Judge strikes portions of lawsuit against Las Vegas strip club owner
A judge in Las Vegas agreed to strike portions of a lawsuit alleging the Can Can Room’s owner ran an illegal brothel at the decades-old strip club.
District Judge Mark Denton on Monday struck several allegations from the lawsuit by the Can Can Room’s new landlord against club owner Sam Aldabbagh, including that dancers were required to engage in sex acts with Aldabbagh and customers, that he employed a madam who collected money from patrons for sex acts, and that the Las Vegas strip joint had VIP rooms with beds where workers performed sex acts in exchange for compensation.
Las Vegas real estate firm The Siegel Group, which bought the building that houses the Can Can Room in May, sued Aldabbagh through the property’s holding company Sept. 5. It alleged he ran an “illegal business” there in violation of state law and his lease and refused to vacate the property.
The club, whose business license has been revoked, is just west of the Strip at 3155 Sammy Davis Jr. Drive, behind the under-construction Resorts World Las Vegas.
Aldabbagh’s legal team filed court papers last month in an attempt to strike the lawsuit, or at least portions of it. The landlord made “a slew of horrendous allegations” without any evidence and apparently manufactured them as part of an attempt to “unjustly terminate” Aldabbagh’s lease, his lawyers wrote.
His attorney H. Stan Johnson, of law firm Cohen Johnson Parker Edwards, said in court Monday that the explicit brothel-related claims were “clearly an attempt to defame” Aldabbagh, whom he called a “family man” and a “longtime resident” of the community.
Siegel Group lawyer Brandon Trout responded that the allegations “go to the heart” of its claim that Aldabbagh did not surrender the property after getting a three-day notice to vacate, and under state law, a tenant unlawfully stays when it runs an illegal business and refuses to leave.
Trout told the judge there are video cameras throughout the club, including in the VIP rooms, and Aldabbagh — whose name also has been spelled as Aldabagh and AlDabbagh — controls everything in the Can Can Room.
“Nothing goes on in there without his knowledge,” Trout said.
Denton’s ruling does not prevent The Siegel Group from presenting evidence at trial of the allegations that were removed from the lawsuit Monday.
The Can Can Room’s business license was revoked Sept. 25. Aldabbagh appealed the decision, seeking judicial review.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.