Las Vegas OKs up to $1.5M in ongoing legal battle with Badlands developer

Las Vegas will pay up to $1.5 million to outside law firms this fiscal year to continue its legal battle with the would-be developer of the Badlands golf course over a stalled housing project on the site.

Shortly before the City Council voted Wednesday to allocate the funds, Councilwoman Victoria Seaman — who represents the ward where Badlands is located and opposed the measure — read from a statement she had previously provided to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“With previous requests for additional taxpayer dollars for outside lawyers on Badlands, I refuse to throw good money after bad,” Seaman, who is also running for mayor, said.

“We have 14 civil attorneys on the taxpayer payroll that need to work on a resolution to settle this litigation,” Seaman added. “I have made every attempt to work towards that resolution. We need to come together and stop kicking the can down the road.”

The item, which was part of the consent agenda, wasn’t discussed further.

The approval meant that no more than $1.5 million in general fund tax dollars will be set aside by the city this fiscal year — which began last month — to pay the law firms: Leonard Law in Reno, McDonald Carano in Las Vegas and Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger in San Francisco.

They will represent the city in “all matters arising in the Badlands litigation,” according to the agenda item.

The city allocated up to $2 million to the same trio of firms last fiscal year, but it wasn’t clear how much of those funds had been used.

Millions spent since 2015

Since EHB Cos. first sued the city in 2015, the city has spent just over $5.5 million — mostly in legal fees — defending itself in four lawsuits.

The company, headed by developer Yohan Lowie, alleges that the city stalled and ultimately killed his housing project planned for the 250-acre defunct golf course near Alta Drive and Rampart Boulevard.

The four cases are in various stages of litigation, but judges in three of the cases have ruled that the city improperly took land from Lowie.

Judgements against the city for the two cases, in which judges have determined a cost, have Las Vegas taxpayers on the hook for more than $80 million.

A proposal a year ago to settle the four cases for $64 million and some land use entitlements failed to gain traction after Lowie said the city tried to change the terms of the agreement.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow @rickytwrites on Twitter.