Slashing Victim Says Bellagio Guarded its Chips

LAS VEGAS (CN) - A blackjack dealer who was slashed in the face with a razor blade claims in court that hotel security failed to help her because "guarding the Bellagio chips took precedent" over her "health, safety and well-being."

Joyce Rhone sued the Bellagio and her alleged assailant, Brenda Wilson, in Clark County Court.

Rhone claims that Wilson kidnapped and killed her own boyfriend's 10-year-old daughter, then came to the casino on Dec. 21, 2012 to kill her, based on her false perception that Rhone was trying to come between Wilson and her boyfriend.

Wilson, also known in the media as Brenda Stokes, is in jail. A grand jury last week indicted her on charges of murder and attempted murder. She is charged with attacking Rhone and killing her own boyfriend's daughter, 10-year-old Jade Morris.

Stokes, 50, also was a blackjack dealer at the Bellagio casino. Rhone says in her complaint that the two of them had become friends outside of work.

But she says things went sour when Wilson came to believe that Rhone was trying to break up her relationship with her boyfriend.

"Plaintiff Rhone is informed and believes that after defendant murdered Jade Morris, defendant Wilson went to defendant Bellagio with the intent to murder plaintiff Rhone," the complaint states.

Armed with "one or more razor blade(s) ... she viciously attacked plaintiff Rhone with the razor blade(s)," the complaint states.

"None of the defendant Bellagio's security personnel initially came to her aid," Rhone says. "If not for the intervention of a patron who wrestled defendant Wilson to the ground, and subdued her, plaintiff Rhone most assuredly would have lost her life."

After the attack, Rhone says, she wandered through the hotel for several hundred feet "bleeding profusely while attempting to hold her face together."

She says paramedics were not called until after a server offered her help. She claims she got no medical assistance until medics arrived.

"Bellagio's employees did not render aid, because they were trained not to leave the Bellagio chips unguarded, and guarding the Bellagio chips took precedent [sic] over plaintiff Rhone's health, safety and well-being," the complaint states.

Rhone says Wilson came to the casino that night though it was her day off.

"It is against Bellagio's policy for defendant Wilson to have been at the Bellagio on her day off," the complaint states. "Despite this policy, defendant Bellagio allowed defendant Wilson to remain at the Bellagio for a period of time."

Rhone says she had to undergo significant plastic surgery, and suffers nerve damage, scarring and psychological trauma.

She seeks punitive damages for negligence, negligent training, negligent supervision, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and battery.

She is represented by Harold P. Gewerter.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit