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Nevada Today

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News and informationOn The Water FrontSouthern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA)Virgin Valley Water Board (VVWB)

Water Attorney Extends Lawsuit With Public Money

Mesquite, NV. With another $240,000 of public funds guaranteed this year by the Virgin Valley Water Board (VVWB) their attorney Jedediah (Bo) Bingham is going back to court this week.

This time he is attempting to defend his  performance during a May 29th hearing in the legal action filed against the water district by Paradise Canyon (dba Wolf Creek Golf Club).

As a reminder, the original civil action (A-18-774539-B) was filed On May 15, 2018, by Paradise Canyon simply arguing that the VVWB behaved arbitrarily and capriciously when increasing the irrigation rates from $250 to $1,115.67[i] per share. The VVWB insists that they have absolute power to increase public rates.

With new public funds in his pocket Bingham, for his law firm Bingham, Snow and Caldwell of Mesquite,  decided to ask Judge Timothy C. Williams, in the Eighth Judicial Court, Las Vegas for do over of the May 29th arguments.

Bingham once again is expanding the lawsuit by again alleging that:
1. The VVWD has sustained damages from the so-called “effluent water breach”
2. A 2011 lease with Paradise Canyon required a return of all unused water shares that Paradise
3. The $250/share was a “temporary shot in the arm to help the golf course” in light of Wolf Creek’s supposed “financial hardship.”

If there is anything new in Bingham’s new argument it is a claim that Wolf Creek will go insolvent if required to pay $140,000+ more to irrigate its golf course and he now wants all  salaries, distributions, loans or draws or anything else of value received by the owners of Paradise Canyon.

In response, attorneys for Paradise Canyon Jeffrey R. Sylvester, and Matthew T. Kneeland, of Sylvester and Polednak, Las Vegas, once again argue that Bingham’s claims  are merit-less, manufactured, irrefutably wrong, falsely stated, factually and impossible to sustain.

The Golf Course attorneys argue that Bingham is fishing for Paradise canyon tax documents without any relevance whatsoever and [Bingham] continues to demand “free golf” documents that do not exist which Bingham is attempting to use to claim that Paradise Canyon  witnesses are bias.

Further, Sylvester and Kneeland content that Bingham is attempting to re-write history, through frivolous motions loaded with narrative histories that are totally refuted by the documentary evidence gathered to date.  The Paradise canyon attorneys claim that the intent is not to resolve a legitimate discovery dispute  . . .but apparently to tell its “veritably false tales to the Local Mesquite News and further disparage Wolf Creek Golf Course in the court of local public opinion.”

Following the May 29th event, the Judge set Aug 7, as a hearing date in preparation for a potential jury trial in December of this year. Because of Bingham’s action, the Aug 7th date is cancelled and the potential trial has been moved from December of this year to April of next year.

Judge Williams will hear Bingham’s motions at 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 17, 2019, in the Eighth Judicial Court, Lase Vegas.

In the meantime, Bingham and the VVWB have failed to comply with a records request for all payment information to Bingham and his law firm over the years. Therefore, a complaint has been filed with the Nevada Attorney General’s office of Public Integrity for resolution.

Endnote:

[i] The Virgin Valley Water Board reduced its demand from $1,246 per share to $1,115.67 per share.

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About Author

Michael McGreer Mesquite, Nevada
Dr. Michael Manford McGreer is managing editor of Nevada-today.com and writes on issues that impact public policy.

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