
Hon. Jennifer Togliatti (Ret.)
BIOGRAPHY
Jennifer Togliatti is a former Nevada District Court Judge having served as a member of the judiciary for 19 years. During that time, she developed a reputation as a highly sought-after settlement judge and was lauded by both counsel and colleagues as a “miracle worker” and a “closer.” While on the bench, she conducted over 300 settlement conferences, many of which included complex, multi-party cases with resolutions totaling well over a half-billion dollars. She is best known for her strategic ability to broker deals in seeming intractable disputes, often settling the un-settleable.
Some examples include her appointment in 2012 by the Nevada Supreme Court to conduct a mandatory settlement conference for civil lawsuits that were filed as a result of the hepatitis C scare that rocked Southern Nevada in 2007 and 2008. It had been alleged that several drug companies had supplied an anesthetic to Las Vegas medical clinics where patients contracted incurable hepatitis C due to unsafe injection practices. Judge Togliatti was also involved in settling cases related to the endoscopy scandal based on different theories of liability with different corporate defendants, all of which she settled. On the Supreme Court appointment case alone, her complex settlement conference lasted nine days, and her relentless negotiations resulted in a settlement that, at the time, was seen as one of the largest in Nevada history with an undisclosed amount widely reported in the media to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Then in 2014, she settled a massive construction defect case involving Tutor Perini Corp., various sub-contractors, casino giant MGM Resorts International and CityCenter’s Harmon Hotel. Work had stopped on the $9 billion project after alleged defects were found in 2008 and the litigation began in 2010. The case involved more than 3 million digitally stored items of evidence and the courtroom where the case was set to be heard, had to be remodeled to accommodate new technology and an unusually great number of lawyers involved in the case. With more than 400 million in damage claims at stake, 15 months of negotiations, and at times working 14 different caucus rooms, Judge Togliatti brokered a global settlement reported at the time by the Las Vegas Review Journal to be 195 million. She saved the parties and the court countless years of trial and appellate litigation on a very complex case that many said would be almost impossible to try.
Judge Togliatti’s judicial career began in 1998 when she was elected Justice of the Peace for the Las Vegas Justice Court and, in 1999, served as Chief Judge. She also presided over specialty court dockets for the Eighth Judicial District Court and served as acting Federal Magistrate for U.S. District Court. In 2002, she was appointed by then Governor Kenny Guinn to the Eighth Judicial District Court and has served there for the last 16 years. As a trial judge in one of the busiest general jurisdiction trial courts in the country, she has managed the assignment of over ten thousand criminal and civil cases. She has presided over 300 jury and bench trials in her career. Judge Togliatti was elected Chief Judge of the Eighth Judicial District by acclamation of the 52 judges in her district in 2011 and re-elected in 2013. She oversaw the administration of the court’s 54 million dollar budget and 630 employees, including over 100 POST certified peace officers. These challenges have given Judge Togliatti extensive experience in administrative, government, labor/public employee, collective bargaining, and legislative issues in the state of Nevada on both local and statewide levels.
Prior to her work on the bench, she was a prosecutor with the office of the District Attorney in Clark County which afforded her the opportunity to get significant litigation experience every single day in the courtroom handling law and motion calendars, hearings, and felony trials.
In 2019, Judge Togliatti retired from public service to focus on developing a private ADR practice with a focus on complex matters at ARM as a mediator, special master, and private judge. In her first year, she facilitated settlements totaling almost a billion dollars. Notable cases included the MGM – October 1 Mass Shooting and the Little Valley Fire litigation. Consequently, Judge Togliatti is one of the most sought-after mediators for complex, high-stakes litigation in Nevada and throughout the country. It is important to note that on several of these complex matters, Judge Togliatti was asked to oversee the allocation of settlement funds.
Then in 2021, Judge Togliatti was appointed by Gov. Steve Sisolak as the first woman to chair the Nevada Gaming Commission. This is a part-time panel that meets once a month to make final determinations concerning gaming license applications, regulation changes and disciplinary matters based on recommendations from the full-time, three-member Gaming Control Board. The part-time nature of this appointment will allow Togliatti to continue her work as a private mediator.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
— Neutral, Advanced Resolution Management (2019-present)
— Chair, Nevada Gaming Commission (2021-present)
— Chief Judge, Eighth Judicial District Court (2011-2014)
— District Court Judge, Eighth Judicial District Court (2002-2019)
— Specialty Court assignment, Competency Court (2014-2019)
— Chief Judge, Las Vegas Justice Court (1999)
— Justice of the Peace, Justice Court Las Vegas Township (1998-2002)
— District Attorney, Clark County (1993-1998)
MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS
— Nevada District Judges’ Association (2002-2019; Past President, Legislative Committee, Member)
— Nevada Limited Jurisdiction Judges’ Association (1998-2002, Member)
— Bar Examiner, Nevada State Bar (2011-present)
— Mandatory Sentencing Review Commission (2018-2019 appointed by the Nevada Supreme Court)
— Leadership Las Vegas Graduate 1998 (Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce)
— Community Training for CAAR (Community Action Against Rape)
SPECIALTIES
- Aviation
- Business/Commercial
- Construction
- Construction Defect
- Dental Malpractice
- Discrimination
- Employment
- Government/Municipalities
- Health Care
- Insurance
- Labor La
- Legal Malpractice
- Mass Torts
- Medical Malpractice
- Partnership Disputes/Dissolutions
- Personal Injury
- Premises Liability
- Product Liability
- Professional Malpractice/Negligence
- Wrongful Death
LICENSES
- State of Nevada (1993)
EDUCATION
- Advanced Judicial Education Certificate, Nevada Administrative Office of the Courts (2018)
- J.D., California Western School of Law (1993)
- B.S., University of Nevada, Las Vegas (1989)
- Bishop Gorman High School, Las Vegas (1985)
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