OPINION By the Court, GIBBONS, J.: The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada has certified a question of law to this court regarding the ability of a debtor to claim Nevada's homestead exemption. The certified question asks: Can a debtor properly claim a homestead exemption for his interest in real property under NRS 21.090(1)( l ) and NRS Chapter 115 when debtor himself does not reside on the property but his minor children do Put another way, does a debtor have to...
OPINION By the Court, FLANAGAN, D.J.: This case arises from a personal injury action filed by appellants Melinda and Jagdish Dogra. They sued respondent Jane H. Liles and her daughter Susan Liles, both California residents, for damages stemming from a car accident in Nevada. The accident occurred when Susan was driving Jane's car. The central issue in this appeal is whether Jane, a nonresident defendant, is subject to personal jurisdiction in Nevada by virtue of the accident. Additionally,...
OPINION By the Court, DOUGLAS, J.: In this appeal from a district court order denying a petition for judicial review, we review a State Personnel Commission hearing officer's decision in a state employment matter. We conclude that the hearing officer did not err or abuse her discretion in determining that, pursuant to the clear and unambiguous language of NRS Chapter 284, while hearing officers may determine the reasonableness of disciplinary actions and recommend appropriate levels of...
OPINION PER CURIAM: NRCP 59(e) allows a party to move the district court to alter or amend a "judgment." The timely filing of an NRCP 59(e) motion may toll the period in which a notice of appeal from the judgment must be filed until the motion is resolved. NRAP 4(a)(4). Here, however, appellants filed a motion to alter or amend a post-judgment order awarding supplemental attorney fees. We asked the parties to address whether an NRCP 59(e) tolling motion is properly directed at a post-...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY, J.: This appeal and cross-appeal concern trust property that was transferred from the trust to a limited partnership for consideration and by consent of all of the trust beneficiaries. Subsequently, the partnership transferred the property to a third-party business. We must now determine whether the in rem jurisdiction over trust assets conferred upon a district court by NRS 164.010(1) and NRS 164.015(6) permits that court to impose a constructive trust on...
OPINION 1 By the Court, PICKERING, C.J.: In this appeal we consider whether a regulation promulgated by the Nevada Tax Commission to value remainder parcels of real property for tax abatement purposes applies retroactively. I. In 2005, the Legislature enacted NRS 361.4722, which caps real property taxes by providing partial tax abatements calculated with reference to assessed valuations for the preceding fiscal year on, as relevant here, remainder parcels of real property. 2 The...
OPINION By the Court, PICKERING, C.J.: We consider whether the State's use of a PowerPoint during opening statement that includes a slide of the defendant's booking photo with the word "GUILTY" superimposed across it constitutes improper advocacy and undermines the presumption of innocence essential to a fair trial. 1 I. Frankie Alan Watters was charged with and convicted of possession of a stolen vehicle, grand larceny of a vehicle, and failure to stop on the signal of a police officer....
OPINION By the Court, DOUGLAS, J.: In this opinion, we address whether a district court properly quashed a subpoena based on Nevada's news shield statute, NRS 49.275, which protects journalists from being required to reveal information gathered in their professional capacities in the course of developing news stories. We conclude that a request for protection under NRS 49.275 may be raised, as it was here, by a reporter's attorney in a motion to quash a subpoena, without the need to file a...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE, J.: In this appeal, the beneficiary of a will challenges a district court order invalidating the will as the product of the beneficiary's undue influence. A rebuttable presumption of undue influence is raised if the testator and the beneficiary shared a fiduciary relationship, but undue influence may also be proved without raising this presumption. As a matter of first impression in Nevada, we hold that in the absence of a presumption, a will contestant...
OPINION By the Court, SAITTA, J.: Petitioner Brian Clay stands charged with two counts of first-degree murder and associated offenses for which he faces the death penalty. He challenges a juvenile court order granting the State's motion to unseal and release his juvenile delinquency records to assist in the prosecution. We conclude that Nevada law does not allow the State to inspect a person's sealed juvenile records for use against the person in subsequent criminal proceedings....
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE, J.: In this appeal, we are concerned with the admissibility of expert testimony related to sex offender grooming behavior and the effect that behavior has on a child victim. "Grooming" generally describes conduct or actions by an offender that are undertaken to develop a bond between the victim and offender and, ultimately, make the victim more receptive to sexual activity with the offender. In particular, we address whether (1) the district court abused...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE, J.: In Nevada, a driver who has been involved in an accident must stop and remain at the scene until he has provided certain information and rendered reasonable assistance to any person injured in the accident. NRS 484E.010-.030. If the accident resulted in bodily injury or the death of a person, a driver's failure to stop and remain at the scene is a felony. NRS 484E.010(3). In this appeal, we must determine whether the State is required to prove that the...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE, J.: In this appeal, we discuss the applicability of Nevada's Public Records Act (the Act) to information stored in the individual files of retired employees that are maintained by appellant Public Employees' Retirement System of Nevada (PERS). Specifically, we address the scope of confidentiality set forth in NRS 286.110(3), which states that "[t]he official correspondence and records, other than the files of individual members or retired employees, ......
OPINION By the Court, SAITTA, J.: In this opinion, we address NRS 40.459(1)(c), a statute limiting the amount of judgments in instances where a right to obtain a judgment against the debtor, guarantor, or surety has been transferred from one person to another. NRS 40.459(1)(c) was added to Nevada's law by Assembly Bill 273, which provided that NRS 40.459(1)(c) would "become effective upon passage and approval." 2011 Nev. Stat., ch. 311, 5, 7, at 1743, 1748. We conclude that NRS 40.459(1)(...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY, J.: Under NRS 17.245(1)(b), a defendant who enters into "a release or a covenant not to sue or not to enforce judgment ... in good faith" is "discharge[d] ... from all liability for contribution and for equitable indemnity to any other [defendant]." The questions we are asked to decide in this original writ proceeding are: (1) If a defendant settles in good faith, does NRS 17.245(1)(b) bar "de facto" claims for contribution and/or equitable indemnity ; and (2)...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE, J.: In the underlying premises liability action, the premises owner successfully moved the district court to order the plaintiffs to join the plaintiffs' assailant as a defendant to the action, on the grounds that the assailant is a party necessary to the litigation. NRCP 19 provides that a person must be joined as a party if the court cannot afford complete relief in that person's absence. We conclude that the assailant was not a necessary party under NRCP...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY, J.: In 2011, this court affirmed a district court order granting respondent Masco Builder Cabinet Group a tax refund for overpaid taxes. Thereafter, appellant State of Nevada Department of Taxation refused to pay interest on Masco's tax refund, arguing that (1) Masco failed to demand interest in its initial refund claim, thus waiving its right to interest; and (2) NRS 372.665 permits the Department to withhold interest on tax refunds owed due to the taxpayer's...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE, J.: A judgment creditor may garnish only a debtor's funds that are held in a joint bank account, not the funds in the account owned solely by the nondebtor. In post-judgment proceedings below, a judgment creditor garnished the funds in bank accounts held by the judgment debtor jointly with her nondebtor children. The children, claiming that the garnished funds belonged to them alone, objected and petitioned the district court for relief, but the district...
OPINION By the Court, GIBBONS, J.: In this appeal from a judgment for the plaintiffs in a wrongful death action, we consider whether evidence of the deceased's blood alcohol content (BAC) may be admitted to show his comparative negligence. We conclude that admission of a person's BAC requires additional evidence suggesting intoxication from either a percipient witness or an expert who can testify regarding that person's commensurate level of impairment. We also consider three other issues: (...
OPINION By the Court, DOUGLAS, J.: In this appeal, we must determine if Nevada law allows employers to require employees to pool their tips with other employees of a different rank. After considering the parties' arguments and the applicable provisions in NRS Chapter 608, we conclude that Nevada law permits the tip-pooling policy at issue here. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Appellant, the Wynn Las Vegas, restructured its table-games department and implemented its current tip-pooling policy...
