Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz has joined Sand China’s defense against the five-year old lawsuit filed by former CEO against Sands China, Las Vegas Sands and boss Sheldon Adelson for wrongful termination.
Lawyers argued their case before the Nevada Supreme Court in Carson City on Tuesday, September 1st.
Dershowitz, along with Sands China lawyer Steve Morris, asked the Court to override Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez’ ruling in May that the case should be heard in Nevada, despite the fact that Sands China is registered in Macau.
“The case should proceed against Mr. Adelson, against LVS,” Dershowitz told the high court. “They have plenty of defendants to sue, but this court should rule that the case should be dismissed against the Macau defendant,” referring to subsidiary Sands China.
Todd Bice, Jacob’s attorney, asked the court to maintain Gonzalez’s ruling. “This case should proceed to trial where the true facts about control of this entity, where its true home was, will be determined,” Bice told the court
In May ruling, the judge found that although Sands China is located in another jurisdiction, Adelson and his company’s control over the subsidiary, “goes far beyond the ordinary relationship of parent to subsidiary,” and “the decisions — large and small — were ultimately made by Adelson and LVS in Las Vegas.”
Earlier this year, Gonzalez also ordered sanctions against Sands China for redacting and withholding documents related to the case. One of those sanctions was to bar Sands from calling witnesses at the jurisdictional hearing.
Gonzalez has set a June 27, 2016 trial date for the hearing but Sands lawyers filed a request for a change in venue in an amended petition filed with the high court last week, saying that Gonzalez’s rulings “continue to evidence this jurist’s bias and hostility toward defendants and further calls into question her ability to preside over this case as an impartial judicial officer.”
In his own filing, Jacobs’ attorney accused Sands China of misconduct and deceit. “Again, Sands China confirms that any judge who does not acquiesce in its conduct or who confronts it must be pushed aside in favor of someone who will supposedly give it a pass,” Bice wrote.
The Nevada Supreme Court took the two sides’ arguments under advisement but did not rule on Tuesday.
