Suit against Venetian over drug death settled

Thursday, Feb. 13, 2003 | 11:20 a.m.

A lawsuit against The Venetian filed by the family of a 21-year-old woman who died of a drug overdose after a night of partying at the hotel's nightclub has been settled, according to court documents.

The settlement was signed this week in the chambers of District Judge Valerie Adair and sealed from public release. Attorneys for neither side returned calls for comment.

Danielle Heird died from an overdose of the drug Ecstasy on July 20, 2000, after going to the C2K nightclub. An investigation by Metro Police determined Heird had taken the drug before she went into the club and took the drug again once inside.

The lawsuit, filed by Heird's parents, James and Elsa Heird, alleged that The Venetian had an obligation to provide a safe environment for patrons of the club and that the owners of C2K created a drug-friendly environment, even profiting on drug use by increasing the cost of bottled water.

The lawsuit also named Daniel Beall, whom it alleged sold Heird the drugs, and Daniel Hornsby, a friend of Heird's aware of her purchase, as co-defendants. The suit against the two men has not been settled, according to court documents.

Phone calls to The Venetian, the Heird family and their lawyer Brent Bryson, were not immediately returned this morning.

Heird's death from Ecstasy was the subject of national headlines, with the Heird family participating in an advertising campaign with the Partnership for a Drug Free America last year.

The campaign included simple advertisements showing Heird's death certificate. The ads ran in prominent newspapers including The New York Times.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun last year, Elsa Heird said she had received hundreds of e-mails from people who had visited the Drug Free America website and read her daughter's story.

"We're hopeful that people are hearing about our daughter's story, and that her death is not in vain," Elsa Heird said during the interview. "If anyone listens, it's a good thing."