District Court Department 10

Thursday, Aug. 15, 2002 | 9:17 a.m.

Eight seats are contested in District Court election, with several candidates competing for the open seats created by two new departments.

Valoria J. Vega, Ron D. Parraguirre, Joseph Bonaventure, Lee Gates, Jennifer Togliatti, Michael Douglas, Michelle Leavitt, Mark Ralph Denton, Sally Loehrer, John S. McGroarty, Michael A. Cherry, Nancy M. Saitta and Allan R. Earl are all running unopposed for re-election.

Department 10

Four candidates -- Philip Dabney, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Bill Voy and Jessie Elizabeth Walsh -- vie for the open seat left by District Judge Jack Lehman in Department 10.

Dabney has handled civil and business disputes as a lawyer for 15 years, and has served the past eight as an arbitrator for both the District Court and the American Arbitration Association. A pro tempore judge for the district's Short Jury Trial program, Dabney plans to move cases along by encouraging parties to use alternative methods for dispute resolution.

He also plans on using his experience as a board member for the Nevada Treatment Center in helping early drug offenders get treatment rather then prison time.

Gonzales has practiced predominantly in complex civil legislation since 1985, handling cases against the PEPCON plant that exploded in Henderson in 1988 and construction defect cases involving residences in North Las Vegas in 2000.

She has also served as a mediator and arbitrator for other attorneys and has worked with the Supreme Court of Nevada Jury Improvement Commission to streamline the jury system.

Voy is in his first full term as a Family Court judge for Department A, having previously served as a justice of the peace pro tempore for Clark County for three years and as an alternate Municipal Court judge for Las Vegas for six years. He spent three years as a military lawyer for the Army before coming to Las Vegas as a private practitioner in 1989.

Walsh, a former Clark County deputy public defender and a prosecutor for Las Vegas, is currently a Municipal Court judge. She has also worked in private practice and has served as an economic development officer for Las Vegas. Walsh holds numerous community appointments, including having served on the Judicial Council of Nevada, the Police Athletic League and the Trial by Peers juvenile diversion program.