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IN BUSINESS COURTS JUDGE SCOLDS SHAREHOLDERS' ATTORNEYS SUING MGM RESORTS By Steve Green senior staff writer A judge on June 20 scolded attorneys suing MGM Resorts International and told them to knock off what he suggested were abusive litigation tactics. At issue was a group of suits filed in 2009 by shareholders and bondholders claiming they lost money by investing in Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts' securities when the value of the securities declined from 2007 to early 2009. The plaintiffs say their losses resulted from MGM Resorts' officials making mis- leading statements and failing to disclose financial problems the company faced at the time, including construction prob- lems at the $8.5 billion CityCenter casino resort complex. MGM Resorts has denied wrongdoing in the lawsuits, saying the stock price EDUCATION UNION IRKED AFTER BOARD OKS HIRING OF CHEAPER TEACHERS By Paul Takahashi staff writer D espite teachers laying in June, off hundreds of the Clark County School Board voted June 21 to hire 50 new Teach For America teachers in "high-need, hard-to-fill and at-risk schools areas." Founded in 1990, Teach For America is a national college graduates who commit years to helping at-risk children in disadvantaged communities. Last year, more than 9,000 corps members taught in 43 rural and urban regions across the country. The nonprofit organization has partnered with the school district since the 2004-05 school year. Since that initial agreement, about 450 corps members have been hired in Clark County. Currently, there are 105 former Teach For America teachers working in the district, as well as 44 first-year and 35 second-year corps County classrooms. teachers The contract renewal will cost the district $2,500 per teacher per year, or $250,000 over two years. Teach for America funds part of the training and licensure for corps members and has teacher corps of recent two NPRI's director of communications. Joecks came to the June 21 School Board meeting armed with a stack of pre-written opt-out letters and stamped envelopes. "Teachers should have a choice about their membership in the union," Joecks said. "Unfortunately, they only have that choice between July 1 and 15." Few union members at the meeting seemed to take up Joecks' offer, but that didn't stop union officials from fuming about what they said was a personal attack from NPRI. The union, whose membership has been declining in the wake of recession, relies OUTRAGED: Teachers union president Ruben Murillo speaks during a Clark County School Board meeting in May at the Edward Greer Education Center. Dwight in Clark members' fears by promising to first hire back teachers who have been laid off before hiring Teach For America corps members. Still, union president Ruben Murillo was irked. agreed to waive costs for an additional Murillo said, 40 more teachers in hard-to-fill areas. The announcement of teacher hires came just a week after the school district sent pink slips to 419 teachers to close a $64 million budget gap, timing that worried some school board members. 10 "That money could go a long way," adding that equals four teacher positions. Clark County spokeswoman Amanda Fulkerson called the funds a "sound investment in academic achievement." The same day, union officials came to loggerheads with a local libertarian $250,000 Clark County Schools Superintendent Jones tried to allay board STEVE MARCUS membership organization. funding to think tank that's trying to persuade Clark County schoolteachers to drop their union membership. The Nevada Policy Research Institute launched a campaign in June to inform the school district fire spokeswoman Fulkerson. Murillo argued that district's communication department is overpaid and was encouraging teachers to drop the union by circulating an NPRI article. the teachers of their right to opt out of the union between July 1 and 15. Nevada is a right-to-work state, which means teachers cannot be compelled to join the union as a condition of employment. NPRI argues that the two-week opt-out window is too narrow and occurs when teachers are on summer vacation. Many teachers may not know they can drop their membership, said Victor Joecks, "Is that collaboration?" Murillo asked. "These tactics may have worked for (Fulkerson's former employer Arnold) Schwarzenegger, but they have no place here in Clark County." | 2 JULY 2012 | dues on its to its Teachers Health Trust. "If these guys had their way, teachers would be working minimum wage," said John Vellardita, executive director of the Clark County Education Association. Murillo shot back by $768-a-year fund its It also receives district support nonprofit the fell because of the global recession that resulted in tourism declines to Las Vegas and a freezing of money markets. The plaintiff securities victimized by an internal theft and that hundreds of boxes of CityCenter-related papers were missing. attorneys claimed June 20 that MGM Resorts had concealed from them and the court that potentially important evidence had been lost or destroyed. lawsuit This happened in a pending state court in which CityCenter builder Perini Building Co. is suing CityCenter over unpaid invoices and CityCenter is pursing claims that the unused 26-story Harmon hotel tower is defective and, as a safety hazard, must be demolished. In the state court case, CityCenter — half owned by MGM Resorts — informed the judge and other parties in February that the court-approved company storing documents in the massive case had been An inventory later determined that about 500 of 900 boxes deposited by Cit- yCenter in the repository were missing and that they apparently had been stolen by a repository employee so the papers could be sold for shredding and recy- cling. MGM Resorts attorneys say the papers involved the work product of lower-level employees and weren't crucial in either the CityCenter or securities lawsuits, as the key documents in those cases had been preserved elsewhere. Nevertheless, attorneys in the securi- ties lawsuit filed a motion May 11 saying they learned of the theft May 8 and ask- ing that they be allowed to conduct dis- covery — a fact-finding exercise — into the document theft. They also claimed that an MGM Re- sorts and CityCenter attorney was aware of the theft in February but had con- cealed it from the federal court and the shareholders' attorneys. During the June 20 hearing, Judge Cam Ferenbach criticized the sharehold- ers' attorneys for claiming the document theft had been concealed — it had been reported March 2 by the Las Vegas Re- view-Journal. "The court's very troubled by the accu- sations of concealment," the judge said. "This (hearing) didn't have to happen. Ev- eryone knew this had happened in state court," Ferenbach told the plaintiffs' at- torneys. "Be aware there are serious sanc- tions for abusive litigation practices." suggesting 20120702_VI09_F.indd 10 6/28/12 2:02:41 PM