Venetian hit with $44 mil. judgment

Tuesday, June 3, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.

A Clark County District Court jury today awarded a contractor for the Las Vegas Strip's Venetian hotel-casino $44.3 million, concluding a high-stakes trial of a breach-of-contract lawsuit that lasted 10 months.

A jury of four men and four women determined that London-based Lehrer McGovern Bovis Inc. was entitled to recover the damages from the Venetian. Slightly offsetting the award, jurors gave the Venetian a $2.3 million construction-defect judgment against Bovis.

Bovis had sought $97.2 million for work it did on the resort but said it wasn't paid for. The Venetian sought $201.4 million from Bovis because the construction was not completed on time and for construction defects.

The two parties sued each other in connection with the complaints originating from the postponement of the grand opening of the strip property in April 1999.

Attorneys for the Venetian said it was too early to determine wether they would appeal the verdict, read this morning before Clark County Senior Judge James Brennan.

"It was a disappointment on one level," said Las Vegas attorney Stephen Peek, one of the attorneys representing the Venetian. "But there were parts of it where we were successful, so there was some satisfaction."

Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson, who attended closing arguments for the case -- the longest civil jury trial in state history -- three weeks ago, was not in the courtroom today.

Brennan is scheduled to enter the verdict June 17. Peek said once the judge enters the verdict, he would discuss appeal options with his client. An appeal would go to the Nevada Supreme Court.

The lead attorney for Bovis, Jennifer Fletcher of Atlanta, said she was pleased with the verdict.

"The state of Nevada is lucky to have a judge as capable and qualified as Judge Brennan and this jury has been absolutely incredible," Fletcher said. "They (the jury) delivered a diligent, fair result, which was all that we could ask for."

Jurors considered more than 10,000 documents entered into evidence.