Judge orders Adelson to give deposition in lawyer’s office

He may be one of the wealthiest men in America, but Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson is getting no special privileges in federal court.

After a week of rancorous legal sparring, U.S. Magistrate Judge Carl Hoffman on Thursday ordered Adelson to give his deposition next month at the downtown law office of his legal nemesis, Don Campbell.

For security reasons, Adelson had sought to be deposed at his corporate offices on the Strip or the federal courthouse, but Hoffman ruled from the bench that there was no legitimate reason to move the sworn examination away from Campbell’s law office.

Hoffman told Adelson’s lawyer, Patrick Hicks, that Adelson could station members of his security team outside and inside the 7th Street office during the deposition.

Campbell is suing Adelson in federal court to recover more than $100,000 in overtime on behalf of former Adelson driver Kwame Luangisa.

Hicks tried to persuade Hoffman that taking Adelson’s deposition at the federal courthouse would encourage the lawyers in the case to “behave ourselves” and ease the “bad blood” between Adelson and Campbell, who has filed several lawsuits against the billionaire resort operator on behalf of former employees.

But Campbell argued that his office is the proper location for the deposition and said that he wanted to maintain a level playing field in the case for Luangisa.

Though Adelson may enjoy celebrity status, in the eyes of the federal court he is supposed to remain on equal footing with Luangisa, Campbell argued.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.