Court: Sands Not Required to Turn Over Documents

The Las Vegas Sands Corp. does not have to hand over emails and other company documents to former executive Steven Jacobs. Jacobs is suing the Sands for breach of contract.

Complainant sought thousands of emails

The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that the Las Vegas Sands Corp. does not have to give confidential documents to a former executive suing for wrongful termination.

The high court voted 5-0 to granted the Sands request, saying Steve Jacobs’ legal team took too long to file their request for the documents, reported the Associated Press. With the ruling, the justices overturned a lower court opinion.

Jacobs, former head of Sands China, said he needed the documents in order to successfully make his case. He asked that the Sands hand over about 100,000 emails and other documents. The Sands argued that the data protection law precludes this, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Jacobs was fired in July 2010. Three months later, he filed a lawsuit in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, saying the casino company breached his contract and forced him to participate in illegal activity in Macau. The Sands Corp. countersued, saying Jacobs was an extortionist with ties to organized crime in China.

In 2012, Clark County District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez found the Sands and its Chinese affiliate had shown an “intention to deceive the court” and fined the companies $25,000. Gonzalez also said the Sands could not use the law in the future as a defense and could not claim that Jacobs improperly possessed electronic evidence.