the National Labor Relations Act."

The suit said Timet was found on March 30 by a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge to have violated labor laws when it fired Smallwood. The plaintiff said Timet has yet to comply with the judge's order to reinstate him to his former position and compensate him for lost earnings and benefits.

The defendants could not be reached for comment.

Vegas film promoter opening L.A. office

A nonprofit corporation that is working to bring more film production business to Southern Nevada will establish a Hollywood office later this year.

Mimosa Jones, president and chief executive officer of the Entertainment Development Corp. of Las Vegas, will run the office and plans to have it operating by Sept. 15.

Paul Bodner, the organization's chief operating officer and formerly a top executive with the CineVegas International Film Festival with which the EDC recently merged, will run the day-to-day operation of EDC's Las Vegas office.

Jones will split her time between the two offices.

Las Vegas entertainment attorney Mark Tratos, who serves as chairman of the EDC's board of directors, said the EDC has had a goal of establishing a Los Angeles presence for a long time and he agreed to donate the use of his office in the heart of the Sunset Strip for Jones' work.

Tratos said the board would evaluate the progress of the L.A. office in about a year to determine its value to the Las Vegas organization.

"We've had comments from the (film) industry that we need to have more direct contact with the people there," Tratos said.

Tratos said the organization would spend more in travel expenses, but there would be no office and phone expenses since the EDC would be using his facilities.

"We'll be one of a handful of Las Vegas organizations with a presence in Southern California and we really have the creme-de-la-creme spot for an office," Jones said. "It really makes an impression and it will be a great marketing tool for us."

Henderson firm CFO resigns; some divisions moving to Texas

Valence Technology Inc. of Henderson, a maker of lithium-ion polymer rechargeable batteries, announced the resignation of its chief financial officer Jay King.

Valence said in a news release King is leaving to pursue other interests. A company spokesman could not be reached for further comment.

Valence is seeking to recruit a new CFO and anticipates hiring a replacement soon, the company statement said.

Last month, Valence said it planned to move its sales, marketing, systems engineering and finance functions to Austin, Texas.

"Given its favorable market conditions and large talent pool, Austin presents a tremendous resource as we look to strengthen functional business areas within the company," Valence Chief Executive Stephan Godevais said in a statement.

The 115,000 square-foot building the company uses at 301 Conestoga Way in Henderson would remain open for research and development purposes, the company said.

The company employs about 70 people in Henderson. Its unclear how many of those jobs would be affected by certain divisions moving to Texas.

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