Las Vegas may ask Nevada Supreme Court to review another Badlands case

Litigation related to the defunct Badlands golf course might again appear before the Nevada Supreme Court.

The Las Vegas City Council could vote Wednesday on whether to petition the state’s highest court to review one of the four cases against the city, according to this week’s meeting agenda.

Lower court judgments in that case have ballooned to just over $80 million for 17 acres of the defunct golf course near Alta Drive and Rampart Boulevard, court records show.

The cost includes nearly $48 million for “fair market value” of the land, more than $2 million in property taxes and attorney fees and nearly $30 million in back interest, court documents show.

Interest is accumulating at a daily rate of $21,121.53 until the $48 million is paid, records show.

The yearslong court battle began shortly after EHB Cos. bought the 250-acres golf course in 2015. The company, which is led by CEO Yohan Lowie, has argued that the city illegally “took” the property by not allowing the developer to exercise land-use entitlements and build homes on the property.

Judges in three of the lawsuits — one each for three of the four parcels Lowie had purchased — have agreed. The Nevada Supreme Court previously upheld a $64 million judgment in another one of the cases.

Meanwhile, city officials are bracing for a fallout that could exceed more than half a billion dollars if court opinions don’t shift, Las Vegas City Manager Mike Janssen wrote to staff earlier this summer.

“The cost to file the frivolous appeal is unjustifiable,” wrote EHB partner Vickie DeHart to council members in a letter shared with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The letter outlined the city’s losses in the previous Supreme Court decision for a 35-acre plot.

The city has begun paying that $64 million judgment, earmarking $60 million from the 2024 fiscal year liability fund.

EHB argued in the letter that city attorneys have previously admitted that the case is “factually identical” to the one involving the 35 acres and that the Supreme Court could enter a summary judgment based on previous deliberations.

Both parties have expressed interest in settling the cases out of court, and an attorney for EHB said recently that talks appeared promising.

To offset accumulating costs, Janssen told staff that the city was exploring freezing open positions, and that officials were considering pausing projects and selling public land and properties.

The potential city liability of half a billion dollars would represent a quarter of the city’s total annual $2 billion budget.

A previous version of this story misattributed a statement that cases involving 17- and 35-acre portions of EHB’s property are “factually idential.” The statement was made in a filing by attorneys representing the city of Las Vegas.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.