April 4

Last month, after a lengthy battle stemming from a construction issue, the owner of the Venetian received a setback when a Clark County District Court judge ordered the company to pay attorneys' fees, even interest, along with other costs totaling $38.5 million on top of a previous jury award of $42 million.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. is appealing the judgment regarding the payments and the original verdict. In addition, the company said it believes the judgment will be reduced through the latest settlement proceedings.

Back in 1999, General contractor Lehrer McGovern Bovis Inc. served the Venetian a lawsuit saying that it did not receive payment for work completed on the resort. Las Vegas Sands countersued, stating Bovis despoiled a construction management agreement to complete the resort by April 1999. The resort opened the following month, with the Venetian walking customers to other hotels. The companies blame each other for failing to pay many subcontractors, with Venetian saying that Bovis permitted defective work and did not conduct subcontractors' schedules to endure the opening deadline.

Back in June 2003, A jury in Clark County ruled in favor of with Bovis, giving the contractor approximately $44 million in damages for the mishap. Then, Las Vegas Sands received $2.3 million for a construction defect judgment against Bovis.

With all the back and forth judgments huge legal bills are mounting for both sides.

Released in its yearly report, Las Vegas Sands Corp. stated the company's total legal bills could be wiped clean if it wins all outstanding court and settlement appeals. On the worse end of it, Sands could end up shelling-out as much as $70 million. This number includes the original verdict as well as $28 million correlated to indemnity claims and settlement hearings.

Notably, and not included in that $70 million, is the $38.5 million compiled in court costs.