Mediator assigned in 'Pacman' case

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LAS VEGAS -- The Nevada Supreme Court is enlisting a mediator in an attempt to resolve a former Las Vegas strip club doorman's renewed effort to collect damages from the NFL for the paralyzing gunshot wound he suffered during a 2007 melee involving football player Adam "Pacman" Jones.

The state high court on Tuesday assigned a settlement judge to handle former club doorman Tommy Urbanski's appeal to hold the league accountable for his injury, court spokesman Bill Gang said Thursday.

Court-ordered mediation is a standard step in an effort to reach a resolution without a hearing before the state's only appellate court, Gang said.

Jones was not the gunman, but Las Vegas police alleged he instigated a melee that led to the shooting by throwing handfuls of cash toward dancers inside the club, called Minxx. Urbanski was one of three people wounded when shots were fired after patrons were ushered outside.

Arvin Kenti Edwards, now 33, pleaded an equivalent of no contest in September 2010 to attempted murder with a deadly weapon and was sentenced in January 2011 to four to 10 years in state prison.

A Nevada judge in 2008 cited jurisdictional grounds and dismissed the NFL as a defendant in Urbanski's civil damages lawsuit. The case resulted this year in a judgment against Jones that now amounts to $13 million for Urbanski and his wife.

A lawyer who represented the NFL at that time did not immediately respond Thursday to messages.

Jones, 28, is now a cornerback for the Cincinnati Bengals. He pleaded no contest in December 2007 to a reduced misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct in the brawl inside the club. He cooperated with police in the apprehension of Edwards in Seattle, and was sentenced to community service and one year of probation.

Urbanski's lawyer, Matthew Dushoff, said Thursday the appeal he filed Aug. 21 with the state Supreme Court aimed to hold the league liable for failing to curb Jones' behavior after Jones had several run-ins with police in various cities in the months before Urbanski's injury.

Jones' lawyer, Lisa Rasmussen, noted that her appeal of the judgment against Jones is pending in state Supreme Court.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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