Park Place wins new trial in dispute with high-roller

By Liz Benston (contact)

Wednesday, April 9, 2003 | 11:02 a.m.

A federal judge has granted Park Place Entertainment Corp. the right to a new trial following an unprecedented jury verdict last year that awarded a disgruntled high-roller more than $8 million in damages.

At a court hearing in Las Vegas Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge James C. Mahan granted Park Place's request for another trial in a civil suit filed by Los Angeles businessman Steven Mattes.

Mahan ruled the verdict was flawed, internally inconsistent and in part not supported by the evidence.

Mahan must still submit a formal written order for the trial, which is expected today and will cite his legal reasoning, Park Place spokesman Robert Stewart said.

A trial date hasn't been determined.

"Judge Mahan's decision to grant a new trial in the Mattes case validates the position that Park Place has taken all along," Park Place Senior Vice President and General Counsel Bernard DeLury, Jr., said. "The jury's decision was not supported by the facts."

Mattes' Reno attorney, Kevin Mirch, could not be reached for comment by press time.

The suit centers on activity that took place over four days of gambling by Mattes during the opening weekend of Park Place's Paris Las Vegas resort in September 1999. Mattes was invited by a Paris casino host to gamble under a $2 million line of credit.

The original complaint alleges that Park Place breached a contract with Mattes by refusing to extend him more credit after he spent through the $2 million as well as earlier gambling winnings. But the charges ballooned as other information surfaced during the discovery phase, according to Mattes' attorneys.

Mattes claimed Park Place tampered with internal accounting documents to show that he had lost money instead of won. He also alleged that he was lured on the expenses-paid trip in the first place so that Park Place could win back money Mattes had won during an earlier visit to the company's Bally's Las Vegas resort.

Park Place said records presented at trial showed that documents were processed correctly and that Mattes signed off on what he owed. Accounting records can be misinterpreted by outsiders because of the esoteric manner in which casinos track their play during a gambling session, Park Place attorneys said. The records show duplicate figures aimed at showing regulators how money is subtracted or added to earlier totals, for example, attorneys said.

In November, a jury sided with Mattes on all seven charges leveled against the company -- including negligence, fraud and defamation -- and also awarded $1.5 million in punitive damages.

Park Place employees involved in Mattes' play "conducted themselves with honesty and integrity" and evidence presented at trial showed that Mattes' gambling activity was carefully documented, DeLury said in a statement Tuesday.

"Mr. Mattes' confusion and uncertainty about those transactions arose only after he found himself owing the casino $2 million," he said.

Such suits by gamblers are rare because of the heightened regulatory scrutiny required of the casino industry. Nevada casinos are subjected to regular audits and extensive background checks of key employees. Those controls extend to gambler disputes -- typically over jackpots -- that are generally settled with help from the Gaming Control Board before escalating to a courtroom trial.

Both Mattes and Park Place accuse the other of not seeking the board's assistance in settling the dispute.