Justia Communications Law Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in Supreme Court of Nevada
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The Supreme Court of Nevada upheld a judgment from a lower court in a case involving extortion claims related to cryptocurrency. The case involves Christopher Terry, who sued Ava Blige, alleging she extorted cryptocurrency and money from him under threat of publishing his personal information. Blige failed to respond to court-ordered discovery requests, leading the district court to enter a default judgment in favor of Terry. The court found that Terry had established a prima facie case for conversion, unjust enrichment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, awarding him damages accordingly. The court also found that the factual allegations supported a claim for extortion, even though it was not specifically pleaded in the complaint. On appeal, Blige argued that the district court erroneously determined that she had impliedly consented to being sued under the unpleaded legal theory of extortion. The Supreme Court of Nevada agreed with Blige on this issue, stating that a defaulting party cannot be found to have impliedly consented to try claims that were not pleaded in the complaint. However, the court affirmed the lower court's judgment, concluding that Blige wrongfully dispossessed Terry of the cryptocurrency and money for cars through extortive acts under the theories of conversion, unjust enrichment, and caused him emotional distress. View "BLIGE VS. TERRY" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the decision of the district court to deny Appellant's petition for a writ of mandamus pursuant to the Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA) challenging the failure of the Reno Police Department (RPD) to disclose certain records, holding that the district court erred in part.At issue on appeal was RPD's refusal to disclose an investigative report to Appellant, who owned and operated an online news website, and RPD's redaction to officers' faces before disclosing body-worn camera footage. The district court denied Appellant's mandamus petition as to both issues. The Supreme Court (1) reversed in part regarding the investigative report, holding that the district court abused its discretion by denying Appellant's petition with respect to the report without individualized findings regarding the redacted material; and (2) affirmed the district court's decision regarding the redactions to the body-worn camera footage, holding that the district court correctly denied this portion of the petition. View "Conrad v. Reno Police Dep't" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the district court denying a petition for a writ of mandamus challenging the denial of a records request made pursuant to the Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA), holding that holding that the district court abused its discretion in denying the petition.A reporter for Las Vegas Review-Journal, Inc. (LVRJ) made an NPRA request concerning an investigation into potential criminal activity by a law enforcement officer. After denying the request several times, the police department conducting the investigation, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Metro) ultimately released heavily redacted portions of the investigative files. Metro sought relief, but the district court denied the petition on the grounds that the investigative files contained confidential and private information not subject to public release. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Metro failed to meet its burden to establish under the NPRA that the requested records were confidential in their entirety under either a statutory or caselaw exemption. View "Las Vegas Review-Journal v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dep't" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court vacated the order of the district court awarding the Las Vegas Review-Journal (LVRJ) costs and attorney fees in proceedings under the Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA), holding that the district court abused its discretion by imposing such a substantial discount from the amount requested without explaining its reasons for doing so.The award at issue in this case discounted the costs and fees requested by the LVRJ by almost forty percent. When the LVRJ asked the judge to explain the reduction, the judge did not elaborate on his reasons for the reduction. The Supreme Court vacated so much of the order as discounted the fees and costs requested by the LVRJ and otherwise affirmed, holding that, without specific reasons for the discount, this Court could not determine whether the district court's order was an abuse of discretion. View "Las Vegas Review-Journal v. Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court reversed the order of the district court applying the catalyst theory in denying Plaintiff's request for attorney fees in this public records dispute, holding that the district court misconstrued one of the factors in the catalyst-theory analysis and neglected to conduct more than a summary analysis of several other factors.Plaintiff submitted a public records request to the City of Henderson under the Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA) for certain documents. When the City requested a payment from Plaintiff to cover the cost of a review of the documents for privilege Plaintiff sought mandamus relief. Thereafter, the City reviewed the documents for privilege and provided to Plaintiff copies of non-privileged records while the privilege-review fee issue was being litigated. The district court concluded that the City satisfied its requirements under the NPRA. The Supreme Court remanded the case, but before the issue was addressed on remand, the City voluntarily disclosed eleven documents it had withheld pursuant to the deliberative-process privilege. At issue was whether Plaintiff was entitled to recovery of attorneys fees as the prevailing party under the catalyst theory. The district court denied attorney fees. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the district court abused its discretion in applying the catalyst theory. View "Las Vegas Review-Journal v. City of Henderson" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the district court ordering the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Metro) to disclose patrol officer unit assignments from 2014 through 2016, holding that the officers had a nontrivial privacy interest in their unit assignments.Las Vegas Review-Journal submitted a Nevada Public Records Act request Metro's officers' unit assignments from 2014 through 2016. When Metro refused to disclose the unit assignments, the Review-Journal petitioned the district court for a writ of mandamus. The district court granted the petition. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) courts should apply the test adopted in Clark County School District v. Las Vegas Review-Journal (CCSD), 429 P.3d 313 (Nev. 2018) whenever the government asserts a nontrivial privacy interest; and (2) the district court erred in determining that Metro's officers lacked a nontrivial privacy interest in their unit assignments. View "Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department v. Las Vegas Review-Journal" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court concluding that Respondent was entitled to reasonable attorney fees and costs under Nev. Rev. Stat. 239.011(2), holding that the requesting party prevails for purposes of an award of attorney fees and costs when the parties reach an agreement that affords the requesting party access to the requested records before the court enters a judgment on the merits.Plaintiff submitted a public records request to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) under the Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA) seeking records related to a murder. When LVMPD did not respond to the request to Plaintiff's satisfaction, Plaintiff filed a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to inspect of obtain copies of all records related to the murder within LVMPD's custody and control. Before an evidentiary hearing, the parties reached an agreement regarding the production of the records. The district court awarded attorney fees to Plaintiff. On appeal, LVMPD argued that Plaintiff did not prevail for purposes of section 239.011(2) because the district court did not enter an order compelling production of the records. The Supreme Court affirmed after adopting and applying the catalyst theory, holding that Plaintiff was entitled to reasonable attorney fees and costs. View "Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department v. Center for Investigative Reporting, Inc." on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court vacated the district court's award of attorney fees and costs to the Las Vegas Review-Journal (LVRJ), which had petitioned the district court to compel production of unreacted juvenile autopsy reports under the Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA) after the Clark County Coroner's Office refused, holding that a governmental entity is not immune from an attorney fees award to which a prevailing records requester is entitled under Nev. Rev. Stat. 239.011.The Coroner's Office argued that it may refuse to disclose a juvenile autopsy report once it has provided the report to a Child Death Review (CDR) team and that juvenile autopsy reports may include sensitive information that may be properly redacted as privileged. The Coroner's Office further argued that action 239.012 immunizes a governmental entity from an award of attorney fees when that entity withholds public records in good faith. The Supreme Court held (1) Nev. Rev. Stat. 423B.407(6)'s applies strictly to the CDR team as a whole; (2) the district court erred when it ordered the production of unreacted juvenile autopsy reports; and (3) the award of attorney fees must be vacated because it cannot yet be determined whether LVRJ is a prevailing party in its underlying NPRA action. View "Clark County Office of the Coroner v. Las Vegas Review-Journal" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court reversed the order of the district court denying an anti-SLAPP special motion to dismiss in a tort action, holding that, in determining whether the communications were made in good faith, the court must consider the "gist or sting" of the communications as a whole, rather than parsing each individual word in the communications to assess it for its truthfulness.In the complaint, Plaintiff alleged libel per se, slander per se, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Defendant filed an anti-SLAPP special motion to dismiss. The district court denied the motion, determining that Defendant did not meet her burden under the first prong of the anti-SLAPP analysis because she did not show that the statements were made in good faith. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the district court erred in its analysis of whether Defendant's statements were made in good faith; and (2) Defendant showed by a preponderance of the evidence that she made the statements in good faith under the first prong of the anti-SLAPP analysis, and Plaintiff could not demonstrate with prima facie evidence a probability of prevailing on this claim under the second prong. View "Rosen v. Tarkanian" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court granted in part a petition for a writ of prohibition or mandamus challenging a discovery ruling compelling Petitioner to disclose the identity of his sources in a tort action, holding that digital media falls within the protections of Nev. Rev. Stat. 49.275.The current version of section 49.275 protects journalists who are associated with newspapers, press associations, periodicals, and radio and television programs from mandatory disclosure of confidential sources. Petitioner in this case was a blogger who was sued for defamation. During discovery, Petitioner invoked the news shield statute under section 49.275 and refused to provide the identity of his sources. Respondent filed a motion to compel Petitioner to reveal his sources, arguing that the news shield statute does not apply to bloggers. The district court granted the motion to compel. Petitioner then filed this petition challenging that decision as well as the order allowing limited discovery. The Supreme Court granted the writ in part, holding that digital medial falls within the protections of section 49.275 but that the case required a remand so the district court could reconsider whether Petitioner's blog fell within the protection of the statute. View "Toll v. Honorable James Wilson" on Justia Law