Urban Cowboy

  • Law

  • There is a civil bench bar meeting today at noon via Zoom. If you want the link, contact Judge Sturman’s JEA. 
  • Opponents of the death penalty are turning up the heat. [TNI]
  • Judge Boulware says he will have time to review upcoming Nevada execution plan. [Las Vegas Sun]
  • Clark County may not reach vaccination goal to open 100% on June 1. [RJ]
  • Trial is under way between the Downtown Grand and Hogs and Heifers. [RJ]
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 4:17 pm

Good, Judge Bell's JEA can scream, What do you want her to do about it?" when called up for a lunch order or for chief judge's duties for Linda Bell.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 4:28 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Starting early today?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 5:20 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Apparently was checking out Hogs & Heifers early before it closes for good.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 6:43 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I have not had a good experience with Judge Bell's JEA either, so I guess I am a drunk?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 4:29 pm
Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 4:37 pm

9:17–I must be missing something. What is this remark ,abut Judge Bell's JEA, in reference to?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 8:04 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Yes, would someone explain the comments?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 5:28 pm

So, I have a hypothetical for you. Lets say you have an individual who buys a home under a false name and social security number because they are not here legally. The home is purchased with their parents. So three people on title. No mortgage or loan, so to the extent that this was fraud, no real harm done. The fake name and social belonged to a child (this individual's cousin) who died in 1970. The individual using the fake name gains legal status here and on the immigration side at least, receives a pardon for using a fake name and social.

Fast forward to today, they would like to sell the place. How do we work this out? My thought is that they are on title as joint tenants, so we record an affidavit of death of joint tenant. I am concerned that if the title company notices the fact that the joint tenant died decades ago, it might cause problems. Any ideas? Do they just have to find a buyer who is willing to purchase the place without title insurance? Would a title insurance company still insure the place but just exclude any issues relating to this?

anonymous
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anonymous
May 11, 2021 5:35 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Maybe you will have to bring a quiet title action. Title companies can be pretty unyielding in my experience. Will defer to a real estate expert, but that's my thought.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 5:52 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

10:28 here, that was my thinking as well. Seems like the safest bet.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 6:34 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

A QT action through an adverse possession claim. In this hypothetical, the remaining property owners have reached all needed parameters for AP to be used in this case.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 7:08 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

No adverse possession involved. Just a plain old Quiet Title. But they will have to admit to the use of a deceased child's name and Social Security Number, and the judge might not feel that the equitable maxims can be ignored. Clean hands, and all that.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 7:04 pm

I commented on Mr. Ross yesterday and then someone questioned my mental capacity. Please know that you are taking my post way, way, way too seriously. Maybe I shouldn't give up my day job and I will never be a comedian. I was looking through some old posts, saw his, decided to make a joke. I did not mean it as serious but just replying to his somewhat constant virtue signaling. I will say this seriously (and realizing that I use Express VPN and doubt you will ever know my name), I truly was joking and if it hurt someone or made someone sad, etc. I apologize. That was not my intention.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 7:22 pm

Ben Nadig:

My curiosity is getting the best of me.

Why did a poster compare you to, and/or refer to you as, Merle Haggard?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 8:03 pm

Why are we talking about Linda Bell's JEA? What do she do?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 8:52 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

When my assistant called her about a chief judge matter, she yelled, "what do you want her to do about it?"

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 8:29 pm

Gotta love the fact that a hog is representing the heifer.

anonymous
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anonymous
May 11, 2021 8:47 pm

"Hogs and Heifers" sounds like it should be the name of the place where I've started buying my clothes post-lockdown.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 9:10 pm

When ignorance, arrogance and self-entitlement meet, sparks do fly.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 9:11 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

So whenever OC looks in a mirror?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 9:54 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Who is OC?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 10:33 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Opposing counsel. I was trying to make a joke

anonymous
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anonymous
May 11, 2021 10:46 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Oh, I thought you meant Orange County. (not really)

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 9:14 pm

I'm not 12:22, but, being a country music fan, was wondering the same thing.

So, Mr. Ben Nadig, since you seem to check in on the blog most days, please tell us about the Merle Haggard connection.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 9:27 pm

The last few days people have been complaining about judges quite a bit.

Putting aside the question of some of them lacking sufficient legal skill and experience, and just focusing on demeanor and ego, I do wish to pose a question.

When many judge invariably start behaving like strutting divas, is that fully explained by referencing the personality types of people who seek to achieve a judgeship, or is there something about the position itself that seems to create and encourage such behavior over time.

Do attorneys, and by extension court staff and others, treat these judges with such deference and reverence that sometimes a once humble and down-to-earth attorney can eventually becomes a strutting arrogant judge?

I don't know the answer except to observe that humble, down-to-earth attorneys are often not the types to seek a judgeship. The ones who tend seek a judgeship already have quite healthy egos and enjoy the attention and the limelight.

So, in that instance there is no meaningful transformation over time since at worst the behavior and self-importance was always there but perhaps became magnified a bit once someone becomes a judge.

But how many of you have seen the dynamic where a humble, centered attorney, whose ego is quite in check, eventually becomes a strutting peacock as a judge.

I' not seeking for specific names to be mentioned, and would much prefer if they are not. Just seeking general observations about the potentially eroding effect of the position on one's psyche and personality.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 9:56 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I kinda agree with you and kinda don't. That makes no sense. Sorry.

I'm a family law practitioner so those are the judges I know. There are family court judges who are humble and kind to litigants and attorneys – even when ruling against them. There are also family court judges who are rude, disparaging, and nasty to litigants and attorneys alike.

I agree that there is a personality type that compels a person to want to be a judge, but I don't think having that kind of ego necessarily makes you a bad judge. There are a couple judges who clearly had enough of an ego to throw their hats in the ring, but are still good, humble judges. I think it is more than just arrogance. There's something beyond that…narcissism maybe? I know they sound the same, but I view narcissists to be more pathological than the average arrogant jackass. Narcissists are the people that become problematic judges.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 10:18 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Bryce Duckworth is a great judge, and a nice human being, as was Gloria Sanchez. It is possible to be a decent person while wearing those black robes, but too often the ego wins out.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 10:32 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Mark Denton is a fine example of a decent and kind human being in a robe. As was Ken Cory, Kathleen Delaney and Jim Bixler.

anonymous
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anonymous
May 11, 2021 10:48 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Agree fully with 3:32. The other fossils out there will remember Mike Wendell and John McGroarty. I would add them to this list.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 11:10 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Of course, in those days there was also O'Donnell, Mendoza and Goldman. Remember when Goldman sentenced the Clerk, Loretta Bowman, to jail because one of her clerks filed an Answer after a Default had been entered? After that, he tried to incarcerate the roofer who was making too much noise. That is when the NSC got involved.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 11:37 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I have been involved with state and federal judges in numerous states. My observation is that the Clark County judges can be separate breed. I think there are some excellent judges on the Clark County bench, i.e. judges whom I would be willing to try any case in their courtroom. I also think there are some real whack-a-doodles (more so than other locales), i.e. arrogant, disrespectful, afraid to make a tough decision, etc. Quite honestly, I attribute it to what I call the "Vegas" factor. Signed "bitter at the world" ID FBU.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 12, 2021 12:16 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Federal court is fine, except for Judge Jennifer Dorsey .Wait until you are front of her. We've had 4 in front of her, wow.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 12, 2021 2:37 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Lloyd George was the gold standard.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 12, 2021 5:46 am
Reply to  Anonymous

The Hon. Lloyd George was the man even into his 80s. I can only imagine what he was like in his younger days. RIP.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 11:21 pm

Even after Judge Goldman died on in a traffic accident on September 14, 1991, the NSC still could not help themselves. It wrote:
“In early October 1986, a series of disturbing events focused widespread attention on appellant's courtroom. Specifically, during the week of October 8, 1986, appellant held three individuals in contempt of court and ordered them jailed. The individuals included an 87-year old woman who refused to testify against her son in a criminal matter; a courthouse maintenance supervisor who appellant determined was responsible for noisy repairs on the roof of appellant's courtroom; and a Las Vegas Police Commander who appellant unlawfully held in direct contempt of court under circumstances wherein appellant lacked both subject matter and personal jurisdiction to take such action. . . .

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 12, 2021 5:59 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Wild. Absolutely wild. 108 Nev. 251, 830 P.2d 107 (1992).

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 11, 2021 11:28 pm

Yes, today you complain about judges who are merely incompetent and rude. Ours were bat shit crazy!!!

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 12, 2021 12:12 am

A predatory lender owns a hockey and soccer team, only in Nevada. And McCarran is named after a babyface mobster.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 12, 2021 1:26 am

The IRS is in the Malasky Building, you know, the family that built Las Vegas with money from the Teamsters Pension Fund.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 12, 2021 1:28 am

The Nwvada Kidney Foundation once named Moe Dalitz Man of the Year.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 12, 2021 6:05 pm

A fine history – https://judicial.nv.gov/Discipline/Decisions/New_Decisions/, and that doesn't even include the impeachment of Harry Claiborne, the first federal judge to be sent to prison – https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/22/us/harry-claiborne-86-is-dead-was-removed-as-us-judge.html – but whom the Nevada Supreme Court cllowed to continue practicing law.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 13, 2021 3:37 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

With all due respect, if you knew anything about Claiborne's case, it serves as an example of the persecutorial nature that prosecutions can take. I knew Harry and a number of the players on all sides of both the criminal case and the disciplinary cases. It was and remains a travesty.