A pair of Las Vegas nightclubs are accusing the Tropicana Las Vegas of hiring three of their former executives to work for the casino’s new club in violation of the executives’ employment contracts. The clubs, Chateau and Gallery, have filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the Tropicana, which is denying any wrongdoing in hiring the executives.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in Clark County District Court on Dec. 27, all three employees signed employment contracts that included six-month noncompete clauses. A noncompete clause typically means the employee is not supposed to go to work for any of the employer’s competition for a fixed period of time after he or she stops working for the employer.
The executives were also named in the lawsuit, as was the Tropicana’s vice president of food and beverage, who apparently made the hires. Two of the men were formerly vice president of strategic marketing at Chateau and Gallery, respectively. The third man was a lead promoter at one of the clubs.
They and the Tropicana are accused of breach of contract, intentional interference with contractual relations and breach of the implied covenant of good faith. The lawsuit said the three had access to their prior employers’ confidential information such as customer databases and sales information.
A spokesman for the Tropicana declined to comment on the lawsuit, except to say it “has no merit.”
The clubs also filed a similar but separate suit against a fourth former executive who went to work for the 10AK club at the Mirage casino, allegedly before her six-month noncompete period was up.
Source: VEGAS INC., “Las Vegas nightclubs sue Tropicana over defecting executives,” Steve Green, Jan. 5, 2012
