Columnist Jeff German: The price is wrong for taxpayers footing the LVCVA’s legal bill

Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005 | 8:30 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

It may be pocket change to a well-funded public agency that spends tens of millions of dollars each year to lure tourists to Las Vegas.

But the cost of fixing that $1 slogan deal for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is more than a half-million dollars -- and still counting.

This is money the taxpayers would rather have seen spent on things such as pay raises for cops and textbooks for students.

A half-million dollars could have paid twice over for the resurfacing of the cracked courts at the city's new tennis center, the site of an LVCVA-promoted professional tournament next year.

LVCVA officials say the brunt of the legal tab for the bad slogan deal -- a whopping $492,694 so far -- is going to the San Francisco-based law firm of Morrison & Foerster. This is for just four months work, from June through September.

Two Reno law firms also have submitted bills totaling $19,328, bringing the overall legal tally to $512,022.

Morrison & Foerster, I'm told, has billed the LVCVA $296,161 for its quickie investigation into how the rights to "What happens here, stays here," the most popular Las Vegas marketing slogan of all time, wound up in the hands of R&R Partners, the LVCVA's longtime advertising agency.

The LVCVA's board this month adopted a series of Morrison & Foerster recommendations to make sure the LVCVA does the obvious in the future and holds on to its valuable marketing slogans.

Morrison & Foerster, which charges up to $675 an hour, also has billed the LVCVA $196,533 for protecting the tourism agency's interests in a lawsuit R&R Partners brought against a California woman accused of infringing on "What happens here, stays here."

Dorothy Tovar has rankled the LVCVA with her risque line of clothing under the similar logo, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Unlike the LVCVA, however, Tovar actually has a federally registered trademark for her logo.

The suit, filed in Reno federal court, isn't close to being resolved, which means the prestigious, but expensive, Morrison & Foerster is likely to be on the LVCVA's payroll for some time.

And while the LVCVA is fighting to stop Tovar from profiting off her slogan, the agency continues to make no effort to capitalize financially on the popularity of "What happens here, stays here."

And the public has lost hundreds of thousands of additional dollars (maybe millions) because of the LVCVA's failure to sell souvenirs under the name of its award-winning slogan.

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No one believes it will persuade federal authorities to lighten up.

But embattled Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo, I'm told, has been attempting to settle a well-publicized civil lawsuit linked to the federal racketeering probe against him.

Kansas City tourist Kirk Henry sued Rizzolo and his topless club four years ago after suffering a broken neck there. He's now confined to a wheelchair.

The incident also is a focus of the government's criminal case alleging Rizzolo carried out a "pattern of lawlessness" at the Crazy Horse Too.

This is the case that once more is rumored to be close to an indictment.

No trial date has been set in the lawsuit, and lawyers on both sides are being tight-lipped about the reported settlement talks.

If a deal can be struck, it likely would cost Rizzolo (or his insurance company) a bundle of cash which, judging by the sweetheart divorce settlement Rizzolo recently gave his ex-wife, he easily can afford.

The best part of any agreement, however, is that it would allow Rizzolo and his lawyers to concentrate solely on fighting that nagging criminal case.