Clarence Clifton Young

This case involved Larry Hiibel, who was detained by a sheriff's deputy investigating a report of possible domestic violence and refused eleven requests to identify himself, resulting in his arrest and conviction for resisting a public officer. The Nevada Supreme Court considered whether NRS 171.123(3), which requires a person detained on reasonable suspicion to identify himself, violates the Fourth Amendment. The court denied Hiibel's petition, concluding that the statute does not violate the Fourth Amendment because it reasonably balances individual privacy interests against the need to protect officers and the public during investigatory stops.

criminal lawcivil rights

In this personal injury case, Joseph Canterino sued the Mirage Casino-Hotel after being beaten and robbed on the premises, and a jury awarded him over $5.5 million in damages. The district court deemed the award excessive, issued a conditional remittitur reducing it to $1.5 million, and ordered a new trial after Canterino rejected the reduction. On appeal, the Nevada Supreme Court initially limited the new trial to damages but, on rehearing, modified its ruling to require a new trial on both liability and damages. The court reasoned that an ex parte jury instruction—directing only jurors who found liability to determine damages—was inherently prejudicial, as jurors may reconsider liability during damages deliberations, depriving the parties of full jury participation on all issues.

torts & liabilityprocedure

This case involved companies providing referrals for erotic dance entertainment that hired workers to distribute commercial leaflets on sidewalks owned by the Mirage and Treasure Island casino-hotels along the Las Vegas Strip. The casinos sued for trespass and obtained a preliminary injunction barring the handbilling, which the companies appealed on grounds that a pedestrian easement and public use made the sidewalks traditional public forums protected by the First Amendment. The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed the injunction, concluding that the sidewalks remained private property that the owners could control and that excluding commercial handbillers did not violate state or federal constitutional free-speech guarantees. The court reasoned that the sidewalks' private ownership and the commercial nature of the speech distinguished them from public thoroughfares subject to full constitutional protections.

free speechproperty

This case concerns a petition filed by Mineral County and the Walker Lake Working Group against Nevada state agencies and officials, seeking writs of prohibition and mandamus to halt additional surface or groundwater withdrawals from the Walker River system that could reduce flows into Walker Lake and to compel enforcement of public trust obligations in water appropriations. The petitioners also sought review of prior water allocation decisions affecting the basin, which spans parts of California and Nevada and supports agricultural, municipal, and ecological uses. The Nevada Supreme Court denied the petitions, holding that substantially similar litigation was already pending in a more appropriate forum, making the extraordinary writ relief inappropriate.

environmentpropertyprocedure

The case involved Gregory Neal Leonard, who was charged with the first-degree murder and robbery of Tony Antee, with the State seeking the death penalty. After two mistrials, Leonard's third jury trial resulted in convictions for first-degree murder and robbery, along with a death sentence based on two aggravating circumstances: the murder occurring during a robbery and Leonard's prior murder conviction. The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence, determining that sufficient evidence supported the jury's findings and that no errors in the proceedings warranted reversal.

criminal law

The case concerned a post-divorce child custody dispute in which the father, who held primary physical custody of the couple's two children, relocated with them from Nevada to Idaho after the mother's verbal consent but without her written consent as required by statute, and was later accused of briefly leaving one child home alone while the child recovered from pneumonia. The mother moved to modify custody, and the district court granted primary physical custody to her, finding a material change in circumstances, substantial enhancement of the children's welfare, poor judgment by the father in the relocation and the incident of leaving the child unsupervised, and that the mother would better facilitate visitation. On appeal, the Nevada Supreme Court reviewed the district court's factual findings for substantial evidence and its custody decision for abuse of discretion under the Murphy v. Murphy standard and NRS 125C.200, ultimately concluding that the record did not support the modification.

family law