Las Vegas could spend up to $1.5M litigating Badlands case this year

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday will consider whether to allocate up to $1.5 million to outside law firms representing the city in its ongoing legal battle with the would-be developer of the defunct Badlands golf course.

The city has spent just over $5.5 million for attorneys, consultants and city staff, with the majority of the funds going to third-party law firms, according to the most recent city-provided figures.

The proposal is up for a vote on the City Council’s meeting consent agenda, where multiple items are approved with a single vote.

If approved, no more than $1.5 million in general fund tax dollars would be set aside for the law firms Leonard Law in Reno, McDonald Carano in Las Vegas and Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger in San Francisco for “all matters arising in the Badlands litigation” in the current, new fiscal year, according to the agenda item.

The city allocated up to $2 million for the same three firms last fiscal year, although it wasn’t clear how much of those funds were used.

Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, who represents the ward where the Badlands golf course is located and who is running for mayor, has consistently pushed her fellow council colleagues to settle the case.

“I’ve been consistent with previous requests for additional taxpayer dollars for outside lawyers on Badlands,” Seaman wrote to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday. “I refuse to throw good money after bad.”

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

Developer Yohan Lowie, who heads EHB Cos., first sued the city in 2015 after the council rejected his proposal to develop the 250-acre Badlands course.

Residents of the adjacent Queensridge neighborhood quickly objected to the proposed housing development, citing fears of high density and loss of property values. The city had approved entitlements, but the project stalled over disagreements over zoning.

In total, four lawsuits are in various stages of litigation. Judges in three of the cases have ruled that the city improperly took land from the developer on similar grounds.

A judge set the cost against the city at $34 million in 2021 in one case, while another awarded EHB another $48 million. An attorney who represents Lowie said last year that the third ruling could cost the city upwards of $50 million.

The four lawsuits could have been resolved a year ago with a $64 million settlement, but the proposal was scuttled after the city changed the terms of the deal, Lowie told the Review-Journal in August.

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