Aspen Financial attorneys battle to keep Guinn-appointed judge

By Steve Green

Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 | 1:55 a.m.

Attorneys for Las Vegas real estate lender Aspen Financial Services are opposing an effort to have a judge disqualified in a case involving Aspen.

Clark County District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez is presiding over one of three cases in which investors are suing Aspen, charging Aspen has mismanaged their investments and deceived them.

Gonzalez is also the judge in a lawsuit Aspen and Aspen officials filed against Community Bank of Nevada alleging Community Bank breached a contract to finance a shopping center development.

In one of the investor cases, attorneys for Lois Levy and other plaintiffs said in a July 23 court filing that Gonzalez failed to make required disclosures before ruling on a contested matter in the case and has shown bias. No one has moved to disqualify her in the Community Bank case.

Gonzalez has denied the allegations of bias in the investor lawsuit and said she made appropriate disclosures about her past experience involving Aspen owner Jeff Guinn and his father, former Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Kenny Guinn, as governor, appointed Gonzalez to the bench in 2004.

Attorneys for Aspen this week filed an objection to the motion to disqualify Gonzalez.

"This court need look no further than Judge Gonzalez's affidavit," the Aspen attorneys wrote. "The affidavit undeniably demonstrates that the plaintiff's motion is utterly meritless and that they fall far short of carrying their burden."

The Aspen attorneys, with the firm Bailey Kennedy, pointed to a 2000 Nevada Supreme Court ruling saying: "A judge is presumed to be impartial and the party asserting a challenge carries the burden of establishing sufficient factual and legal grounds warranting disqualification."

The Aspen attorneys also suggested the Levy plaintiffs' attorneys are stirring up the Gonzalez disqualification issue in the media. The issue was covered July 30 on the news discussion show "Face to Face with Jon Ralston," which is carried on television channel Las Vegas One and on the lasvegassun.com Web site.

"The plaintiff's recent use of the Jon Ralston show as a medium to publicize their motion sheds further light on its impropriety and lack of merit," the Aspen attorneys argued.

They quoted again from the Supreme Court ruling on the media issue.

"If a party were allowed to selectively disqualify a judge through what amounts to media-bullying, the very integrity and independence upon which the judiciary depends will be undermined," the court said.

Chief Judge Art Ritchie is to preside over a hearing Aug. 28 on the motion to disqualify Gonzalez.