The State - News from April 5, 1988

Attorneys for Paul Laxalt will receive $647,454 for their part in an unsuccessful $250-million libel suit filed by the former Nevada senator against McClatchy Newspapers, attorneys announced in San Francisco. The award, which will be paid by McClatchy’s insurance carrier, marks the end of a protracted legal battle that began in November, 1983, when the Bee newspapers in Sacramento, Modesto and Fresno published an article about the family of Laxalt, a long-time confidant of President Reagan. The article alleged that the Internal Revenue Service had evidence of skimming at the Ormsby House hotel-casino in Carson City while the Laxalt family owned it in the early 1970s. The action was dropped in June, 1986, leaving the payment of Laxalt’s legal fees as the only unresolved issue.