LOOKING IN ON: COURTS:

Judge green-lights suit against Gibbons

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Exhibit photos

You need to upgrade your Flash Player

Mazzeo levels harsher claims against Gibbons (4-25-2009)
Ruling lets Mazzeo collect evidence in civil rights lawsuit (3-24-2009)
Lawyers: Gibbons has no time for Mazzeo right now (2-18-2009)
Governor’s lawyers seek dismissal of Mazzeo lawsuit (1-30-2009)
Proving alleged cover-up won’t be easy (10-27-2008)
The woman suing the governor (10-21-2008)
New details emerge in suit against Gibbons (10-20-2008)
She’s back, lawsuit in hand (10-17-2008)

Chief U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt is refusing to toss out Chrissy Mazzeo’s civil rights lawsuit.

In a 27-page decision this week, Hunt dismissed some of Mazzeo’s claims, but allowed her to move forward with the suit. The former cocktail waitress alleges that several people conspired with Jim Gibbons on a cover-up after his encounter with Mazzeo outside a Las Vegas restaurant less than a month before his gubernatorial election.

“The big thing is we’re still in federal court, where the case belongs,” said Robert Kossack, her attorney. “From my reading of the decision, we’re going to be able to pursue all of the discovery and all of the damages she suffered.”

That pretrial “discovery” involves taking depositions from Gibbons and the other defendants. Those other defendants include political strategist Sig Rogich, who was with Gibbons at McCormick & Schmick’s on Oct. 13, 2006, the night of the encounter, and former Sheriff Bill Young, who oversaw the criminal investigation that cleared Gibbons of charges of assaulting Mazzeo. At the time, Rogich was a top political adviser to both the governor and Young. Rogich has since had a falling out with Gibbons.

Hunt gave Mazzeo the green light to continue pursuing her claim that the defendants retaliated against her, in violation of her First Amendment rights, for pressing criminal charges against Gibbons.

“Mazzeo has adequately alleged that her filing a police report was the ... cause of defendants’ concerted action to destroy her reputation and thus chill her from future speech,” Hunt wrote.

Attorneys for Gibbons and the other defendants had asked Hunt to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that it failed to back up the allegations with any facts.

But Hunt wasn’t ready to come to that conclusion.

He ruled that Young and Metro Police, another defendant in the suit, do not have “qualified immunity” for their actions.

“A reasonable officer would know that he was violating Mazzeo’s constitutional rights by using his investigation to cover up a crime,” Hunt wrote.

Gibbons’ attorney, Pat Lundvall, said she has “mixed feelings” about Hunt’s decision.

“It’s going to be costly to litigate, and the governor is not a man of great means,” she said. “On the other hand, it’s going to give an opportunity to the governor and the other defendants in the case to rid themselves of any residual taint from the allegations raised against them.”

Hunt allowed Kossack to file a second amended complaint in the case, but ordered him to tone down some of the language, saying his current complaint “includes inappropriate commentary and dramatic flourishes.”

“In the court’s view, a significant portion of the complaint appears calculated to cast the defendants in a derogatory light and is full of wholly irrelevant material,” Hunt said.

Hunt ordered Kossack to remove phrases such as “like a well-deserved public slap in the face,” and “faster than a pancake flipped by a short-order cook.”

•••

Speaking of dramatic flourishes, most new judges get sworn in at the courthouse.

Las Vegas attorney Joseph Sciscento took his oath Tuesday at a different courthouse — the Courthouse Bar & Grill, that is.

Drinks were flowing as his friend, District Judge Doug Smith, administered the oath in front of a small gathering of lawyers and judges at the popular tavern across the street from the Regional Justice Center.

The place has a special meaning for Sciscento, who for years has been part of a group of defense lawyers who gather there each morning after court for coffee to compare cases.

One of the morning regulars, attorney Thomas Pitaro, organized the unusual swearing-in. Pitaro and Sciscento share office space seven floors above the establishment.

Discussion: 10 comments so far…

By cnev

7/1/09 at 7:26 a.m.

Suggest removal

I know you have other photos of Mazzeo-
why did you use this one??
By Judy

7/1/09 at 7:57 a.m.

Suggest removal

The funniest thing in this:
"It's going to be costly to litigate, and the governor is not a man of great means,"

He has a legal defense fund that is funded by right wing nuts that send him checks for $50 rather than buying milk & food for their children. He is worse than a tv evangelist.

Go CHRISSY!
By worstnightmere

7/1/09 at 8:44 a.m.

Suggest removal

I have "Great Respect and Admiration" for Judge Roger Hunt for not letting the political big wing get in his way, so he can respect and follow the law.
By AngryReader

7/1/09 at 12:04 p.m.

Suggest removal

"Rogich has since had a falling out with Gibbons."

Gibbons kept sticking Sig with the bar tabs.
By maybevegas

7/1/09 at 1:24 p.m.

Suggest removal

Can I get a bigger photo of the black dress? That's a lot of love!
By henderson

7/1/09 at 3:05 p.m.

Suggest removal

If I remember correctly, she originally pressed charges of battery, false imprisonment and second degree kidnapping as well as lying about the incident after the fact, which all seem a little far fetched, but whatever. Also, if I remember correctly there was not enough evidence to support a trial, and her story was inconsistent. Now the civil suit says there was a conspiracy to destroy her reputation. She was a cocktail server for crying out loud, what reputation? Who had even heard of her before she held press conferences and announced herself to the world. What a joke.
By homer

7/1/09 at 6:01 p.m.

Suggest removal

It is a wonder the great whats in the box has not questioned the news worthiness of this story.
By SgtRock

7/1/09 at 9:04 p.m.

Suggest removal

I guess you can file a case with zero evidence and then go a fishing expedition.

Wow....did not know that the law works this way.

So person x can accuse person B with not one bit of actual evidence but then can put person B under oath and ask whatever questions they want.

I wonder why Reid has not been sued for something silly just to ask him some questions under oath.

Hey, Reid once step on my little toe...I gonna sue him for $100 billion dollars for damages and I got lots of questions to ask him under oath.

Do I have any proof? Nope...does not matter. All I need is a judge like Roger Hunt to green light my question sessions.

Silly me....I thought the law had substance to it.

I guess not.
By mred

7/1/09 at 10:43 p.m.

Suggest removal

With his military background, Gibbons might have been selected as Secretary of Defense by a future Republican President. In that capacity, Gibbons with his volatile and quirky behavior would have plunged the US and the world into a Global thermo nuclear war, which could have destroyed the planet. More advanced people on another planet saw this coming and sent someone back in time to derail Gibbon's career. That person is Mazzeo. She is a space alien. Look at those eyes. The big hair is to distract people from her obvious alien features.
By just_an_average_joe

7/2/09 at 5:22 p.m.

Suggest removal

another example of someone trying to win the lawsuit lottery!

her allegations are a joke! does anybody REALLY believe that Gov. Gibbons pushed her up against a public garage concrete wall and attempted to rape her forcibly standing up (her allegations).

the man is 64 years old. he also certainly knows about the multiple security cameras in parking garages here in vegas. c'mon. get real.

« Previous Ten Next Ten »

Live chat: Tuesday, noon PST; Chat with Krista Creelman; Problem Gambling Center executive director Krista Creelman will answer questions about gambling addiction from Las Vegas Sun readers from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. ... Submit question