Sands Corp.'s lawsuit against Sun dismissed

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt on Monday dismissed an amended defamation lawsuit brought by the Las Vegas Sands Corp. against the Las Vegas Sun and its business editor.

The Las Vegas Sands sued the newspaper July 12 after an April 2 column by the Las Vegas Sun Business Editor Jeff Simpson ranked the company behind MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment in bids to win rights for a casino license in Singapore.

Seeking $10,000 in damages, the gaming company claimed it was libeled when Simpson said that the Las Vegas Sands had a "sorry Nevada regulatory record" and that the local property, The Venetian, had a "laundry list of other serious violations."

Las Vegas Sands won the resort license in late May with a $3.6 billion bid.

Despite the awarding of the license, the gaming company asked that the article be corrected and retracted but the Las Vegas Sun refused.

The case was dismissed in November but Las Vegas Sands refiled, claiming "defamation by omission" by not exposing the regulatory records of the other gaming companies in pursuit of the license.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, Leavitt said Monday during her ruling that she found nothing defamatory in the column and that the Las Vegas Sands' argument would make news stories with negative remarks difficult to publish.

A spokesman for the Las Vegas Sands declined to say Tuesday if the company plans to appeal the decision to the Nevada Supreme Court.