OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY , J. : Appellant laid off certain firefighters claiming that it lacked the money necessary to continue paying their salaries and benefits. The district court enjoined appellant from implementing its decision while respondents pursued arbitration of their grievance disputing that appellant lacked the money to support the positions. In this appeal, we must determine whether respondents' grievance is arbitrable where the parties recited in their collective...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY , J. : Following an outbreak of hepatitis C that was linked to unsafe injection practices used in procedures performed at certain healthcare facilities in southern Nevada, patients of those facilities who had undergone such procedures were advised to submit to testing for blood-borne diseases, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV. This appeal concerns whether, in the absence of a present physical injury, those patients who have so far tested...
OPINION By the Court, PICKERING , J. : This case presents the question of whether the definition of "indebtedness" found in NRS 40.451 limits, through its interaction with NRS 40.459(1)(a) and NRS 40.459(1)(b), the amount a successor lienholder can recover in an action for a deficiency judgment to the amount of consideration such a lienholder paid to obtain its interest in the note and deed of trust. Specifically, we must determine the meaning of NRS 40.451's final sentence, "[s]uch...
OPINION By the Court, GIBBONS , C.J. : This case involves a dispute between an insured manufacturer and its insurer. In the present case, electrical problems at a plastic bag manufacturing plant led to damaged machinery and an increased number of defective bags being produced. Following the electrical problems, the manufacturer filed a claim with its insurance company. However, a dispute arose between the parties regarding whether losses associated with the defective bags should be...
OPINION By the Court, SAITTA , J. : "The voluntary payment doctrine is a long-standing doctrine of law, which clearly provides that one who makes a payment voluntarily cannot recover it on the ground that he was under no legal obligation to make the payment." Best Buy Stores v. Benderson-Wainberg Assocs., 668 F.3d 1019 , 1030 (8th Cir.2012) (internal quotations omitted). This doctrine precludes recovery of a voluntary payment unless the party can demonstrate that it meets an exception...
OPINION By the Court, HARDESTY , J. : Appellants Sierra Pacific Power Company and Nevada Power Company, doing business jointly as NV Energy, bring coal into Nevada to produce electricity. Pursuant to NRS Chapter 372, NV Energy pays a use tax for its coal consumption. NRS 372.270 exempts from the use tax the sale, storage, or use of the proceeds of Nevada mines. The district court found, and the parties do not dispute on appeal, that NRS 372.270's tax exemption for locally mined minerals...
OPINION By the Court, SAITTA , J. : On March 6, 2014, a panel of this court issued an opinion examining the partnership-by-estoppel doctrine and affirming in part, reversing in part, and remanding a district court order that determined on summary judgment that the doctrine did not apply. Because this case involves a substantial precedential and public policy issue, we now grant en banc reconsideration to consider an issue that the prior opinion did not directly address: whether the...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE, J.: In this appeal from a district court order terminating parental rights, we are asked to decide whether the district court erred in relying on a juvenile court's determination that a minor child's injury was not accidental, but rather was caused by appellant, the child's birth mother. We conclude that respondent confessed error on this issue. We therefore reverse and remand for a new trial as to appellant's parental rights. FACTS Appellant Keaundra D....
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE, J.: NRS 604A.425 limits the amount of a deferred deposit loan to 25 percent of a borrower's expected gross monthly income. In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether that cap includes only the principal borrowed or the principal amount plus any interest or fees charged. We conclude that NRS 604A.425 unambiguously provides that the 25-percent cap includes both principal and any interest or fees charged. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's...
OPINION PER CURIAM: Appellant Joe Valdez filed the underlying action against four defendants. Ultimately, the claims against respondent Video Internet Phone Installs, Inc. (VIPI), were severed from the rest of the claims and thereafter resolved. Instead of appealing from the order resolving the severed claims against VIPI, however, Valdez waited to appeal from the order finally resolving the unsevered claims before challenging interlocutory orders regarding VIPI. We issue this opinion to...
OPINION By the Court, SAITTA, J.: Under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), appellant Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the FDIC) acts as a "conservator or receiver" for failed financial institutions. 12 U.S.C. 1821(d)(2)(A) (2012). FIRREA extends the time period for the FDIC, in its capacity as the failed institution's conservator or receiver, to bring a contract claim that has otherwise been barred by a state statutory time limitation:...
OPINION By the Court, PICKERING, J.: This case presents the question of whether appellants, performers at Sapphire Gentlemen's Club, are Sapphire employees within the meaning of NRS 608.010 and thus entitled to the minimum wages guaranteed by NRS Chapter 608. Because NRS 608.010's definition of employee hinges on NRS 608.011's definition of employer, we must decide the larger issue of when an entity is an employer under NRS 608.011, and in particular whether Sapphire is the performers'...
OPINION By the Court, DOUGLAS, J.: In this opinion, we consider several issues raised by consolidated writ petitions arising out of a construction-defect action. Specifically, we address whether the district court acted arbitrarily or capriciously by failing to perform an NRCP 23 class-action analysis, determining that previously occupied units in a common-interest community do not qualify for NRS Chapter 40 remedies, 1 and allowing claims seeking NRS Chapter 40 remedies to proceed for...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE, J.: In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the warrantless, forced blood draw on a driver suspected of driving under the influence of a controlled substance violates the Fourth Amendment. In light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Missouri v. McNeely, we conclude that the natural dissipation of marijuana in the blood stream does not constitute a per se exigent circumstance justifying a warrantless search. 569 U.S. ___, ___, 133 S.Ct....
OPINION By the Court, CHEERY, J.: This appeal arises from punitive damages proceedings on remand after we issued our decision in Betsinger v. D.R. Horton, Inc. ( Betsinger I ), 126 Nev. 162, 232 P.3d 433 (2010), a case that involved fraud and deceptive trade practices in the context of a real estate purchase and loan arrangement. On appeal, we consider whether the proceedings on remand violated NRS 42.005(3), which requires any trier of fact who determines that punitive damages are...
AMENDED OPINION By the Court, PICKERING, J.: At issue is the alleged negligence of Palms Casino Resort in allowing promotional actors to toss souvenirs into a crowd of patrons watching a televised sporting event at the casino's sports bar. Specifically, we must decide whether to extend the limited-duty rule that this court established in Turner v. Mandalay Sports Entertainment, 124 Nev. 213, 220-21, 180 P.3d 1172 , 1177 (2008), to these facts. We decline to do so, and thus hold there was...
OPINION By the Court, PARRAGUIRRE, J.: In this appeal, we are asked whether a commercial tenant may be constructively evicted without first providing the landlord notice of and a reasonable opportunity to cure the defect. We conclude that constructive eviction requires that a landlord be given notice of and a reasonable opportunity to cure a defect, and substantial evidence supports the district court's finding that the landlord in this case did not receive notice that the defect continued...
OPINION By the Court, DOUGLAS, J.: In this opinion, we address whether, after a district court grants an evidentiary hearing on a pretrial motion to strike a jury venire, it is structural error to deny that motion before completing the evidentiary hearing. We hold that it is. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Buchanan was charged with burglary, robbery, and abuse or neglect of an older person. Upon seeing the jury venire enter the courtroom for voir dire, Buchanan's counsel lodged an immediate...
OPINION By the Court, DOUGLAS, J.: Appellant Copper Sands Homeowners Association (the HOA) brought an action against respondents, developer Flamingo 94, LLC, and general contractor/sales broker Plaster Development Company, Inc. (the Developers), alleging several claims for various construction defects present in the Copper Sands common-interest community. The Developers impleaded the remaining respondents, subcontractors who had performed work on the project, into the action as third-party...
OPINION By the Court, CHERRY, J.: A district court may grant summary judgment sua sponte if it gives the defending party notice and an opportunity to defend. In this case, the district court granted summary judgment to the plaintiff on two claims for relief that were not argued in the summary judgment briefing or in oral argument. The district court did not give notice to the defendant that it intended to do so. We conclude that the district court erred by granting summary judgment on those...
