{"id":277830,"date":"2023-06-16T11:33:40","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T16:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=277830"},"modified":"2023-06-16T12:30:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T17:30:53","slug":"native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Native American Ex-Chief Claims Nevada Hotel Casino Discriminated Against Him"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A former tribal official recently filed a lawsuit against Reno, Nevada\u2019s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino claiming civil rights and discrimination violations.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_277840\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-277840\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-277840 size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE-858x483.jpg\" alt=\"Reno, Nevada\u2019s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino\" width=\"858\" height=\"483\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE-858x483.jpg 858w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE-430x242.jpg 430w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE.jpg 946w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 858px) 100vw, 858px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-277840\"class=\"text-description\">Reno, Nevada\u2019s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, pictured above. The property was sued by a guest for alleged discrimination. (Image: VisitRenoTahoe.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jimmy-John Thompson of Sacramento, Calif., a former chairman of California\u2019s Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, filed the legal action in Nevada court in May against the property.<\/p>\n<p>Thompson was staying at the resort on October 15 to attend a Western Mining Action Network conference when he detected smoke in an air vent in his Grand Sierra room and called the hotel\u2019s front desk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A clerk sent an employee to check out the reported smoke odor. The employee didn&#8217;t find a source of the smoke smell, but the hotel gave Thompson a different room.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thompson remained anxious about the smoke odor, so he notified the Reno Fire Department. Reno firefighters responded to the hotel and later told Thompson the source of the smoke was extinguished.<\/p>\n<p>A short time later, two hotel security guards arrived at Thompson\u2019s hotel room.<\/p>\n<h2>Accused of Arson, Evicted<\/h2>\n<p>Security ordered Thompson to leave the hotel and accused him of arson in his former hotel room, according to <em>Native News Online<\/em>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p>I was guilty out of the gate,\u201d Thompson recently told <em>Native News Online<\/em>. \u201cThey [the hotel casino] didn\u2019t want to hear anything from me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Also, because he suffers from a condition known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) he is prescribed medication, one of whose side effects is involuntary convulsions if Thompson is in the cold, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>Being forced to sleep in his car at 4 a.m., Thompson suffered several convulsions, the lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n<p>Thompson also missed a planned visit to the controversial Thacker Pass Lithium mine due to the incident.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p>Jimmy-John Thompson was treated so poorly at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino with no rational basis for the treatment he received,\u201d Norberto J. Cisneros, Thompson\u2019s Las Vegas-based attorney, told <em>Native News Online<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cReporting a potential fire \u2026 him being accused of arson, and then being evicted from the hotel at 4 a.m., having to sleep in his car, with no opportunity to explain or refute himself for trying to save lives,\u201d Cisneros added. \u201cIf he was not a Native American, if this was a person not of color, he would have never experienced this kind of treatment. It\u2019s embarrassing and can harm a person\u2019s reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit is seeking at least $15K in damages.<\/p>\n<h2>Casino Not Responsive<\/h2>\n<p>Cisneros twice wrote to Grand Sierra Resort and Casino regarding the incident.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have heard nothing from them,\u201d Cisneros told <em>Native News Online<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thompson\u2019s right to public accommodation was violated, the lawsuit further claims.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Casino.org<\/em> reached out to Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. No immediate comment was provided.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former tribal official recently filed a lawsuit against Reno, Nevada\u2019s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino claiming civil rights and discrimination violations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":277840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,13592],"tags":[81928,81713,81895],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Native American Claims Nevada Hotel Casino Discriminated<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An ex-tribal official filed a lawsuit against Nevada\u2019s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. He claims civil rights and discrimination violations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Native American Claims Nevada Hotel Casino Discriminated\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An ex-tribal official filed a lawsuit against Nevada\u2019s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. He claims civil rights and discrimination violations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-16T16:33:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-16T17:30:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"946\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"532\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ed Silverstein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgedsilv\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ed Silverstein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/\",\"name\":\"Native American Claims Nevada Hotel Casino Discriminated\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-16T16:33:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-16T17:30:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e\"},\"description\":\"An ex-tribal official filed a lawsuit against Nevada\u2019s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. He claims civil rights and discrimination violations.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE.jpg\",\"width\":946,\"height\":532},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legal\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Native American Ex-Chief Claims Nevada Hotel Casino Discriminated Against Him\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e\",\"name\":\"Ed Silverstein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Ed Silverstein\"},\"description\":\"Ed Silverstein is a senior reporter covering gambling law and crime news for Casino.org. Ed is an award-winning journalist with credits ranging from the Associated Press to American Lawyer Media. Ed joined the Casino.org news team in 2019 after decades of experience in legal reporting. His past reporting and editing assignments include Cowles Business Media, Columbia University Press, the Connecticut Post, and Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. Besides the law and its application to the gaming industry, Ed\u2019s areas of expertise span business, politics, education, and state and local government. Ed holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and master\u2019s degrees from Harvard and Yale. His professional awards include recognition from the New England Press Association and New England AP News Executives. Ed currently resides in Connecticut, where he enjoys photography and bowling in his spare time. Contact Ed at ed.silverstein@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/ed-silverstein\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgedsilv\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/ed-silverstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Native American Claims Nevada Hotel Casino Discriminated","description":"An ex-tribal official filed a lawsuit against Nevada\u2019s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. He claims civil rights and discrimination violations.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Native American Claims Nevada Hotel Casino Discriminated","og_description":"An ex-tribal official filed a lawsuit against Nevada\u2019s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. He claims civil rights and discrimination violations.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2023-06-16T16:33:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-16T17:30:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":946,"height":532,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ed Silverstein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgedsilv","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ed Silverstein","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/","name":"Native American Claims Nevada Hotel Casino Discriminated","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE.jpg","datePublished":"2023-06-16T16:33:40+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-16T17:30:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e"},"description":"An ex-tribal official filed a lawsuit against Nevada\u2019s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. He claims civil rights and discrimination violations.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Grand-Sierra-Resort-01-FEATURE.jpg","width":946,"height":532},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/native-american-ex-chief-claims-nevada-hotel-casino-discriminated-against-him\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legal","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Native American Ex-Chief Claims Nevada Hotel Casino Discriminated Against Him"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e","name":"Ed Silverstein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png","caption":"Ed Silverstein"},"description":"Ed Silverstein is a senior reporter covering gambling law and crime news for Casino.org. Ed is an award-winning journalist with credits ranging from the Associated Press to American Lawyer Media. Ed joined the Casino.org news team in 2019 after decades of experience in legal reporting. His past reporting and editing assignments include Cowles Business Media, Columbia University Press, the Connecticut Post, and Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. Besides the law and its application to the gaming industry, Ed\u2019s areas of expertise span business, politics, education, and state and local government. Ed holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and master\u2019s degrees from Harvard and Yale. His professional awards include recognition from the New England Press Association and New England AP News Executives. Ed currently resides in Connecticut, where he enjoys photography and bowling in his spare time. Contact Ed at ed.silverstein@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/ed-silverstein","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgedsilv"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/ed-silverstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277830"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277910,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277830\/revisions\/277910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}