LAS VEGAS, Nev. The legal battle over the Blue Diamond Hill development intensifies as District Court Judge Joanna Kishner has ruled that the jury during an upcoming July trial will be briefed on the destruction of evidence in the billion-dollar lawsuit.
The judge sanctioned prominent figures including Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones, Clark County Director of Comprehensive Planning Sami Real, and Former Director of Comprehensive Planning Nancy Amundsen for intentionally deleting text messages related to the project.
The latest ruling marks a pivotal turn in the long-running legal dispute over development on Blue Diamond Hill. The project dates back to 2003 when a well-known Las Vegas real estate developer Jim Rhodes initiated plans to construct a residential community on Blue Diamond Hill.
Despite fierce resistance from residents and conservationists, Rhodes along with his company Gypsum Resources LLC, announced plans to build as many as 5500 houses.
However, the project encountered a myriad of obstacles over the years, including legal and regulatory challenges. The project was stopped by a state law that was later deemed unconstitutional.
A crucial blow to the project came in 2019 when the county unanimously denied a ‘right of way’ waiver, halting progress indefinitely. In response, Rhodes filed a lawsuit against the county, alleging obstructive practices.
Commissioner Jones was also sanctioned by U.S. Magistrate Judge Elayna J. Youchah last year for deleting crucial messages from his phone just three hours after the 2019 vote that halted the project. Judge Youchah ruled in Gypsum’s favor and called the deletion as indicative of bad faith.
“The totality of the evidence presented leaves little doubt that the disappearance of all texts from Mr. Jones’ phone was not an unidentifiable aberration of electronics or some other unidentified accident, but the result of a purposeful act that, as Clark County says, was ‘knowingly done against [County] policy,’ ” Youchah wrote in the order.
The issue of deliberately deleting important messages related to the case first came to light during a routine discovery process. It was found that Commissioner Jones, and possibly
other officials had erased those text messages shortly after the unanimous vote in 2019.
During the evidentiary hearing, Rhodes’ attorney repeatedly highlighted the significance of deleted text messages in determining the case’s fate. “You said you found nothing, you started your testimony in this dispute with a lie, correct?” was just one question asked by James Pisanelli, one of the attorneys for Rhodes.
Before being elected as commissioner, Jones represented a group named Save Red Rock. The group opposed development of houses on Blue Diamond Hill. When Jones ran for commissioner in 2018, he vowed to halt the development near the Red Rock Canyon.
Jones is currently facing two lawsuits alleging that he acted inappropriately when serving for Save Red Rock and continued wrongdoings after becoming commissioner.
In a potential blow to the county’s case, Judge Kishner has ordered the jury to be told about the deleted text messages. This knowledge could significantly sway the jury’s opinion on the county’s reasoning behind their choices for the Blue Diamond Hill project.