Generally, nonsignatories to arbitration agreements have been required to arbitrate under theories of incorporation by reference, assumption, agency, alter ego, and estoppel. In this appeal, we consider whether a nonsignatory to an arbitration agreement can, nevertheless, be required to submit an oral contract dispute to arbitration. We also briefly address whether the doctrine of unclean hands should apply to bind respondent Palmer J. Swanson, Inc. (Nevada firm), to the arbitration provisions...  

The State charged appellant Emmanuel Hernandez with first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon for shooting and killing Jose Gonzalez in front of the Palm Hills Apartments in Las Vegas. At the State's request, the district court admitted at trial the preliminary hearing testimony of a witness who did not arrive to testify as scheduled. In this appeal, we address the burden placed on the proponent of an absent witness's preliminary hearing testimony to show that reasonable diligence was...  

In this original petition we consider two primary issues with regard to petitioner's NRCP 25 motion to dismiss a deceased plaintiff's loss of consortium claim. First, we address whether a defendant party who files a suggestion of death on the record is required to name a successor or personal representative for the deceased plaintiff to trigger NRCP 25's 90-day limitation period. We clarify that a suggestion of a plaintiff's death filed by a defendant is generally sufficient to trigger the...  

Petitioners challenge real parties in interest's candidacies for state offices or positions on local governing bodies based on the Nevada Constitution's Article 15, Section 3(2) term-limit amendment. That amendment, which became effective in late November 1996, provides that a person may not serve more than 12 years in any state office or as a member of any local governing body. The primary question presented here is whether that amendment applies to an individual who was elected to a term of...  

In this original petition for a writ of mandamus, we examine a Nevada constitutional amendment that precludes State Assembly members from serving more than 12 years in office.1 In examining that amendment, we first address two issues: whether a petition for a writ of mandamus is the appropriate means for challenging a State Assembly member's qualifications to run for office and whether the constitutional amendment setting term limits for the State Assembly Office is valid and enforceable. With...  

These consolidated appeals arise from the same central conflict over property tax valuation that we addressed in State, Board of Equalization v. Bakst.2 In Bakst, several taxpayers challenged the Washoe County Assessor's use of certain appraisal methods to establish the taxable values of their properties for the 2003-2004 tax year. The district court, and later this court, determined that the Assessor's methods were unconstitutional and ordered the taxpayers' properties' taxable values rolled...  

In this appeal, we consider the extent to which biomechanical engineers may testify concerning damage claims in personal injury matters2 and clarify the standards for appellate review concerning the adequacy of damage awards based upon the erroneous admission of evidence... We conclude that (1) the district court below abused its discretion when it allowed a physician with an engineering background to testify as a biomechanical expert against a personal injury plaintiff because, among other...  

In this appeal, we consider whether the placement of interest earned on condemnation funds, which were deposited with the court in an eminent domain action, into a local government's general fund for public benefit, pursuant to statute, constituted a taking under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution... We conclude that, because condemnation deposits constitute private property to the extent that a party is entitled to the condemnation deposit, the party is...  

In 1985, appellant Paul Lewis Browning robbed and stabbed to death Hugo Elsen. A jury convicted Browning of first-degree murder and various other offenses and sentenced him to death. We affirmed Browning's convictions and death sentence on direct appeal.2 Browning unsuccessfully sought post-conviction relief in the district court. On appeal, this court concluded that the district court erred by denying Browning's claim that counsel was ineffective for not challenging a jury instruction defining...  

This matter comes to us by way of an original petition for a writ of mandamus. In resolving this petition, we consider the scope of NRS 33.018, which defines acts that constitute domestic violence. Under NRS 33.018, a person convicted of battery commits an act that constitutes domestic violence when the victim is, among other things, the defendant's spouse, "any other person to whom [the defendant] is related by blood or marriage," or a person with whom the defendant resides.2 The issue...  

In this case, we consider the district court's role in evaluating potential juror bias in grand jury proceedings. We conclude that it is the domain of the district court judge, not the prosecuting attorney, to determine whether grand juror bias exists as such claims arise. However, when a defendant has been found guilty by a petit jury following a fair trial of the crime for which he was indicted by a grand jury, we conclude that any error that may have occurred as a result of grand juror bias...  

In this appeal, we address a single issue of first impression: whether and under what circumstances surviving family members may recover workers' compensation death benefits if an injured employee commits suicide as the result of an industrial injury. While workers' compensation benefits are generally available for accidental employee deaths, under NRS 616C.230(1), Nevada's willful self-injury exclusion, the employee's surviving family members are precluded from recovering benefits if the...  

In this original petition for a writ of mandamus, we decide whether ameliorative amendments to the deadly weapon enhancement statute (NRS 193.165) apply to offenders who committed their crimes prior to the effective date of the amendments but were sentenced after that date. We conclude that they do not. We further reaffirm the general rule that crimes are punishable in accord with the law in force at the time a defendant commits his crime unless the Legislature clearly expresses its intent to...  

In this appeal, we address the residency requirements for district court judicial candidates and, in particular, whether a candidate for district judge must reside within the judicial district in which he or she is seeking office. Because district judges are recognized as "state officers" under NRS 293.109, we conclude that a candidate who satisfies NRS 3.060's mandate that a district court judicial candidate must be a Nevada state resident for at least two years preceding the election...  

Chanon Somee was convicted of four counts of attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further, or assist a criminal gang and two counts of carrying a concealed weapon.1 He now appeals those convictions arguing that the district court erred in admitting evidence obtained through: (1) a pat-down search of Somee and (2) field interviews with Somee conducted prior to the crime... Regarding the pat-down search, we apply the standard of review set forth in State v....  

In this appeal, we consider, for the first time, multiple sections of Nevada's Uniform Act on Rights of the Terminally Ill (the Act), codified in NRS 449.535 through 449.690. The Act authorizes the use of three procedures by which terminally ill patients or their families can legally implement their wishes with regard to withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. First, an individual may execute a declaration directing an attending physician to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining...  

In this appeal, we address the use of equitable estoppel and waiver principles in administrative workers' compensation proceedings, as well as the appeals officer's duty to make factual findings in rendering a determination. We conclude that equitable estoppel and waiver principles may be applied in workers' compensation proceedings, and therefore, since those principles generally require a factual determination, the appeals officer has authority to and must consider them in the first instance....  

In this case, a judgment creditor domesticated a foreign judgment in Nevada but failed to enforce the domesticated judgment within Nevada's six-year limitation period for the enforcement of judgments. Then, after successfully renewing the judgment in the issuing jurisdiction, the judgment creditor domesticated the renewed foreign judgment in Nevada... Thus, in this appeal, we consider whether a judgment creditor's valid renewal of a foreign judgment allows the creditor to domesticate the...  

In this opinion, we consider whether conspiracy to commit robbery is a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person of another within the meaning of the death penalty aggravating circumstance defined in NRS 200.033(2)(b). We conclude that it is not... FACTS... Petitioner Eugene Nunnery is awaiting trial on one count of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, two counts of attempted murder the use of a deadly weapon, two counts of robbery with the use of a deadly...  

On May 5, 2008, petitioner Elizabeth Halverson filed in this court an original petition seeking an extraordinary writ and declaratory relief that would prevent the Secretary of State and the Clark County Registrar of Voters from holding an election in 2008 for four judicial positions created by the 2005 Nevada Legislature in Senate Bill (S.B.) 195. According to Halverson, S.B. 195 unconstitutionally created positions for judges with initial terms of two years, when the state constitution...