The Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino has been sued by two Las Vegas nightclubs after three of their executives went to work at the Trop’s new RPM club.
The jointly operated Chateau and Gallery nightclubs filed suit over noncompete agreements Dec. 27 in Clark County District Court against the Tropicana and former Chateau/Gallery executives Richard Wilk, Todd Worz and Sean Peters.
Chateau operates at Paris Las Vegas, Gallery is in Planet Hollywood.
The suit says that before joining RPM, Chateau/Gallery executives Wilk and Worz had been vice presidents of strategic marketing; and Peters had been a lead promoter.
Chateau and Gallery complained in the suit that Wilk, Worz and Peters all had signed noncompete agreements with those clubs, but then violated them by working for RPM Nightclub within six months of their departure from Chateau and Gallery.
The suit alleges breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and intentional interference with contractual relations.
“Defendants Wilk and the Tropicana through Wilk and its VP of food and beverage, Tom Recine, committed intentional acts of solicitation and hiring designed to disrupt the post-separation restrictive covenants that govern Wilk, Worz and Peters,” charged the suit, filed Las Vegas attorney Puoy Premsrirut of the law firm Brown Brown & Premsrirut.
It says that prior to going to work for the nearby competing Tropicana nightclub, the executives had access to confidential data including customer databases, guest lists and sales information.
A spokesman for the Tropicana on Wednesday denied the allegations, saying the lawsuit “has no merit and therefore we offer no further comment.”
Also sued by Chateau and Gallery was Suri Serano, who was an entertainment director for shot servers and dancers.
The suit says Serano left Chateau/Gallery to work for 1OAK at the Mirage even though she was subject to noncompetition restrictions for six months. Serano has not yet answered the suit.
The lawsuit asks that the former Chateau/Gallery employees be barred from working, consulting or contracting with any nightclub competitor on the Las Vegas Strip for six months from the time they left Chateau and Gallery; and that they be barred from recruiting Chateau/Gallery employees and customers.