Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Lawyer accuses two others of lying to judge

Attorney says information withheld on division of medical malpractice settlement

CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas lawyer accused two other attorneys Monday of lying to District Judge Lee Gates about the division of a $17 million medical malpractice settlement.

Gary Logan told the Nevada Supreme Court that attorneys Randall Mainor and Richard Harris withheld from Gates eight years ago the amount of money Jason Nault would receive for medical care in the settlement.

Nault was 21 when he suffered catastrophic injuries during an outpatient hernia operation on June 6, 1994. He remains in a vegetative state and needs constant care.

Logan said the man receives about $32,000 a month for medical care from an annuity, but his actual care costs are expected eventually to reach $2.5 million a year.

Gates was told by Mainor and Harris that Nault would receive $4.2 million in the personal injury settlement, according to Logan, when the true value was $2.5 million. Of the difference, the lawyers collected an additional $600,000 in lawyer fees, he said.

"Judge Gates never knew what was going on," Logan added. "They lied to him."

He said Joe Rolston, a lawyer in a firm that employed Louise Nault, Jason Nault's wife at the time, received $2.2 million for "doing virtually nothing." Mainor and Harris received $4.6 million.

A Clark County jury two years ago, however, awarded Jason Nault an additional $3.3 million as part of a lawsuit brought by Nault's parents against Mainor and Harris.

After that verdict, Mainor and Harris seemingly made up with Nault's parents during a tearful exchange in the courtroom. Mainor even told the Review-Journal that he had conveyed to Phil and Wendy Nault "my deepest regrets for mistakes in judgment."

Nonetheless, he and Harris appealed the jury's decision to the Supreme Court. Oral arguments were conducted Monday. The court is not expected to make a ruling for several months.

Logan argued the court should reject the appeal. He said if the case was in federal court, Mainor and Harris would be brought up on fraud and face criminal charges.

Justice Bob Rose repeatedly questioned why lawyers allowed such a large part of the settlement to go to Louise Nault. The couple had been married only 29 days when he was incapacitated.

She was guaranteed at least $10 million, although the actual amount she receives could be $26 million, depending on how long she lives.

"She was unjustly enriched," Rose said.

If more of that settlement went to her husband's medical costs, Rose said there might not be potential for future problems.

Louise Nault was pregnant at the time of the injury and had a daughter. She later was divorced from Nault and moved to Texas in 2000.

Logan said Nault's parents want to see their grandchild and did not want to cause "family discord" by seeking some of her settlement.

Robert Eisenberg, a lawyer for Mainor and Harris, accused Logan of making "serious misrepresentations" of the facts in the case.