Las Vegas Weekly

September 10, 2008 · 6 AM

Nightclub lawsuit alleges “racial profiling” at Caesars

By Robin Leach

A whopping lawsuit that could run into the million$ involving Caesars Palace and Simon Property Group, filed by owners of the OPM nightclub above Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois restaurant in the Forum Shops at Caesars, has just been moved from Nevada State Court to U.S. Federal Court. You can click here to read the full 26-page document that raises the politically sensitive issues of “racial profiling.” Some of the allegations, if proven true, could turn out to be damning, and OPM’s owners claim that they just don’t get the same preferential treatment, as does the Pure nightclub inside Caesars. They even claim that a large door barricade is pulled into place and locked nightly from the casino at the entrance to the Forum Shops to prevent casino customers going to the nightspot.

Here’s the history in a nutshell: OPM opened for business inside of the Forum Shops in May 2003, with a name change to Poetry Nightclub in October 2007. The owners note that it is a hip-hop, R&B nightspot with a large African-American customer base and is located directly above Chinois, which has a second five-year lease on the space. That lease began in May of this year. The lawsuit claims that Caesars Palace and Simon Property Group began closing the primary entrance to the Forum Shops from the casino on Aug. 17, 2007, at 1 a.m. on weekend mornings -- the busiest time for the most highly attended nights the club is open.

The owners claim that their Poetry Nightclub has an excellent relationship with Las Vegas Metro Police and, according to the department, they have not had any reports or incidents involving narcotics use or physical altercations (battery).

Luxe Life will continue to monitor the developments in this court action, but meantime all the back-and-forth allegations between all sides can be found in the court filing herewith.

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