By Brian Eckhouse

Mon, Mar 3, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Sam Morris

A crowd lines up for the elevators while others exit at the Regional Justice Center. The elevators are notoriously problematic, even though the $185 million building is just three years old. County officials say improvements are in the works and might be in evidence by mid-month.

The Clark County courthouse cost $185 million to build and is less than three years old, but it continues to provoke flashbacks to the old Soviet Union on most mornings. A line of citizens, victims of an inexplicable shortage, spills across the foyer, waiting impatiently for a functioning and available elevator — both of which are considered luxuries at the downtown court complex, as the Sun recently reported.

Scarcely a mile away, the lords of casino have perfected the use of contraptions that whisk tourists up and down inside opulent vertical palaces. But at Regional Justice Center, the elevators are a mess. So exasperated lawyers and jurors idle, sometimes as long as 20 minutes, cruelly aware that in that in that time a couple from Nebraska has ascended the mighty Sphere of Strata, had a spritzer and returned to earth.

The courthouse problems generally are frequent and predictable — out-of-service elevators; lifts that stay in place because the doors can’t close; shifting weight limits.

So it’s rare when an elevator hassle surprises court regulars. Thursday was one of those days.

One of the six elevators appeared to have a mind of its own: nearly all the buttons representing the 18 floors were lit.

“Why you people hitting all those buttons?” asked one man, who was more perplexed than agitated. His view of the board was obstructed by at least four people in front of him, typical of a morning ride at the justice center.

After the ascending elevator reached the fifth floor, the buttons for the ground, second and third levels were again aglow.

Yet, there was no mischievous child seen smearing his hand over the board.

“Gotta love this place,” one attorney muttered, before allowing himself to laugh. “Gotta love this place.”

At least there was levity to be had. Volunteered one man: “Thought I’d take this ride all the way home.”

This month county officials told the Sun improvements are on the way, possibly by mid-March.

We’re watching.

And waiting.

•••

It’s been an uneven month for multibillion-dollar development giant Del Webb. Next month isn’t looking any better.

This month a District Court judge found attorneys for the developer in contempt of court for failing to follow through with a pledge to negotiate with representatives of Sun City Summerlin homeowners. About 1,200 homeowners there allege shoddy home construction.

The judge, Elizabeth Gonzalez, slapped the developer with a fine of more than $5,500.

Later that week Del Webb attorney Robert Carlson claimed a small victory, convincing Chief Judge Kathy Hardcastle to replace Allen Earl, the judge presiding over the case. Earl’s brother, an Arizona attorney, has represented the developer on a contract basis in that state.

Hardcastle swapped the schedules of Judge Susan Johnson, who also handles construction defect cases, and Earl. Johnson has been attending to the Summerlin matter all week.

The drama doesn’t end there for Carlson and company. Del Webb is one of a few dozen developers locally to have used a plumbing material known as Kitec that has caused leaking and flooding in homes across the valley, including Sun City Summerlin.

Thousands of local homeowners have banded together in a class-action suit against the developers in a massive effort to replace the piping in all of their homes. A District Court judge stipulated any efforts by the developers to fix the pipes must go through the homeowners’ attorneys.

But apparently settlements between Del Webb and 2,500 homeowners did not adhere to that rule. So, attorneys for the developer are appealing the lower court’s decision to the state Supreme Court.

A one-hour hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon — double the length of the average hearing before the seven justices.

•••

Two highly anticipated trials are scheduled for final gear-up in March.

Pretrial motions for O.J. Simpson and a co-defendant are scheduled for Friday, with the trial slated for April 7.

Have you got a jury summons for that day?

How about for March 31? That’s the trial date slated for former County Commissioner Lynette Boggs.

Attorney Gabriel Grasso knows the dates of both cases all too well. He represents Simpson and Boggs.