8 News Now doesn’t understand and didn’t explain that this isn’t a “settlement” it’s an offer of judgment. $25k per woman (average) is lowball, but intended to create leverage for settlement by creating risk for the Plaintiffs.
This case is NOT settling for $25k per woman (average).
The RJ article does correctly state this isn’t a settlement but doesn’t explain what an offer of judgment is. It’s not unreasonable to expect that explanation. It’s not arcane or beyond the grasp of readers.
If money were no object, I would love to become a courts reporter for a newspaper. It’s hard to read article after article that fails to fully grasp what’s happening in a legal proceeding. I believe I could identify the most salient parts of the proceedings and accurately translate them into explanations accessible to anyone with an 8th grade reading level (insert CCSD joke here).
An overwhelmingly high percentage of readers wouldn’t be able to understand it even if it were properly reported. And those of us who do understand aren’t any worse off. So really, no harm no foul.
I was job hunting last year & came across a court reporter position at the RJ. I want to say the pay was $43k/year. Just abysmal prospects for a very, very important job.
Guest
Anonymous
May 7, 2025 10:09 am
Client tested negative for alcohol at the scene but was arrested for DUI any way. Subsequent blood tests showed he was also negative for drugs. Issue is probable cause for arrest. Does anyone have the name of a credible, experienced expert to testify in a wrongful arrest case?
Bloodshot watery eyes, is the “code” for PC as has been employed by Metro for decades. But of course, they and everything else about passing or failing an FST are subjective.
I am just questioning the efficacy of hiring an expert for a potential lawsuit and the probability of success. Not that I have my doubts, necessarily, I am just curious.
What are the damages on a wrongful arrest for DUI/DWI? Those cases generally don’t go very far. How long was the person in custody? There was a case that involved “Norm” the RJ reporter who was arrested and was “0.0”.
Does anyone recover on these cases? Who would ever bring one?
Guest
Anonymous
May 7, 2025 10:29 am
People were laughing at the lawyer who had an @yahoo email address on his pleadings the other day. I’ve found something worse – a lawyer whose official work email address is his Yale *alumni* email account. He has no current affiliation with Yale, but wants to make sure that if you email him you know that he went there.
I worked with an experienced (25-30 year) PI lawyer several years ago who had a similarly antiquated address. He told me that’s how former clients from years ago know how to contact him with repeat business and referrals, and so he won’t ever change it. I can see keeping the old one active for just that reason, but also having something current. You are allowed to have more than one email account.
Guest
Anonymous
May 7, 2025 10:33 am
Newbie question. In news I often see “xyz sued for 50 million” but I thought in the complaint the plaintiff only put like “damages in excess of 10k” or whatever. Please explain. Thank you.
The “excess of 10k, 15k, etc.” is just to trigger the jurisdiction of the court. You have to seek damages of more than $15k in District Court, if you’re seeking less you should be in Justice Court.
Additionally, you usually see pleadings asking for at least $75k in federal court, because that’s part of federal diversity jurisdiction.
It’s just saying “I belong in this court” not “This is all I’m asking for”
I routinely add the total amount of prospective damages in the body of the complaint and add the “in excess of $15k” in the Prayer. I have defeated at least 2 Motions to strike (or more definite statement) on these grounds, but its been many years.
In a few cases I’ve used “in excess of $15k” in the jurisdiction section, and add “estimated to be at least $XXX,000.00” so the actual number is there, but it still follows the jurisdictional allegation.
In my experience, the Complaint just lists the jurisdictional amount of $15k to get into District Court. The first time you get a glimpse of a Plaintiff’s medical specials is in the request for exemption from arbitration. The case has to have a value of $50k or more to get exempted, so the Plaintiff has to put the meds in there, and an argument of why the value of the case is over $50k. I hope this helps.
It’s a move to unburden the Eighth. The legislature refused to allocate money for more judges and more courtrooms. (a new building). So the next best thing is to pass the small money cases to the arbitration program and short trial programs.
Make the arb program voluntary up to 100k. Raise the jurisdictional limit of Justice court to 75k so the JP’s may actually have to work and give the District court the ability to “push down” cases that might be worth more than 15k and less than 75K
Great idea. The arbitration program is a joke. It is not cost effective to bring in experts. Many insurance defense counsel make the bare minimum showing needed to preserve the right to De Novo the award, and then they settle on the eve of the Short Trial. The current program just allows a year or so of delay.
It probably will, but it’s still terrible. Moving the arb limit up to 100k is transforming it into a mini trial anyway. Kill the arb program, up the limit for short trials to 100k, and just go straight to short trial. As far as trying to expeditiously resolve cases, I guarantee this avenue would resolve the vast majority of cases *far* quicker than the arbitration program does or would.
“just go straight to short trial”
Friend, that cannot happen. The jury pool is too small, there are not enough court rooms, the ADR office reportedly has problems securing a courtroom now. The short trial judges assigned get the use of a courtroom, but no help, no staff, no marshals. It is a lot of work and doubtful that the folks serving (for not much pay) would be willing to preside very often. And all things considered, the arb program does filter out many cases by forcing the parties to evaluate their case.
Old timer lawyer here. The ADR program when it was enacted in 1991 was a breath of fresh air. It was almost impossible with the clogged court system to get an auto accident case to trial. There was a reason for the five year rule because it sometimes took cases that long to go to trial. The Arbitration program provided a forum for cases to be hear and get resolved. The down side of the arbitration program is that it encouraged lousy cases to be filed and arbitrated. Even before the short trial program, the “no crash-no cash” cases were being defensed in regular trials taking three days. The previous changes to the arbitration rules strengthened arbitration. The new changes will make it even better raising the limits and attorney’s fees. Ironically arbitration is a very favorable to plaintiffs. Most arb awards are in favor of the plaintiffs. The program was not friendly for the defense. The Short Trial program was pushed by the plaintiff’s bar is not favorable to the plaintiffs. The arbitration program created a lot of work for both the plaintiff bar and defense. It is the best that we have. AB3 will only make it better. ADR resolves most cases so it is a success. I can’t imagine practicing without it. In personal injury cases, the insurance carriers get a third party to put a number on a case and provide an opportunity to assess the claimant. Placing all those cases in District Court is not the answer. The delay would be longer and the cost would be greater. I am former insurance defense. Now I do mostly plaintiff’s work. Pardon the types and grammar.
Practice tip please: We prevailed at trial. We were awarded all of our attorneys’ fees based upon the opposing parties’ defenses being deemed frivolous. Other side appealed the Judgment and got similarly boat raced on appeal. Our client wants me to bring a motion for our fees and costs on appeal insofar as the appeal was frivolous also. I see NRAP 38 allows the Court to sua sponte impose sanctions but does not discuss the ability to see fees pursuant to NRS 18.010(2)(b).
File it with the Supreme Court, file it after remittitur with the District Court or is the Respondent simply out of luck if the court does not award them sua sponte?
NRS 18.010(2)(b) doesn’t cover attorneys’ fees incurred during an appeal. See Jimijack Irrevocable Tr. by Stokes v. Bank of Am., N.A., 510 P.3d 161 2022 WL 1714182, (Nev. App. 2022).
8 News Now doesn’t understand and didn’t explain that this isn’t a “settlement” it’s an offer of judgment. $25k per woman (average) is lowball, but intended to create leverage for settlement by creating risk for the Plaintiffs.
This case is NOT settling for $25k per woman (average).
The RJ article does correctly state this isn’t a settlement but doesn’t explain what an offer of judgment is. It’s not unreasonable to expect that explanation. It’s not arcane or beyond the grasp of readers.
If money were no object, I would love to become a courts reporter for a newspaper. It’s hard to read article after article that fails to fully grasp what’s happening in a legal proceeding. I believe I could identify the most salient parts of the proceedings and accurately translate them into explanations accessible to anyone with an 8th grade reading level (insert CCSD joke here).
One courthouse reporter calls me occasionally just for explanations. All off the record
An overwhelmingly high percentage of readers wouldn’t be able to understand it even if it were properly reported. And those of us who do understand aren’t any worse off. So really, no harm no foul.
Yes. This.
These are the people that are electing our judges.
I was job hunting last year & came across a court reporter position at the RJ. I want to say the pay was $43k/year. Just abysmal prospects for a very, very important job.
Client tested negative for alcohol at the scene but was arrested for DUI any way. Subsequent blood tests showed he was also negative for drugs. Issue is probable cause for arrest. Does anyone have the name of a credible, experienced expert to testify in a wrongful arrest case?
If Client failed the FST, isn’t that prima facie probable cause for arrest?
Can you believe everything a police officer says in a report? Some “failures” are pretty subjective and can be discounted upon seeing a body cam.
Blood shot, watery eyes? Dash cam showed nothing of the sort.
Bloodshot watery eyes, is the “code” for PC as has been employed by Metro for decades. But of course, they and everything else about passing or failing an FST are subjective.
I am just questioning the efficacy of hiring an expert for a potential lawsuit and the probability of success. Not that I have my doubts, necessarily, I am just curious.
What are the damages on a wrongful arrest for DUI/DWI? Those cases generally don’t go very far. How long was the person in custody? There was a case that involved “Norm” the RJ reporter who was arrested and was “0.0”.
Does anyone recover on these cases? Who would ever bring one?
People were laughing at the lawyer who had an @yahoo email address on his pleadings the other day. I’ve found something worse – a lawyer whose official work email address is his Yale *alumni* email account. He has no current affiliation with Yale, but wants to make sure that if you email him you know that he went there.
*Cringe*
I worked with an experienced (25-30 year) PI lawyer several years ago who had a similarly antiquated address. He told me that’s how former clients from years ago know how to contact him with repeat business and referrals, and so he won’t ever change it. I can see keeping the old one active for just that reason, but also having something current. You are allowed to have more than one email account.
Newbie question. In news I often see “xyz sued for 50 million” but I thought in the complaint the plaintiff only put like “damages in excess of 10k” or whatever. Please explain. Thank you.
The “excess of 10k, 15k, etc.” is just to trigger the jurisdiction of the court. You have to seek damages of more than $15k in District Court, if you’re seeking less you should be in Justice Court.
Additionally, you usually see pleadings asking for at least $75k in federal court, because that’s part of federal diversity jurisdiction.
It’s just saying “I belong in this court” not “This is all I’m asking for”
I routinely add the total amount of prospective damages in the body of the complaint and add the “in excess of $15k” in the Prayer. I have defeated at least 2 Motions to strike (or more definite statement) on these grounds, but its been many years.
In a few cases I’ve used “in excess of $15k” in the jurisdiction section, and add “estimated to be at least $XXX,000.00” so the actual number is there, but it still follows the jurisdictional allegation.
Op here. Thanks for the thoughtful replies.
In my experience, the Complaint just lists the jurisdictional amount of $15k to get into District Court. The first time you get a glimpse of a Plaintiff’s medical specials is in the request for exemption from arbitration. The case has to have a value of $50k or more to get exempted, so the Plaintiff has to put the meds in there, and an argument of why the value of the case is over $50k. I hope this helps.
Mandatory Arb – The current rule is $50k per each plaintiff, going to $100k per person in Jan 26.
Terrible move, IMO. Just scrap the arb program and go straight to short trial.
It’s a move to unburden the Eighth. The legislature refused to allocate money for more judges and more courtrooms. (a new building). So the next best thing is to pass the small money cases to the arbitration program and short trial programs.
Make the arb program voluntary up to 100k. Raise the jurisdictional limit of Justice court to 75k so the JP’s may actually have to work and give the District court the ability to “push down” cases that might be worth more than 15k and less than 75K
Great idea. The arbitration program is a joke. It is not cost effective to bring in experts. Many insurance defense counsel make the bare minimum showing needed to preserve the right to De Novo the award, and then they settle on the eve of the Short Trial. The current program just allows a year or so of delay.
The arb program clears lots of cases since they tightened up the rules in 2023. Trial de novos way down. It isn’t going anywhere.
AB3 passed the Assembly and is currently at the Senate Judiciary Committee. I think it probably gets passed.
It probably will, but it’s still terrible. Moving the arb limit up to 100k is transforming it into a mini trial anyway. Kill the arb program, up the limit for short trials to 100k, and just go straight to short trial. As far as trying to expeditiously resolve cases, I guarantee this avenue would resolve the vast majority of cases *far* quicker than the arbitration program does or would.
“just go straight to short trial”
Friend, that cannot happen. The jury pool is too small, there are not enough court rooms, the ADR office reportedly has problems securing a courtroom now. The short trial judges assigned get the use of a courtroom, but no help, no staff, no marshals. It is a lot of work and doubtful that the folks serving (for not much pay) would be willing to preside very often. And all things considered, the arb program does filter out many cases by forcing the parties to evaluate their case.
That’s actually a good point. I had not thought of that.
Old timer lawyer here. The ADR program when it was enacted in 1991 was a breath of fresh air. It was almost impossible with the clogged court system to get an auto accident case to trial. There was a reason for the five year rule because it sometimes took cases that long to go to trial. The Arbitration program provided a forum for cases to be hear and get resolved. The down side of the arbitration program is that it encouraged lousy cases to be filed and arbitrated. Even before the short trial program, the “no crash-no cash” cases were being defensed in regular trials taking three days. The previous changes to the arbitration rules strengthened arbitration. The new changes will make it even better raising the limits and attorney’s fees. Ironically arbitration is a very favorable to plaintiffs. Most arb awards are in favor of the plaintiffs. The program was not friendly for the defense. The Short Trial program was pushed by the plaintiff’s bar is not favorable to the plaintiffs. The arbitration program created a lot of work for both the plaintiff bar and defense. It is the best that we have. AB3 will only make it better. ADR resolves most cases so it is a success. I can’t imagine practicing without it. In personal injury cases, the insurance carriers get a third party to put a number on a case and provide an opportunity to assess the claimant. Placing all those cases in District Court is not the answer. The delay would be longer and the cost would be greater. I am former insurance defense. Now I do mostly plaintiff’s work. Pardon the types and grammar.
A forum for cases to be heard and resolved. Typoe.
So nice to see intelligent, helpful discussions that further the profession rather than politics.
Cry harder sis
(Sorry, couldn’t help myself. This blog is best when we have good helpful discussions like this)
Hahahaha
Practice tip please: We prevailed at trial. We were awarded all of our attorneys’ fees based upon the opposing parties’ defenses being deemed frivolous. Other side appealed the Judgment and got similarly boat raced on appeal. Our client wants me to bring a motion for our fees and costs on appeal insofar as the appeal was frivolous also. I see NRAP 38 allows the Court to sua sponte impose sanctions but does not discuss the ability to see fees pursuant to NRS 18.010(2)(b).
File it with the Supreme Court, file it after remittitur with the District Court or is the Respondent simply out of luck if the court does not award them sua sponte?
NRS 18.010(2)(b) doesn’t cover attorneys’ fees incurred during an appeal. See Jimijack Irrevocable Tr. by Stokes v. Bank of Am., N.A., 510 P.3d 161 2022 WL 1714182, (Nev. App. 2022).
Thank you for the courtesy. Unfortunate but thank you.