Bikers Of America, Know Your Rights!

OFF THE WIRE
Stephen “Bowtie” Stubbs, the gadfly biker attorney, filed three more lawsuits in Las Vegas last Friday.
All three suits are intended to supersede an earlier lawsuit Stubbs filed on behalf of the Southern Nevada Confederation of Clubs. That suit was filed in June 2012. Federal judge Andrew P. Gordon ruled last July that the COC did not have standing to sue and gave Stubbs until last Friday to modify and refile the original suit.
At the time, Stubbs said, “What has happened is that Federal Court Judge Andrew Gordon granted me a ‘do over’ with some guidance.”
“Judge Gordon specifically states that all claims for relief are to be grouped by club, dismisses all claims but the Mongols claims, grants me leave to amend the Mongols claims to repair any defects, and then instructs me to file new and separate claims for the other clubs.”

Mongols Complaint

The first of the three suits was filed on behalf of 22 members or associates of the Mongols Motorcycle Club against the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, eight named defendants including former Boulder City, Nevada Chief of Police Thomas Finn and 20 John Does.
The new suit alleges that official harassment began in October 2011 when Vegas Metro forced a place called the Mountain Springs Bar to cancel a charitable event sponsored by the Mongols but most of the allegations refer to various incidents that occurred when the club held its national run in Boulder City in June 2012.
According to the suit, police tried to prevent the club from holding the national run; “conspired and devised a plan to harass members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club and their guests to the point that they would never want to come back to Boulder City or Southern Nevada ever again;” illegally entered the Mongols motel; and treated Mongols cases differently than other cases. The suit also claims Las Vegas and Boulder City police falsified police reports and tried to hide evidence.

Boulder Inn

A second law suit seeks to personally sue former Chief Finn, Boulder City Police Captain Vinnie Albowitz and “Boulder City Officer Pastore” as well as the same defendants named in the Mongols suit on behalf of the Boulder City Inn and Suites – which is where the Mongols stayed during their visit.
This suit claims Boulder City Police set up surveillance cameras supplied by Vegas Metro inside the hotel grounds. When Stubbs, who was representing the Mongols, called Finn to complain the police chief told the lawyer to “quit bitching” and refused to let Stubbs file a complaint.

Stray Cats

The third filing is on behalf of six members or associates of the Stray Cats Motorcycle Club who are suing the North Las Vegas Police Department over two separate incidents in January and March 2012.
In January, police raided a discussion of Constitutional law after listening bikers listened to a lecture by Stubbs. At least a dozen cops, broke up the meeting, threatened to tow the participants’ motorcycles and contrived a charge against one of the men. When Stubbs tried to intervene an unnamed female cop told him, “there is no right to counsel on the streets of North Las Vegas, only in a court room.”
In March, police broke up another gathering using a search warrant obtained with a bogus affidavit.

All three lawsuits seek damages for each complainant “ in excess of $75,000 as well as injunctive relief – which means the defendants will be enjoined from doing the same things again. The defendants must respond to the suits this month.