In Adelson v. Anderson, [2011] EWHC 2497 (QB), the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, in London granted UNITE HERE’s application to strike out in their entirety Sheldon Adelson’s and Las Vegas Sands Inc’s defamation claims against UNITE HERE and its Director of International Affairs, Debbie Anderson. The Court also ordered Adelson and Las Vegas Sands to pay the defendants’ attorney’s costs of defending the claims. The action arose out of a presentation made by Anderson at a “fringe” (breakout) meeting of about 100 people held in conjunction with a Labour Party congress in 2004. Anderson described various aspects of Sheldon Adelson’s and Las Vegas Sands’ history, including unsuccessful litigation against UNITE HERE’s Las Vegas affiliates, Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165. The presentation also raised matters relating to the business practices of Adelson’s flagship Las Vegas hotel, the Venetian, including a Nevada Gaming Commission fine against the Venetian for rigging games in 2004. Some fifteen months after Ms. Anderson gave her presentation, Adelson and Las Vegas Sands sued UNITE HERE and Anderson in the UK for defamation. In dismissing the case, the Court agreed that Adelson lacked of real interest in pursuing it in light of the long delays in bringing and prosecuting it, concluding that “what is now at stake in this action does not justify the deployment of [the Court’s] resources.”
