OPINION By the Court, STIGLICH , J. : This medical malpractice suit requires us to reconsider under what circumstances a hospital can be vicariously liable for the alleged negligence of a doctor who works at the hospital as an independent contractor. The district court held that the hospital could not be liable, particularly when the doctor independently settled with the plaintiff and when the plaintiff signed forms stating that all doctors at the hospital are independent contractors. We...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY , J. : Water in Diamond Valley, Nevada, is over-appropriated and has been pumped at a rate exceeding its perennial yield for over four decades. In 2014, the Office of the State Engineer found that groundwater levels in southern Diamond Valley had fallen over 100 feet. A vested, senior water rights holder has asked the district court to order the State Engineer to curtail junior water rights in the Diamond Valley Hydrographic Basin No. 153 (Diamond Valley)...
OPINION By the Court, STIGLICH , J. : At issue in this appeal is the definition of "deadly weapon" within the context of battery. Daniel Rodriguez contends the jury instruction that led to his conviction for battery with the use of a deadly weapon was erroneous because the object he used to stab his victim — a screwdriver — is not designed to be inherently dangerous. We disagree because, within the context of battery, "deadly weapon" includes an instrument which, under the circumstances...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY , J. : NRS 41A.071 provides that a district court must dismiss a plaintiff's medical malpractice complaint if it is not accompanied by an expert affidavit. However, under NRS 41A.100(1), a plaintiff need not attach an expert affidavit for a res ipsa loquitur claim. In this appeal, we consider whether either statutory res ipsa loquitur or the common knowledge res ipsa loquitur doctrine provides an exception to the expert affidavit requirement for suit. We...
OPINION By the Court, GIBBONS , J. : In this original proceeding, we are asked to consider whether seven managers of a limited liability company (LLC) are subject to suit for personal negligence as individual tortfeasors or under an alter ego theory of liability. We conclude that NRS 86.371 is not intended to shield members or managers from liability for personal negligence. We further conclude that the corporate alter ego doctrine applies to LLCs. Accordingly, we grant the petition...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY , J. : In this opinion, we conduct an automatic review of a Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board hearing panel's recommendation that attorney R. Christopher Reade be suspended from the practice of law in Nevada for 30 months and be required to pay a $25,000 fine to the Clients' Security Fund, based on violating RPC 8.4(b) (misconduct). This court previously considered, and rejected, the panel's approval of a conditional guilty plea agreement between Reade and...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY J. : In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether, under the statutory definitions existing in 2012, the offense of statutory sexual seduction is a lesser-included offense of sexual assault when that offense is committed against a minor under 14 years of age. 1 Under the elements test, for an uncharged offense to be a lesser-included offense of the charged offense so that the defendant is entitled to a jury instruction on the lesser offense, all of...
OPINION By the Court, DOUGLAS , J. : This case addresses the tension in the law that arises where a party that served an NRCP 68 offer of judgment discovers facts, during the ten-day irrevocable period for acceptance of NRCP 68 offers, that would otherwise impact the offering party's decision to serve an NRCP 68 offer in the first instance. Specifically, we must determine whether claims that are brought by the offering party in a second action, and arise out of these facts that were...
OPINION By the Court, CHERRY , C.J. : We previously determined in Eureka County v. State Engineer (Eureka I), 131 Nev. ___, 359 P.3d 1114 (2015), that the State Engineer failed to rely upon substantial evidence in finding that Kobeh Valley Ranch, LLC (KVR) would be able to mitigate conflicts to prior water rights when approving KVR's applications to appropriate water. Specifically, we concluded that the State Engineer's "decisions must be supported by substantial evidence in the...
OPINION By the Court, STIGLICH , J. : In Nevada, claims of design defect are historically governed by the consumer-expectation test. Under this test, a product is defectively designed if it "fail[s] to perform in the manner reasonably to be expected in light of its nature and intended function and [is] more dangerous than would be contemplated by the ordinary user having the ordinary knowledge available in the community." Ginnis v. Mapes Hotel Corp., 86 Nev. 408, 413, 470 P.2d 135 ,...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY , J. : In this petition for extraordinary relief, we consider whether a homeowners' association has standing to bring a construction defect suit on behalf of its members if the ownership of some units has changed since the action began. The statute in effect at the commencement of litigation, NRS 116.3102(1)(d) (2007), afforded a homeowners' association representational standing to pursue litigation on behalf of the units' owners. The narrow questions we...
OPINION By the Court, GIBBONS , J. : NRS 200.620 prohibits a person from recording a telephone call unless both parties participating in the call consent to the recording. In response to a certified question submitted by the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, we consider whether NRS 200.620 applies to telephone recordings made by a party outside Nevada who uses equipment outside Nevada to record telephone conversations with a person in Nevada without that person's...
OPINION By the Court, PICKERING , J. : In this insurance policy cancellation dispute, we are asked to resolve two issues. The first is whether NRS 687B.360 requires a cancellation notice to contain a statement of a policyholder's right to request additional information to be effective. We hold that NRS 687B.360 requires strict compliance; without an express statement of a policyholder's right to request additional information about the reasons for a policy's cancellation, the...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY , J. : This matter is before us on remand from the United States Supreme Court. We previously issued an opinion in this matter concluding, in part, that appellant Franchise Tax Board of the State of California (FTB) was not entitled to the statutory cap on damages a similarly situated Nevada agency would be entitled to under similar circumstances. Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. v. Hyatt (2014 Opinion), 130 Nev. ___, 335 P.3d 125 , 131 (2014), vacated,...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE , J. : In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether respondent properly sought the disclosure of public records by means of a writ of mandamus even though a regulation was at issue and the Nevada Administrative Procedure Act, NRS Chapter 233B, provides that the validity of a regulation may be determined in a proceeding for a declaratory judgment. Because we conclude that the writ petition was procedurally proper, we further consider whether the...
OPINION By the Court, GIBBONS , J. : In this appeal, we are asked to consider to what extent a member of a limited liability company (LLC) is protected in a negligence-based tort action against the LLC. In doing so, we conclude that, pursuant to NRS 86.371 and NRS 86.381, a member cannot be personally responsible for the LLC's liabilities solely by virtue of being a member. Based on the facts of this case, we further conclude that the district court properly dismissed the members as...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE , J. : The United States District Court for the District of Nevada has certified, under NRAP 5, the following question to this court: "Does the rule of SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 130 Nev. ___, 334 P.3d 408 (2014) that foreclosures under NRS 116.3116 extinguish first security interests apply retroactively to foreclosures occurring prior to the date of that decision " We answer the question in the affirmative and conclude that our...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY , J. : A jury convicted appellant Dipak Kantilal Desai of, among other things, seven counts of performance of an act in reckless disregard of persons or property resulting in substantial bodily harm pursuant to NRS 202.595(2), and seven counts of criminal neglect of patients resulting in substantial bodily harm pursuant to NRS 200.495(1), collectively characterized in this opinion as the endangerment crimes. In this appeal, we are asked to determine...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE , J. : In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the district court erred in granting a motion to vacate an arbitration award affirming a school district's termination of a principal. We answer in the affirmative and conclude that (1) the arbitrator did not exceed his authority because his decision did not conflict with the language of the parties' collective bargaining agreement, (2) the arbitrator did not manifestly ignore the law because he...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY , J. : Assemblymen Ira Hansen and Jim Wheeler seek dismissal of this appeal, arguing that the notice of appeal is void because it was not authorized by the client, the Nevada Commission on Ethics, a public body. Because we determine that an attorney for a public body must have authorization from the client in a public meeting prior to filing a notice of appeal, the notice of appeal is defective and we lack jurisdiction to further consider this appeal....
