Visiting judge gets medical fraud case

A visiting judge from Spokane, Wash., has been assigned to the criminal case involving a Las Vegas attorney and a self-described medical consultant accused of participating in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.

Senior U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush took over the case this week after Senior U.S. District Judge Lloyd George of Las Vegas recused himself.

George said he pulled himself off the case for two reasons: A member of his family is scheduled to have a surgery in January "that will require some period of recuperation," and "there's an attitude that probably it's wise to stay away from cases that are local and involve attorneys."

"I thought it made sense to recuse," George said Friday.

The judge said he has no relationship to the lawyer, Noel Gage, who has been charged in the case. In fact, each of the men said they could not recall ever meeting the other.

As a senior, or semi-retired, judge, George is not required to hear any cases. After George's recusal from the fraud case, Chief U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt decided to ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reassign it to a judge outside Nevada.

Hunt said he knew other Nevada judges would decline to hear the case to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Gage practices in federal court and participates in the Nevada American Inn of Court, an organization of attorneys and judges.

On Monday, the appellate court's chief judge signed an order reassigning the fraud case to Quackenbush, who regularly sits in Las Vegas.

In 2005, Quackenbush dismissed a lawsuit filed by Clark County District Judge Donald Mosley against the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission. And in 2000, he dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Las Vegas attorney against the State Bar of Nevada. Quackenbush also presided over a murder-for-hire case in Las Vegas involving Christopher Moseley, the husband of a DuPont family heiress. The judge sentenced Moseley in 2000 to about 16 years in prison.

Quackenbush has scheduled a Sept. 26 hearing to hear motions in the fraud case. He also has indicated he will hear concerns about the trial date.

At a hearing last month, George postponed the trial from Oct. 29 to June 16. This week, defense attorney Tom Pitaro filed a formal objection to the continuance.

According to the document, Gage objected to the delay during the hearing in George's courtroom and "did not agree to set aside or waive his speedy trial rights."

"Gage objected to this continuance because of the negative impact that this pending case is having on his life and his livelihood," Pitaro wrote. In the document, Pitaro also argued that Gage's defense "may be negatively impacted by this continuance because it may deprive him of one defense witness who is very sick and will likely not survive until June."

Gage said he would not identify the witness because prosecutors have not revealed the witnesses they plan to call at trial.

"I'm not about to telegraph something to them to give them an advantage," he said.

Gage said prosecutors also have turned over no evidence other than documents they took from the defendants, "and we've asked for it numerous times."

The Speedy Trial Act requires that a defendant be tried within 70 days from the filing date of an indictment or from the date the defendant appeared before a judge, whichever occurred last. However, extensions are allowed based on factors such as the amount of evidence and the time needed to prepare for trial.

According to a government document, discovery in the case consists of more than 49,000 pages, and the trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.

"On the one hand, Gage appears to represent to the court that he wishes to proceed to trial on October 29, 2007," prosecutors wrote. "On the other hand, he has filed numerous motions with the court that are as of yet unresolved and all of which affect the scope of the trial."

A federal grand jury has indicted two people in the fraud case: Gage and Howard Awand. According to the indictment, Awand "purported to be" a medical consultant. The document accuses Gage and Awand of conspiring with unidentified doctors in Las Vegas for two years to inflate settlements and judgments in personal injury cases.

Gage has described the prosecution of the case as "an attempt to create a crime where none has ever existed." The 69-year-old attorney has practiced law in Las Vegas since 1997.

Court records show that Awand's attorney, Bill Terry, has called the Oct. 29 trial date unrealistic.