Wynn, Landry’s war of words

By Jeff Simpson

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005 | 8:25 a.m.

What we've got here is a failure to communicate.

The battle between Golden Nugget owner Landry's Restaurants and Wynn Las Vegas owner Steve Wynn intensified Monday as the two sides failed to agree on the details of a dispute over a former Wynn casino boss who quit his post to take a job running the Golden Nugget Laughlin.

And the disagreement turned personal.

Landry's General Counsel Steven Scheinthal said Wynn was behaving "like a jerk" and that his actions in attempting to use the courts to prohibit his former executive from working in Laughlin were "chicken(excrement)."

Wynn said the lawyer's comments reflected his company's "cowboy mentality" and said that he preferred to settle the matter in court.

"We will avoid the use of insults. The law is designed to settle matters like this."

Wynn also accused Landry's executives of violating Las Vegas custom -- and the law -- by luring an employee Wynn had under contract.

In court filings last week, Wynn Las Vegas lawyers asked for and received a temporary restraining order prohibiting former Wynn table-game shift manager Frank Toddre from taking the top job at the Golden Nugget Laughlin.

But Scheinthal said District Judge Michael Cherry on Monday allowed Golden Nugget to keep Toddre as an employee pending a hearing scheduled for Nov. 9. He said Cherry told the two sides to settle the matter before the hearing.

According to the documents filed by Wynn, Toddre had asked to be released from his three-year contract at the $2.7 billion resort, but was refused. Toddre then gave two weeks' notice on Sept. 10, and his last day at Wynn Las Vegas was Sept. 24.

Toddre then took the job running the Golden Nugget Laughlin, and Wynn's lawyers filed suit against Toddre and Golden Nugget.

"That's a classic case of breach of contract," Wynn said. "It's a very bad precedent to interfere with other people's contracts."

Scheinthal saw it differently.

"Frank Toddre wanted to quit," Scheinthal said. "He's not an indentured servant. If Frank Toddre wants to quit Steve Wynn, he can.

Landry's lawyers believe that the terms of a noncompete agreement that is part of Toddre's Wynn Las Vegas contract don't apply to his new job in Laughlin because Laughlin is a separate market from Las Vegas and the Golden Nugget doesn't compete with Wynn Las Vegas.

They also noted that Toddre had been the Golden Nugget Laughlin's general manager for six years, and that the company didn't recruit Toddre to return. Scheinthal said that Toddre had approached his former right-hand man in Laughlin, Andre Carrier, who is now running the Nugget's Las Vegas casino, and said he'd like to return to the Laughlin post.

Complicating the matter is the role of a second executive, former Golden Nugget Las Vegas President Maurice Wooden, who signed a separation agreement that included a noncompete agreement and received a payment from the property in March.

Landry's bosses declined to say how much they had paid Wooden, but Wynn said it was about $1.2 million.

Wynn wanted to hire Wooden as his food and beverage manager. Scheinthal said he believes Wynn is trying to stick it to Landry's because its bosses said that Wooden had to pay back some of the money they had paid Wooden to leave his job.

"Steve Wynn called Tilman (Landry's Chairman and Chief Executive Tilman Fertitta) and said his food and beverage was terrible -- he was beggin', Scheinthal said. "He said he needed to hire Maurice Wooden."

Fertitta's cousins Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta are the top executives of Las Vegas-based Station Casinos.

"Tilman was very gracious," Scheinthal said. "He said 'Maurice, if you want to do this, you've got to pay some back.' "

Both sides said Landry's had agreed to allow Wooden to work for Wynn before the expiration of his noncompete agreement if the executive paid back $175,000 of the money he had received.

Wynn said he called Fertitta, but not because of his restaurant expertise or because the Wynn Las Vegas food and beverage department was a mess.

"My food and beverage isn't any more screwed up than anyone else's," Wynn said. "Wait until we announce our (quarterly) earnings. You'll see how our food and beverage is doing.

"I called him because he has rights. I gave him the respect he was due because Maurice had signed a noncompete deal and was being paid to sit at home for a year."

Wynn said he asked Fertitta to waive the noncompete agreement, and that Fertitta said he'd think about it. A deal between Landry's and Wooden calling for a $175,000 repayment was reached verbally, but not signed by Landry's, he said.

Wynn said he hasn't hired Wooden because Fertitta has yet to sign the paperwork making the waiving of the noncompete clause official. Wynn court documents said the company was surprised when Landry's lawyers inserted language into the proposed agreement that would have waived Toddre's noncompete deal, a change they say no one at Wynn had agreed to.

Scheinthal disputed the assertion, saying that Wynn lawyers were aware the Wooden and Toddre matters would be linked.

Wynn said the Toddre and Wooden cases exemplify the ways the companies do business.

"I called Mr. Fertitta," Wynn said. "We'd love to hire Wooden, but we won't poach him. We won't hire him until (Fertitta) releases him. If that's jerky behavior, then one of us is confused.

"But they were willing to breach my contract with Toddre. I called them about (Wooden). But from them? No phone calls. No paper. No respect."

Jeff Simpson can be reached at 259-4083 or at [email protected].