Defamation suit by Wynn in jeopardy
High court reverses order denying ex-worker’s attempt to dismiss
The Nevada Supreme Court sided with a former Wynn Las Vegas employee facing a defamation lawsuit by former Wynn
Resorts Ltd. chairman and CEO Steve Wynn.
The case could be dismissed in the next go-round.
Wynn sued Jorgen Nielsen for defamation in 2018 after Nielsen alleged in a Wall Street
Journal article that the casino developer had sexually harassed female employees for decades. Nielsen had worked as artistic director of the salons at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore.
The article quoted Nielsen saying that “everyone was petrified” of Wynn when he was on his way to the salon and that despite notification of company executives about the sexual
harassment, “nobody was there to help us.”
Wynn resigned from his post as chairman and CEO shortly after the article was published in January 2018. He has maintained that the allegations against him are false.
Wynn’s defamation lawsuit states that Nielsen’s claims that Wynn chased a manager around the salon until she locked herself in the bathroom couldn’t be true because Wynn is legally blind. The lawsuit
describes Nielsen as a “disgruntled former employee” who “harbors a personal animus, dislike, and anger toward Mr. Wynn.”
Nielsen moved to dismiss Wynn’s lawsuit through Nevada’s anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation statutes, also referred to as an ANTI-SLAPP motion, which is meant to prevent lawsuits from interfering with someone’s freedom of speech.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court reversed the District Court’s order to deny Nielsen’s motion and remanded the case to that court. Under Nevada’s ANTI-SLAPP laws, lawyers for Wynn will have to provide evidence that supports their claims that Nielsen made false and defamatory statements to prevent the lawsuit from being dismissed.
“Nielsen showed that his communication was made in direct connection with an issue of public interest in a public forum, and was truthful or made without knowledge of its falsehood,” the ruling states.
Representatives for Wynn and Nielsen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.