We, too, recall this incident, which made national headlines when Hackett, a resident of Andover, Massachusetts, filed a dispute against Club Paradise gentlemen's club and American Express, concerning a $29,512 charge to his AMEX card.
According to the plaintiff here's how it all went down, as reported by the Las Vegas Sun, when Hackett pressed charges back in July 2009, some nine-plus months after the alleged incident took place:
"Hackett says he flew to Las Vegas Oct. 11 to attend the Direct Marketing Association Trade Show. After checking in to the Las Vegas Hilton, he went to a Hilton hotel bar to watch a Boston Red Sox baseball game on television and had some vodka martinis.
"While watching the game, someone handed him his wallet and said Hackett had dropped it, Hackett's suit says. Nothing was missing from the wallet, but [he] noticed his driver's license and American Express card had been switched from their usual positions. Hackett said in his lawsuit [that] he talked to some Red Sox fans from Phoenix, left for the hotel lobby, and apparently blacked out there and can't remember anything else that may have happened that night."
In the dispute he filed, Hackett then claimed that he'd called his wife the next morning and told her about the dropped wallet incident and had her check with his credit card companies to ensure there were no unauthorized charges, which apparently there were not. However, upon returning to Massachusetts, Hackett discovered there had since been a number of charges made to his AMEX card by Club Paradise, between 2:55 a.m. and 8:54 a.m. on Oct. 12, to the tune of $29,512.
What exactly James Hackett meant when he said that he'd "blacked out" remains unclear. Had he literally lost consciousness in the Hilton lobby, we're pretty sure someone would have noticed and called 911, or at least made sure that an evidently compromised hotel guest made it to their room/the nearest ER safe and sound. If Hackett suspected that someone had deliberately "roofied" him, this was not specified, nor even implied, in the court filing.
What was specified, however, was that Club Paradise was able to present a number of signed credit-card charge slips, issued between 2:55 a.m. and 8:54 a.m. on the morning in question, including for a $4,000 bar tab and $25,000-worth of "services" provided by "entertainers" named Paulina, Jani Lee, Isabel, Vanessa, Roxanne, and Lexi. These signed slips were accompanied by a form, also purportedly signed by Mr Hackett, stating that he was not intoxicated, nor under any duress, and acknowledging that the club did not subscribe to any kind of prostitution or escort services.
Once back in Massachusetts with his wife, James Hackett requested that AMEX decline the charges submitted by Club Paradise and filed a Las Vegas police report; Club Paradise, for its part, contacted AMEX with evidence that the charges were legit and the credit card company not only authorized the payment, but commenced charging interest.
LVA, like the poser of this question, had heard nothing further about the mysterious case of Mr Hackett and his costly blackout since this story hit the headlines back in '09. So we placed a call to Larry C. Johns Esq., the Las Vegas attorney who represented James Hackett. Mr Johns answered his phone in person and, when we explained the nature of our query, explained quite candidly that his client had simply decided to quietly "let the matter drop." We think we can all draw our own conclusions from that -- and commit it to memory as a cautionary tale from Sin City.
Speaking of Sin City survival tips, we're about to release the final "Update" to our Topless Vegas guide in its e-Book format, so if you purchased the "Upgrade" package in the past, look out for an email soon offering access to the fully-revised V.6.0. Then, in the near future, look out for announcements regarding the launch of Topless Vegas Online, as we transition the best of the book, plus lots of extra features, into a fully interactive website. Stay tuned!
