Travel firms go to Nevada Supreme Court in heated battle over hotel room taxes

Thursday, August 4, 2022 10:15 PM
  • Jeff German, Las Vegas Review-Journal

High-powered online travel companies have asked the Nevada Supreme Court to order the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging they avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in hotel room taxes.

In court papers this week, lawyers for the big-name online booking firms – including Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, Priceline and Hotels.com – said they want the Supreme Court to instruct the district judge presiding over the case, Mark Denton, to toss out the suit.

Denton sent the litigation on a path to trial last month when he refused to reconsider another judge’s decision denying a dismissal motion.

The 2020 suit, filed by well-known Las Vegas communications consultants Sig Rogich and Mark Fierro, seeks damages on behalf of the state against the web-based companies. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford is backing the case.