Justia Nevada Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In 2007, the Nevada Tax Commission (NTC) promulgated Nev. Admin. Code 361.61038, which set forth an apportionment formula for calculating remainder-parcel property values for purposes of Nev. Rev. Stat. 361.4722. Respondent owned a parcel that was divided from a larger piece of land before the regulation's enactment and was properly characterized as a "remainder parcel" under section 361.4722(6). Appellant, the county assessor, valued the land under the approach he used before section 361.61038 was enacted. Respondent appealed, seeking application of the new regulation's apportionment formula. The NTC upheld the assessor's valuation and declined to apply its new regulation retroactively. The district court reversed the judgment of the NTC and directed it to apply section 361.61038 to Respondent's remainder parcel. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that, in this case, (1) application of the regulation would be impermissibly retroactive; and (2) the methods the assessor used did not violate the Constitution.View "County of Clark v. LB Props., Inc." on Justia Law

Petitioners were sued by Investors who alleged that Petitioners had breached various statutory, contractual, and fiduciary duties. Petitioners filed numerous counterclaims alleging (1) Dana Gentry, a local television reporter, helped Investors investigate and prepare their lawsuit in order to manufacture news stories intended to embarrass Petitioners; and (2) Gentry received personal favors from Investors in connection with the news stories. During discovery, Petitioners served a subpoena on Gentry requesting information relating to Gentry's relationship with Investors. Gentry filed a motion to quash the subpoena, arguing that the information sought was protected by Nevada's news shield statute, which protects journalists from being required to reveal information gathered in their professional capacities in the course of developing news stories. The district court granted the motion to quash. The Supreme Court denied Petitioners' petition for extraordinary relief, concluding that Gentry's motion to quash the subpoena properly asserted the news shield privilege and that Petitioners failed to overcome this privilege.View "Aspen Fin. Servs., Inc. v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court" on Justia Law

In Carrigan I, the Nevada Supreme Court held that city councilman Michael Carrigan's vote on the Lazy 8 hotel/casino project constituted protected speech under the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court held that Carrigan's vote on the Lazy 8 project did not constitute protected speech, thus reversing the Nevada Supreme Court decision that the First Amendment overbreadth doctrine invalidated the conflict-of-interest recusal provision in Nevada's Ethics in Government Law. On remand, Carrigan challenged the constitutional validity of the core conflict-of-interest recusal provisions in Nevada's Ethics in Government Law. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the conflict-of-interest recusal provision in Nevada's Ethics in Government Law is not unconstitutionally vague; and (2) the conflict-of-interest recusal provision does not unconstitutionally burden the First Amendment freedom-of-association rights shared by Nevada's elected officials and their supporters.View "Carrigan v. Nev. Comm'n on Ethics" on Justia Law

The State charged Petitioner with two counts of first-degree murder and associated offenses. The State filed a motion in the juvenile court seeking to unseal and release Petitioner's juvenile records to assist in the prosecution. The juvenile court issued an order broadly unsealing and releasing the records for "use in the prosecution." The Supreme Court granted Petitioner's petition for extraordinary relief, holding (1) a district attorney is not statutorily authorized to inspect a defendant's sealed juvenile records to obtain information that will be used against him or her in a subsequent proceeding; and (2) therefore, the juvenile court manifestly abused its discretion by granting the State's motion to inspect Petitioner's sealed juvenile records.View "Clay v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court" on Justia Law

The special administrator of Decedent's estate petitioned to have Decedent's estate set aside without administration according to Decedent's 2007 will. Decedent's stepdaughters opposed the petition, arguing that a beneficiary of the will had unduly influenced Decedent. The district court invalidated the will as the product of the beneficiary's undue influence. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) in the absence of a presumption of undue influence, a will contestant bears the burden of proving undue influence by a preponderance of the evidence; and (2) Decedent's stepdaughters failed to meet this burden of proof, and accordingly, the district court's order was not supported by substantial evidence. Remanded.View "In re Estate of Bethurem" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of possession of a stolen vehicle, grand larceny of a vehicle, and failure to stop on the signal of a police officer. During the trial, the State used a PowerPoint presentation in its opening statement. One slide showed Defendant's booking photograph with a pop-up that showed the word "guilty" written across Defendant's face. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction, holding (1) the district court erred and abused its discretion in allowing the prosecutor's booking-photo slide sequence in opening statement; and (2) because the State did not show beyond a reasonable doubt that the booking-photo slide sequence did not affect the jury's determination of Defendant's guilt, the error was not harmless. Remanded for a new trial.View "Watters v. State" on Justia Law

At issue in this appeal was the admissibility of expert testimony related to sex offender grooming behavior, which describes the conduct undertaken by an offender to make the victim more receptive to sexual activity with the offender. Appellant was convicted of several counts of lewdness with a minor and sexual assault of a minor. On appeal, Appellant challenged the admission of expert testimony on grooming behaviors and its effect on child victims of sexual abuse. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of conviction, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the testimony of the expert witness in this case, as the testimony met the qualification, assistance, and limited scope requirements for admissibility and did not impermissibly bolster the victim's testimony.View "Perez v. State" on Justia Law

Appellant was charged with a felony for leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in bodily injury. At the close of the evidence at trial, Defendant requested that the jury be instructed that it could not find him guilty of leaving the scene of an accident unless it found Defendant had actual knowledge of the accident at the time it occurred. The trial court refused to give the requested instruction and instead instructed the jury that it could find Defendant guilty of the crime if it found Defendant knew or should have known he had been involved in an accident prior to leaving the scene of the accident. The jury returned a guilty verdict. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of conviction entered by the district court, holding (1) the State is required to prove the driver had knowledge that he had been involved in an accident to convict him of felony leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in bodily injury, and such knowledge may be actual or constructive; and (2) sufficient evidence supported the jury's finding in this case that Appellant knew or should have known that he was involved in an accident before leaving the scene.View "Clancy v. State" on Justia Law

Appellant pleaded guilty to several felony offenses. Seven months after the judgment of conviction was entered, Appellant filed a motion to withdraw the guilty plea. The district court denied the motion on the merits. At issue before the Supreme Court was whether a defendant can file motion to withdraw a guilty plea to challenge a conviction or sentence after sentence has been opposed. The Court reversed and remanded for the district court to treat Appellant’s motion as a post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus, holding (1) after sentence has been imposed, the statutory post-conviction habeas petition takes the place of a motion to withdraw a guilty plea; and (2) because Hart v. State holds otherwise, it is overruled. View "Harris v. State" on Justia Law

In 2007, Sandpointe Apartments obtained a loan secured by a deed of trust to real property. Stacy Yahraus-Lewis personally guaranteed the loan. After Sandpointe defaulted on the loan, the interest in the loan and guarantee was transferred to CML-NV Sandpointe, LLC. In 2011, CML-NV pursued its rights under the deed of trust's power of sale provision and purchased the property securing the loan at a trustee's sale. Thereafter, the Legislature enacted Nev. Rev. Stat. 40.459(1)(c), which limits the amount of a deficiency judgment that can be recovered by persons who acquired the right to obtain the judgment from someone else who held that right. Subsequently, CML-NV filed a complaint against Sandpointe and Yahraus-Lewis for deficiency and breach of guaranty. Yahraus-Lewis moved for partial summary judgment, requesting that the district court apply the limitation contained in section 40.459(1)(c) to CML-NV's action. The district court concluded that the statute applies only to loans entered into after June 10, 2011. Sandpointe and Yahraus-Lewis subsequently petitioned for a writ of mandamus or prohibition. The Supreme Court denied the writ, concluding that the statute may not apply retroactively, and therefore, the statute's limitations did not apply in this case.View "Sandpointe Apartments, LLC v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court" on Justia Law