Woman ordered to testify in CCSN deposition

Thursday, May 27, 2004 | 8:14 a.m.

A District Court discovery commissioner ruled Wednesday that Topazia "Briget" Jones, the woman whose allegations of wrong-doing triggered university regents into demoting two top CCSN administrators, had to testify in a deposition that same afternoon.

District Court Discovery Commissioner Thomas Biggar narrowly limited Jones' testimony to what information she gave University and Community College System of Nevada officials, which officials she gave information to and when.

Biggar exempted Jones from having to discuss the veracity of or the motive for her allegations against removed Community College of Southern Nevada president Ron Remington or removed lobbyist John Cummings.

Remington's lawyer, Kathleen England, said she had subpoenaed Jones with the hope of discovering how much regents knew before they walked into the November closed personnel session's that ended with Remington and Cummings' demotions.

Remington, Cummings, and the Nevada attorney general's office have all filed lawsuits against the Board of Regents alleging that the board violated the state's open-meeting law during the Nov. 17 and 20 closed personnel session that ended with regents voting to demote both Remington and Cummings.

England, however, said she believes regents may have violated the law prior to the meeting by reviewing the investigation on their own or discussing the results prior to the meeting.

In deposing Jones, England said she wanted to know if Jones discussed the investigation or her allegations with regents or with any other system official and whether all of the information Jones gave to the system investigator was actually presented to regents.

"Some of the violations may not appear on the public record. We want to go behind the record," England said. "We don't know how many violations there may be."

Wednesday's hearing included two other motions to compel UCCSN lawyers to release information -- including providing sworn answers to some of England's questions from Regents Stavros Anthony and Tom Kirkpatrick. System officials had refused to answer these questions because they argued that all discovery beyond the public record was irrelevant in this case.

"They (violations) are either there or not," Walter Ayers, UCCSN lawyer, said. "She (England) wants to go on a fishing expedition on violations she thinks are there."

Biggar ruled that the regents did have to answer the questions, but he denied another motion of England's to release the private cell phone records of regents. England had sought the cell phone records in another attempt to discover whether regents conversed with each other before the November meeting.

In limiting Jones' testimony, Biggar ruled that her involvement mattered only regarding what information she gave the system, not whether that information was correct. If Remington later decides to sue Jones for defamation, then and only then can he depose her on the credibility of her allegations, Biggar said.

Both Jones' attorney and system attorneys had objected to Jones' deposition on the basis that Jones was not involved in the open-meeting law violations England alleges against the board in Remington's complaint.

England, however, argued that Jones' allegations triggered the entire investigation into Remington and Cummings that led to their demotions by the board.

Jones alleged both men conspired to gain Legislative approval for four-year degrees programs at the community college and to gain $500,000 in security money against the wishes of the regents. She also alleged that Cummings followed improper hiring practices, including having Jones sign a blank application and having it filled out for her.

Jones made her allegations to Chancellor Jane Nichols shortly after being fired by Remington and Cummings. Nichols stopped Jones' termination and ordered an investigation into the allegations.