Las Vegas City Council votes to appeal golf course lawsuit to Supreme Court

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The City of Las Vegas is continuing its fight in a drawn-out court battle over the Badlands golf course that’s costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

A developer bought the Badlands golf course nearly a decade ago. The company says the city prevented it from turning it into houses and sued the city.

The 250 acres of land is located on the west side of the valley in the Queensridge neighborhood near Alta Drive and Rampart Boulevard.

The appeal that was approved on Wednesday focuses on a 17-acre segment near the corner of Alta and Rampart.

The appeal was originally supposed to be part of a consent agenda, where the city council quickly approved a list of simple items in one vote. Councilwoman Victoria Seaman thought otherwise, bringing it forward for discussion.

“This matter is anything but simple or routine and deserves discussion and a clear vote on the issue,” Seaman said.

“Overall, the goal of this 17-acre appeal is to help reduce or eliminate at least a portion, a portion of the risk currently facing this city,” Jeff Dorocak, Las Vegas City Attorney, said.

Dorocak said the risk is somewhere between $450-$650 million from a total of four lawsuits, with interest growing day by day.

Dorocak said the judge ruled that the city council condemned the land despite approving its land use application.

“As far as we can tell, is one of the only times and may in fact be the only time in the history of this country that such a conclusion was reached,” Dorocak said.

Councilman Brian Knudsen explained that appealing this case is part of the city council’s duty to “defend the city.”

The developer on the other side of the lawsuit, Yohan Lowie, said if the council doesn’t settle, his team has the evidence to make the case a slam dunk.

“I’m no longer a developer. You took this from me. I’m now a litigator. If you want to fight the rest of it in court, we’ll fight in court. If we have to go to the United Supreme Court. This evidence is a nuclear bomb,” Lowie said.

City Council voted to approve the appeal, with councilwomen Victoria Seaman and Nancy Brune voting against it.

As of right now, a date for an appeal has not been set. The city has also not been clear about how much money it has offered to settle the four cases.

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