Supreme Court panel upholds $7.5 million judgment favoring Wynn against video magnate
CARSON CITY – A panel of the Nevada Supreme Court has upheld a $7.5 million defamation judgment against soft-porn king Joe Francis on behalf of casino developer Steve Wynn.
In an order dated Thursday, the court upheld a 2012 district court ruling imposing the default judgment against Francis after his attorneys withdrew and he failed to attend hearings in the lawsuit.
Francis had asked the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment due to mistake or excusable neglect.
But the Supreme Court noted that Francis waited nearly five months after becoming aware of Wynn’s intent to take default and the district court’s entry of default before filing for relief.
District Court Judge Mark Denton determined that Francis had sought to delay the case since its inception, the Supreme Court noted.
The two have been squabbling in court for years since Francis failed to pay a $2 million marker Wynn said he owed to his casino.
The defamation lawsuit arose out of the marker dispute when Francis, who amassed a fortune producing videos of drunken college girls taking off their clothes, said publicly that he planned on “exposing how exactly Mr. Wynn deceives his high-end customers,” according to Wynn’s civil complaint.
Contact Capital Bureau reporter Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Follow him on Twitter @seanw801.
