Flaws in Golden Nugget parking garage found ‘all over the valley’
Golden Nugget bosses didn't call for a full engineering study of their fatally flawed parking garage in January 2004 after an elderly couple drove through a fourth-floor retaining barrier and plunged to their deaths.
When a second couple drove through a similar barrier on the second floor in October of that same year, casino officials didn't call for closure of the garage.
Instead, they called a news conference.
Details of the two deadly incidents, which claimed three lives, are coming to light in a civil jury trial being heard this week in Senior District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom.
The case is being brought on behalf of George Yago III, whose parents, George Yago Jr. and Maureen Yago, were killed on Jan. 22, 2004, after their Toyota Camry knocked loose a barrier and went off the fourth floor. Other plaintiffs include Violet Krywinski and the estate of Edward Marcinkowski, who suffered fatal injuries in a similar incident on Oct. 25, 2004, after his Chevy Impala dislodged a barrier.
Between the two deadly incidents, Golden Nugget hired Lochsa Engineering to conduct a preliminary study of the first barrier's failure. It became clear in court Monday that the Golden Nugget's operators were satisfied with a quick study instead of a comprehensive look at the garage's 300 barriers.
Lochsa structural engineer Jeff Baer told the jury of his company's abbreviated role. The preliminary study cost approximately $5,000, and produced a one-paragraph letter from the engineering company that satisfied city officials reluctant to close the garage.
Not even the barriers to either side of the two parking places in question were examined, plaintiff attorney Peter Christiansen noted during the testimony of structural engineer Baer. Although Lochsa provided a letter to the city, the engineer testified Monday, "We did not say the parking garage was safe."
In fact, Baer was hired to inspect only one guardrail. On March 24, 2004, his single-paragraph letter to then-City Building Director Paul Wilkins stated, "Based on our preliminary investigation, it is our opinion that the reinforced concrete guardrail in question was properly designed and constructed following the Uniform Building Code in place at the time the parking structure was erected."
A full study of the structure might have forced the city's hand and led to a pricy retrofit. Baer's discussion of that possibility, he said, lasted fewer than 20 minutes with a Golden Nugget official.
Weeks later, the 83-year-old Marcinkowski went off the second floor of the parking garage. Krywinski, a passenger in the car, survived and in 2007 accepted $160,000 from the company.
Golden Nugget attorneys argue that the parking structure met the building codes in place at the time of its 1980s construction.
The testimony of Golden Nugget vice president of engineering and maintenance Clint Belka would seem to complicate that position. Under questioning by attorney David Wall, Belka admitted that, although the company stated its concern for the safety of its guests, it failed to improve the reinforcement of all the garage's concrete barriers, which experts have said could pop loose by a medium-sized vehicle traveling as slow as 1 mph.
Wall: "Every panel, every barrier in that garage other than the ones replaced had the same flaw other than the one that was replaced following the Yago accident. Is that right?"
Belka: "Correct."
When asked in deposition by Wall whether Golden Nugget officials had made changes "to prevent what occurred with that first incident from happening again," Belka replied, "No, they did not."
Following the October 2004 incident, the Golden Nugget scrambled to assure the press and its patrons that the parking garage was safe. Although at least one media outlet reported then-Golden Nugget co-owner Tim Poster saying he planned to hire an independent engineering firm to inspect the garage after the second incident, what wasn't made known is that the company months earlier had decided to have Lochsa Engineering conduct only a preliminary check of one barrier.
On Monday, a Golden Nugget lawyer reminded the court that the same caliber of engineering is in place "all over the valley on numerous garages."
And if that thought doesn't make you want to use valet parking, nothing will.
John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith. Follow him on Twitter @jlnevadasmith.
