Lawsuit against Nassau County's bid for a casino sent back to lower court

The state's second-highest court on Wednesday reversed a lower-court ruling that supported Hofstra University's lawsuit to keep Nassau County from leasing its 72-acre Coliseum site to a Las Vegas casino company. 

The New York State Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, issued a three-page ruling that brings the legal battle between Hofstra and the county back down to Nassau County Supreme Court, requiring more information and asking that Las Vegas Sands, based in Nevada, be included in the lawsuit.

It's unclear how much the decision would impact Las Vegas Sands' long-term plan of building a full-fledged casino on the site, which is dependent on the company winning one of three state gaming licenses for the downstate region.

Hofstra, located in Hempstead near the county-owned Coliseum property, has been among the most vocal opponents of Sands' $6 billion plan to build a casino resort on the land.

State Supreme Court Judge Sarika Kapoor ruled last year that Nassau violated the state's Open Meetings Law and the State Environmental Quality Review Act, known as SEQRA. Her decision voided the lease agreement between the county and Sands that was approved by the planning commission in May 2023 and by a 17-1 vote of the county legislature.

The university had argued the county's administration, the planning commission and legislators in spring 2023 hid the lease from public scrutiny and should have conducted a full environmental analysis under state law before it entered a lease agreement with Sands in exchange for $54 million.

"We are grateful that the Appellate Division reversed what we believed was an arbitrary, capricious, and unjust decision of the lower court," Blakeman said in a statement late Wednesday following the decision. 

A Sands spokesman on Wednesday said, "We are reviewing the decision." 

 After restarting planning and legislature meetings and public comment over the summer as a result of Kapoor's ruling, Sands was granted a lease that allows it to operate the Coliseum but is currently in the middle of an environmental review in order to gain county and Hempstead Town approvals to develop on the property. 

Hofstra officials, however, said they were pleased the Appellate Division denied the county's motion to dismiss the case. They did not respond to questions about whether they would attempt to pursue the lawsuit again in the lower court. 

"Hofstra University is pleased that the appellate court denied Nassau County’s application to dismiss the case and that the petition will continue to be heard on the merits after the Las Vegas Sands holding company is added as a party," a university statement said. 

The community group opposed to the Sands proposal called the Wednesday ruling "a technical issue" but said they are confident once it is heard again the county will be found to have been at fault.

"While we are disappointed with today's appellate court ruling, it unfortunately matters little, as the County has already commenced an alternate plan to pass the land to [Las Vegas Sands] and has continued to skirt the law in the process," a statement from "Say No To the Casino" group said.

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.