Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Las Vegas partner Robert Larsen and senior counsel Brian Walters recently obtained an overwhelmingly favorable result for a residential owners’ association client (Defendant).
The plaintiff that initially sued Gordon & Rees’ client was an employee of a contractor that performed remodeling work for unit owners in the owners’ association. The plaintiff was engaged in questionable billing practices and the defendant had received reports of inferior work performed by the plaintiff and his company. The defendant allegedly then told many of the unit owners not to deal with the plaintiff or his company.
The plaintiff filed suit, alleging that Gordon & Rees’ client illegally interfered with its contracts with many unit owners. The plaintiff sought approximately $250,000 in damages against Gordon & Rees’ client.
Upon receipt of the complaint, Gordon & Rees served the plaintiff with a statutory offer of judgment in the amount of $500.00. When the plaintiff rejected the offer, Gordon & Rees moved to dismiss on the basis that the plaintiff was not a licensed contractor and therefore lacked standing to recover amounts owed for work which required a contractor’s license.
The court granted Gordon & Rees’ motion to dismiss, but allowed the plaintiff to amend the complaint to substitute the contractor as the plaintiff. Gordon & Rees filed a motion for attorneys’ fees based on its rejected offer of judgment to the original plaintiff. The court granted Gordon & Rees’ motion for fees resulting in a monetary judgment in favor of the defendant.
Undaunted, the plaintiff’s attorney pushed the case forward with the contractor as the new plaintiff. After prevailing on some discovery motions, Gordon & Rees obtained an attorneys’ fees sanction against the new plaintiff.
Subsequently, Gordon & Rees obtained a dismissal of the case and obtained another attorneys’ fees award against the plaintiff. Ultimately, Gordon & Rees obtained judgments totaling over $50,000 against the plaintiffs. Gordon & Rees’ client is ecstatic that the tables turned from a $250,000 liability exposure to affirmative judgments that will allow it to pursue nearly all of the fees incurred in the litigation.