Modus Operandi

Friday, February 28, 2014

Modus Operandi

• It was quite a busy day in Carson City yesterday as the Supreme Court of Nevada ruled that if a witness uses confidential documents to refresh his memory before testifying, it constitutes a waiver of any privilege on those documents, but there is no duty to automatically turn them over. More importantly, if you're on the other side, if you want to request those documents, your request needs to be somewhat contemporaneous with the hearing. [Las Vegas Sands v. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct.; RJ]
• The Supreme Court also issued a ruling with regard to the fee shifting provisions of Chapter 40 when countered by rejected offers of judgment. In short, Plaintiffs' attorney's fees in Chapter 40 are not a guaranteed thing, especially when you don't recover more than an offer of judgment. [Gunderson v. D.R. Horton]
• The Supreme Court also decided to permit another disciplinary case against suspended Judge Steven Jones, should the Commission on Judicial Discipline decide to proceed.  The legal takeaway is that due process rights generally do not attach during the investigatory phase of judicial discipline in order to allow the investigation to go forth unimpeded. The narrative take away is that Jones faces more allegations, which are distinct from the ones that have kept him in the news the last few years, stemming from a complaint that Jones first learned of in 2010. The complaint contains several allegations including that Jones encouraged court employees to do business with convicted ex-felons (not sure what is wrong with that without more details); tried to convince his bailiff that the Judge was entitled to a portion of the bailiff's disability retirement payout; that Jones was involved in an intimate relationship with an extern and later allowed her to appear in court before him without disclosing their prior relationship or recusing himself; and that Judge Jones misappropriated marijuana evidence from an ongoing case. [Jones v. Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline; RJ]
• The HOA scandal case is finally set to go before a jury on October 6, 2014. [RJ]
• Not surprisingly, potential jurors' excuses for getting out of jury duty don't always hold water. (Bonus points if anyone knows which criminal defense attorney claimed to be wearing a polyester suit when a juror claimed she was allergic to wool.) [Las Vegas Sun]