Judge dismisses case in which GOP official is named, but it’s not over
A district judge dismissed the case against a company’s board of directors in which Clark County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Law was named as a defendant, but the shareholders who filed the lawsuit can bring it back.
Three shareholders of Vinco Ventures, a digital media, advertising and content technologies company, filed a lawsuit in April accusing the board of directors and others of defrauding shareholders and furthering their own interests.
Judge Nancy Allf dismissed the shareholders’ amended complaint but gave them the opportunity to refile the case once they addressed issues with it. They have 21 days to resubmit the complaint, according to the order filed July 24.
Allf wants the plaintiffs to be more specific in regard to each cause of action and against whom the allegations are directed, according to the transcript of the July 20 hearing.
Vinco Ventures, for example, was listed as a direct defendant rather than a “nominal defendant,” which is a party included in a lawsuit because of a technical connection but with no fault.
Since the shareholders filed their initial complaint and since the Las Vegas Review-Journal first wrote about the case, three board members of Vinco Ventures resigned from their roles because of the lawsuit, defense lawyer Kimberly Stein said during the hearing. Law was not one of those board members.
Effective July 28, the company’s stock — which the plaintiffs assert has decreased in value by 87 percent in the last year — has been suspended from the Nasdaq stock exchange because of three of its board members resigning, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission report.
Shadwrick Vick, one of the plaintiffs, said they filed an emergency motion Monday regarding the delisting from Nasdaq. He alleges that the board could have replaced the three board members who resigned to avoid the suspension from Nasdaq.
Vick said “not only is (the lawsuit) not over,” but the plaintiffs are hiring a new lawyer who specializes in cases like these.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on Twitter.
