TV station wants anchor’s dispute to go to arbitration

Sue Manteris

Sue Manteris

Las Vegas television station KSNV Channel 3 asked a federal judge Wednesday to put former anchor Sue Manteris’ lawsuit on hold and to require her to arbitrate her dispute with the station.

Manteris is no longer with the station as her contract was not renewed. It expired June 10.

Manteris filed the suit May 17 charging she had been subjected to discrimination on the basis of age, race and gender. At the time, officials at KSNV had no comment on the allegations.

Attorneys for the station with the Las Vegas office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart P.C. filed their first response Wednesday.

They wrote that over 22 years, Manteris had signed eight employment agreements with KSNV — “the last five of which contained arbitration provisions that compel her to submit any disputes, controversies or claims arising out of her employment to binding arbitration.

“Accordingly, the court should order this case to binding arbitration immediately and stay this matter pending the outcome of the case,” they wrote to U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro.

KSNV’s attorneys didn’t say why they prefer to have the case arbitrated.

Arbitration is often touted as being more efficient and less expensive for litigants, compared with lawsuits. Another feature is that the proceedings and case files aren’t open to the public.

One drawback of arbitration is that the parties may end up in court anyway should either side violate the terms of the decision.

The attorneys also alleged in their filing that the first internal complaint Manteris made about discrimination was after she was told in September that her employment agreement — paying her $190,000 annually — would not be renewed when it expired.

Attorneys for Manteris have not yet responded to the request that the case be submitted to binding arbitration.

Legal

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