Lawsuit over downtown property put on hold

Dan Kulin

Friday, Jan. 28, 2005 | 9:09 a.m.

The lawsuit in which Louis Palazzo and Ross Goodman, son of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, are trying to force an elderly woman to sell her downtown property will be on hold until Tuesday while Palazzo and Goodman decide if they want a new judge to hear the case.

District Judge Kenneth Cory said he represented the woman, Christine Von Sturm, about 15 years ago.

John Netzorg, the attorney for Palazzo and Goodman, said Cory's prior relationship could be an issue because part of the case revolves around the question of whether or not Von Sturm was competent to enter into a deal with Palazzo and Goodman.

Von Sturm's attorney David Rivers is arguing that Palazzo and Goodman took advantage of a woman in her 80s who was not competent enough to make the deal.

Rivers said putting a new judge on the case would probably delay the case for two weeks or so.

Palazzo and Goodman are suing Von Sturm claiming that she breached an agreement to sell their partnership, Palco, property at 511 and 515 Las Vegas Boulevard South, which is on the block between Bonneville and Clark avenues.

A counter-lawsuit from Von Sturm claims Palazzo and Goodman, who are both attorneys, had inside information they "illicitly received" and then intentionally hid, which showed Von Sturm's property was worth much more than the $1.4 million they offered.