Business briefs for June 6, 2001

Wednesday, June 6, 2001 | 11:22 a.m.

LV convention growing, moving to Convention Center

A conference and exposition that met in Las Vegas for the first time last year has outgrown its hotel venue and will meet at the Las Vegas Convention Center later this year.

The National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition, an event for ergonomics professionals and workplace safety experts, has outgrown the pavilion at Caesars Palace where the group met in late November and early December.

The six-year-old show, which drew about 1,250 people last year, will meet Dec. 11-13 at the Convention Center.

Walter Charnizon, executive vice president of Continental Exhibitions, which produces the show, said the growth in the event is due to corporation management recognizing how ergonomics and a comfortable working environment contribute positively to productivity. He also said attendees enjoyed having the show in Las Vegas last year.

The conference moved to Las Vegas from Anaheim, Calif., last year. Charnizon said new exhibitors have pushed the show to take up 40 percent more space than last year, with about 15,000 square feet rented six months before the show.

Tiremaker sued over fatal wreck

The family of a Bullhead City, Ariz., woman who died in a Nevada car accident in 1999 sued Yokohama Tire Corp. and a tire retailer, alleging a defective tire, a Mohawk Montega A/S Radial, blew out while she was driving and caused her death.

The family of Ethelyn Gataino sued Yokohama and the Lube Rack & Firestone in Clark County District Court, alleging she was driving southbound on the U.S. 95 on May 26, 1999, when the left rear tire of her 1991 GMC Jimmy blew out, causing her car to cross off the paved shoulder and into the dirt median.

The suit said Gataino, as well as two of her passengers, Florence Louise Martinez and Mary Louise Cotter, died of severe injuries after the vehicle rolled.

A Yokohama spokeswoman declined comment.

Nevada group sues directors

A Las Vegas horse show promoter sued two former directors, alleging they misappropriated company funds and allegedly hid "irregular transactions" in company accounts.

Nevada State Horsemen's Association Region No. 5 sued Andy Kay and Marley Peterson, who were both hired in January 1999 and left in September 2000, alleging they used the allegedly misappropriated funds to build their own business interests and allegedly stole and used company equipment at a rival horse club after they left.

The horse show promoter, which said the defendants used company funds to pay themselves for awards and trophies they bought at half the price charged to the company, also seeks an order to recover the equipment, awards and trophies.

The defendants could not be reached for comment.

LV home builder buys 175 acres

D.R. Horton Homes, the No. 8 home builder in Las Vegas last year, has acquired 175 acres in the southwestern part of the valley.

The property, to be known as Arlington Ranch, is at the southwest corner of Durango Drive and Blue Diamond Road, and was acquired in a bankruptcy sale from E.A. Collins Development Corp., for $14 million. The deal was brokered by Countrywide Commercial Investments Inc.

Brian Walsh, vice president of land at D.R. Horton, said the company plans to develop a "mini-masterplan" community with five different residential product types, including single-family residences and condominiums. No commercial or office property is planned.

Walsh said it hasn't been determined how many homes would be built and he would not speculate on capacity, since there are engineering issues that have yet to be addressed.

Locally, D.R. Horton has built the Mountainside neighborhood in Henderson, Bella Vicenza in Southern Highlands, Paradise Falls in the northwest and will build homes in the Anthem master plan. The company sold 509 homes locally in 2000 and anticipates selling 700 this year. The parent company, the No. 3 home builder in the nation, is based in Arlington, Texas.

Titanium maker sues supplier of Henderson plant

Titanium Metals Corp. of Denver sued to recover more than $2 million in damages from a Beverly, Ohio, silicon supplier, alleging Timet's Henderson plant was sold 4,000 pounds of contaminated silicon.

Timet, which said it used the contaminated silicon to produce titanium products for aerospace use, sued Globe Metallurgical Inc. in Clark County District Court, alleging it discovered the silicon was contaminated with tungsten -- a serious contaminant for titanium -- after receiving complaints from several of its customers.

Timet, which said it received the contaminated silicon on Aug. 20, 1998, and began using it to make "millions of dollars worth" of titanium metal in December 1998, said it determined in April 1999 that the likely source of tungsten contamination was in the silicon supplied by Globe.

The titanium maker said it spent considerable sums investigating the source of the contamination and was forced to scrap or downgrade ingots and other products made with the contaminated silicon because Globe breached a contract to provide silicon that met Timet's raw material specifications.

Timet also seeks indemnity for customer claims it has settled by cash payments as well as all future potential claims.

Globe could not be reached for comment on Timet's charges.

Action taken against LV, Henderson securities firms

The National Association of Securities Dealers said it fined a Henderson firm and in a separate action barred a Las Vegas broker from associating with NASD members.

NevWest Securities Corp. of Henderson and Chief Executive Anthony M. Mello III were censured and jointly fined $15,000, without admitting or denying allegations that the firm through Mello offered and sold shares of common stock to customers in a private placement memorandum that contained false and misleading statements.

Separately, Las Vegas broker Harold Bailey Gallison Jr. was barred from associating with NASD members in all capacities without admitting or denying allegations that he failed to abide by a 1998 order.

That order barred him from associating with NASD members in any "supervisory capacity," which stems from Gallison, acting as president of a now-defunct company, Pacific Cortez Securities, failing to properly supervise the conduct of his subordinates who knowingly made false statements to various investors.