The Age Of Omicron

  • Law

  • Gaming regulators ask the Nevada Supreme Court to restore authority over Steve Wynn. [TNI]
  • Another Raiders player arrested for DUI asleep at the wheel of a parked car on the exit ramp in the Cromwell. Anyone want to opine on his attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Shonfeld’s statement that there are “serious concerns that this does not qualify as a DUI under Nevada law.” [RJ]
  • The Nevada Supreme Court denied a petition to block the Clark County DA’s office from pursuing Zane Floyd’s execution. [RJ]
  • The number of COVID cases in Clark County is skyrocketing, with wastewater showing the number of omicron cases rising as well. Are you sick? How about your staff and family? Are you doing anything different? [8NewsNow]
39 Comments
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 7:09 pm

Why not just throw Wynn in the black book if you don't want him around? It is more severe as it would bar him from even setting foot inside a casino, but if you want to take the guy down, take him down. Seems easier and cheaper than all of this. Maybe worried about the precedent? Put one scumbag in their and you will have to put more?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 7:23 pm

The Raiders are a trash organization and scourge on this city.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 7:35 pm

I've been to a few games. The people, attorneys, who I see there are trash.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 9:57 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

The attorneys you saw at Raider games are trash? Cool. Thanks for the comment.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 7:49 pm

We had a member of our staff lie to us about being vaccinated and then when push came to shove announce that they were refusing to be vaccinated. Had is a past tense verb; this member decided that their vaccine status was worth quitting their job over.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 9:32 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

To be fair – and with utmost respect, you should probably not require people to be vaccinated to work in your (I presume you are the owner) firm. Do you require them to get a flu shot and show you proof of it too?

Now that Omicron has been shown to be transmitted in the same numbers by both vaccinated and unvaccinated alike, and completely unaffected by cloth masks, do you regret firing a good employee over it?

I work for a HUGE firm, and there has not been even an inkling of "requiring" vaccines in order to work (they are encouraged) – they know they would lose key employees and even key large partners over that and they cant afford it. Seems like you can, so kudos.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 9:37 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

People who dismiss the flu and how many people needlessly get sick and die from it, especially the young and elderly, because "its just the flu," need to reevaluate.

Needlessly spreading any sickness in a place of business is so pre-9/11 thinking.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 9:40 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I think 1:32 misses the mark a bit. Regret firing a good employee over a vaccine mandate? How about the supposed good employee who lied to the employer? An employee you can't trust is not a good employee.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 9:54 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Good. I'd be happy to fire someone who refused to get vaccinated. I'm so tired of internet warriors thinking their youtube searches constitute research. I'm an attorney. Though well educated (according to my law school), I am NOT an expert in vaccines; nor do I possess the necessary training, equipment, or experience to "research" a virus or vaccine. So, I listen to the experts. Not politicians, not youtube, not my neighbor, not 1:32. Experts.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 10:00 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I'm reminded of the Daubert comment a couple months back. If your argument against vaccines can't pass the Daubert test then your opinion is irrelevant.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 10:18 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Anybody else read the Jennifer Dorsey mask opinion where she personally went after an attorney? What a load.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 2:46 am
Reply to  Anonymous

2:18 – how do you mean "personally went after an attorney"? Which part(s) of the decision do you think crossed the line?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 3:48 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Dorsey writes the opinion like a law review article, laughing. An attorney should not be a main part of the opinion. Jen Dorsey was out of line on this opinion.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 3:56 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Wow. I did Nazi that coming.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 5:17 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Can someone please quote the part of the opinion where JAD personally went after an attorney?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 5:26 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Maybe counsel for anti-vax nutjobs shouldn't deny the existence of a pandemic during oral argument, then. Even if counsel thinks it will help them win votes for their own elections.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 5:33 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Earlier commenters said Jennifer Dorsey went after one of the attorneys for not believing the existence of Clovis 19. Find it yourself.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 5:45 am
Reply to  Anonymous

I #standwithDavidBateman!

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 5:52 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Covid 19

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
January 5, 2022 2:31 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

7:48 I didn't interpret it as laughing. I thought the decision was stated in a pretty matter-of-fact way. If an attorney says stupid stuff in oral argument then the judge refers in the decision to the stupid stuff the attorney said, that doesn't make the judge the one who is out of line. Stinging, maybe, but not laughing.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 3:11 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

anyone hearing anything about courthouse contingency plans for Omnicrom? Im guessing a lot of clerks and key personnel will be out sick or quarantining. Are any plans addressing this being formulated?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 3:45 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I read the decision. Judge Jennifer Dorsey was wrong.I don't see a transcript.An attotney or their personal views ate not relevant. A case is to be heard on the merits. It is scary when a judge acts outside of their scope to bring in itrelevant, personal attacks on attorney's. It is unethical . I agree with the earlier post.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 7:04 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

"An attotney or their personal views are not relevant." Couldn't have said it better myself. The issue is that the attorney argued her personal views and not any admissible evidence that would pass the Daubert standard. When a lawyer argues things that are based on their personal views and not based on admissible evidence or admissible expert opinion then the order needs to address those unsubstantiated arguments. What you call personal attacks normal people call a court addressing BS arguments made during oral argument.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 7:15 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

"Normal people?" Okay. You lost me when you said that.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
January 5, 2022 7:53 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

1:32…. 11:49 here. I appreciate your response. To clarify, we did not fire the employee. The employee resigned on their own when it became clear that this employee's presence was divisive and that the tide had turned against this employee with all other members of the office. We did not institute a mandate because we believed that the firm culture and expectation was pretty clear: get vaxxed. In fact it was so clear that this employee lied to us about being vaxxed only to have their lie turn out to be a lie. I can have employees mask in light of vaccination status; however things went sideways when this person lied to the firm. That we cannot work around.

To answer your question, I regret that this person believed that their personal views were more important than their job. I regret that this person believed lying to the firm, only to then obstinately dig their heels in when it was exposed, was the way to handle it. However this was their decision. I am hopeful that this person will find a job that can accommodate their wishes and desires safely.

Like your HUGE firm, we do not require them but do strongly encourage them (when you say HUGE we presume that your employer is below the threshold for companies for which vaccines are required). Unlike your huge firm, we decided that losing key employees would be a shame but not the end of the world because the people who we want working here share a common ethic and the legal field is a transient place. We want people to practice law where they feel comfortable and understand that if this is not that place that they might leave and go to an unvaccinated place.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 6, 2022 12:43 am
Reply to  Anonymous

I prefer to rely on real experts like Atlas, McCullough, and Malone. In addition being brilliant researchers with a long list of achievements, they actually treat real patients. Bureaucrats with long histories of failures and outright lies don't make reliable experts.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 7:51 pm

Now they are testing our poopy water for covid? Great!

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 7:55 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

It's one of the best ways to test! Everybody poops and it all ends up in the same place.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 7:55 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

They've been doing that since they first discovered they can detect covid in sewage…it's been over a year now.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 8:33 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

@11:55 "Everybody poops"
Well, not everybody. Some people are full of sh*t.
Others could improve their dispositions if the did it more often. Some of these people are on the bench.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 8:39 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

The poop content is higher at the Jim Hardesty strip joint building than other government buildings.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
January 4, 2022 9:15 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Some folks improve their depositions by taking a dump immediately beforehand.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
January 4, 2022 8:01 pm

Who cares that the NSC denied a petition to block the DA from proceeding with Zane Floyd's execution.

Makes no difference as he will never be executed(on death row for over two decades since he committed these murders in 1999).

Worse yet, Tracy Petrocelli has been on Nevada Death Row since 1978–when disco still reigned supreme and Jimmy Carter was President, and cable television was virtually non-existent. And there are a handful of others who have been on Nevada Death Row since the 80's and 90's.

I'm not saying that they should be executed. Only that they never will be, so let's stop wasting the time and resources, and put it toward something that can make a real difference.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
January 4, 2022 9:33 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

You are right. In law school I interned at a DA's office in another state. The office had a division devoted to death row appeals that consisted of a Chief DA, 2-3 deputies, and 4-5 law school interns. The office only had 2 death row cases with four persons on death row. It was a complete waste of resources.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 4, 2022 11:03 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I have worked in a legal department in the government. I am a civil litigator in private practice now. I am often envious of the leisurely pace of government legal work. At the government entity where I worked, the attorneys showed up at 10, shot the shit a little bit. Then went together to get a snack. Did a little work. Took a two hour lunch. Did about 2 hours of work and then left at about 430. It was beautiful.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 5, 2022 1:00 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Not beautiful if you're a taxpayer, 3:03.

It's amazing how few people care about the poor value we get for out tax dollar.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
January 4, 2022 10:03 pm

To answer our bloglord's last question: I work in a hybrid office with a combo of in office and work from home. I'd guess 40-50% have either had covid or had to take time away due to close contacts in their house getting it. Seems like it's everywhere. I foresee a lot of extension requests in the month of January.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
January 4, 2022 10:37 pm

I had COVID in December 2020, got Pfizer vaxxed in 2021 (almost qualified for the booster), and then, I tested positive for COVID yesterday. At least it's only a five day isolation this time around. Shouldn't I be super duper immune at this point?

Unknown
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Unknown
January 4, 2022 10:42 pm

I feel like this post still needs some rounding out. Especially from the P/I folks. Thinking about jumping ship form C/Lit: https://lasvegaslawblog.blogspot.com/2021/12/bonus-round-2021.html#comment-form