Former Las Vegas constable deputies sue county to get their jobs back
A dozen deputies and process servers who worked under ousted Las Vegas Township Constable John Bonaventura have filed a federal lawsuit in a bid to get their jobs back.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, questions the legality of the process that Clark County officials used when commissioners voted in March 2013 to abolish the constable’s office. That 2013 decision became effective Jan. 4, when Bonaventura’s four-year term ended.
Last year, county officials struck an agreement for the Metropolitan Police Department to take over the constable’s office, which has sworn law enforcement officers who perform evictions and serve court papers. As part of the agreement, which makes Sheriff Joe Lombardo the ex officio constable, Metro had the discretion to rehire any of the deputies who worked under Bonaventura. Most of the deputies didn’t get rehired, losing their jobs when their boss did.
The lawsuit accuses county and Metro officials of violating their due process rights by firing them without cause. It says the deputies and process servers are “victims of what can only be properly termed as a systematic ‘shakedown’ and conspiracy against the elected Constable.”
A Metro spokesman declined comment, as it’s pending litigation. A county spokesman also declined comment.
The county eliminated the constable’s office after a host of controversies under Bonaventura’s watch, which included a reality television pilot with foul-mouthed deputies, profanity-filled recorded conversations, and financial conflicts with the county. Bonaventura is not a party on either side of the lawsuit.
Bonaventura has repeatedly tried to fight the county action in court both before and after the County Commission’s 2013 vote, but has been unsuccessful.
The lawsuit argues that the county never made a proper finding that the office is unnecessary, which is required by law.
Among its points, the lawsuit draws from a joint Metro-county press release issued on Jan. 2 about transition of the constable’s office to Metro.
That press release stated the “Constable’s Office will remain a separate entity,” which the lawsuit says contradicts the commission’s ordinance abolishing the office. That ordinance says that there is “an overlap of duties” between the constable’s office and the Sheriff Civil Process Section.
The lawsuit states that none of the plaintiffs were directly informed by written notice of any reason to not be employed at the office.
They’re also trying to get the county ordinance abolishing the office overturned. The lawsuit argues that the state law the ordinance is based upon “was not intended as an illicit tool to resolve personality conflicts.”
The plaintiffs are seeking damages of more than $75,000 to be determined at trial and attorney fees.
Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1
