Sands China given temporary reprieve from monetary sanctions
The Nevada Supreme Court has given Sands China Ltd. a temporary reprieve from monetary sanctions levied against the company last month, but the court refused to interfere with other penalties imposed in the case.
On March 6, District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez ordered hefty sanctions against Sands China for improperly withholding documents in a wrongful termination case filed by Steven Jacobs, the former president of Sands Macau.
Her order required Sands China to surrender the documents, pay $250,000 to various legal charities and cover significant court costs incurred by Jacobs. She also restricted the company from calling any of its own witnesses during an April 20 hearing on jurisdiction.
The company’s lawyers then filed an emergency motion for a stay with the Supreme Court. They argued that Gonzalez had imposed sanctions “that are unprecedented in Nevada law by barring a foreign corporation from presenting any witnesses or introducing any evidence in a jurisdictional hearing.”
According to the motion, such “draconian sanctions” effectively reduce Sands China “to the status of a gagged participant in its own jurisdictional proceeding.”
The company’s lawyers further argued that the sanctions order ensures that the hearing “will result in personal jurisdiction being established over” Sands China.
Although the Supreme Court initially granted a temporary stay of the sanctions order, it concluded in a Thursday order that only the monetary sanctions “may warrant relief.”
“We grant petitioners’ motion for stay to the extent that we stay the portion of the district court’s order directing Sands China Ltd. to make monetary contributions to third parties, until further order of this court,” the high court wrote. “We deny the motion for stay in all other respects.”
Jacobs sued Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Sands China in 2010 for breach of contract related to his termination.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Find her on Twitter: @CarriGeer.
