Source: http://nevadalaw.info/2018/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 01:37:25+00:00

Document:
* Not all defenses are appropriate for all matters or in all jurisdictions. You should seek the advice of competent counsel in your jurisdiction before claiming any defense, as you may be responsible for the attorneys fees of your opponent if a claimed defense has no merit. See Rule 11.
NRCP 8(c)(1). In responding to a pleading, a party must affirmatively state any avoidance or affirmative defense, including: accord and satisfaction; arbitration and award; assumption of risk; contributory negligence; discharge in bankruptcy; duress; estoppel; failure of consideration; fraud; illegality; injury by fellow servant; laches; license; payment; release; res judicata; statute of frauds; statute of limitations; and waiver.
Pursuant to Article 6, Section 4 of the Nevada Constitution: “[t]he court shall also have power to issue writs of mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, quo warranto, and habeas corpus and also all writs necessary or proper to the complete exercise of its appellate jurisdiction.” NRS 34.160 provides that “[t]he writ [of mandamus] may be issued by the Supreme Court … to compel the performance of an act which the law especially enjoins as a duty resulting from an office, trust or station …” For more than a century, the Supreme Court has interpreted Nevada’s constitutional and statutory law to vest original jurisdiction in the Supreme Court to issue writs of mandamus. See State v. Dist. Ct., 116 Nev. 127, 994 P.2d 692 (2000) (citing State ex rel. Curtis v. McCollough, 3 Nev. 202 (1867)). Thus, the court has the constitutional and statutory authority to issue a writ of mandamus when, in the court’s discretion, circumstances warrant.
Rule 12(f) provides that a court “may strike from a pleading an insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f). “[M]otions to strike should not be granted unless it is clear that the matter to be stricken could have no possible bearing on the subject matter of the litigation.” Colaprico v. Sun Microsys., Inc., 758 F. Supp. 1335, 1339 (N.D. Cal. 1991).
What Constitutes Admissible Evidence Under Rule 56?
Can the Confidential Documents of a Non-Party be Subpoenaed?
If you have documents which require that you hold them in confidence, but receive a subpoena requiring the disclosure of those documents, can you withhold the documents? In this situation, non-parties served with a subpoena can file a timely objection and ask the court to quash or modify the subpoena to protect them from disclosing privileged or protected matter, trade secrets or confidential commercial information. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 45(3); see also United States v. Fed’n of Physicians & Dentists, Inc., 63 F. Supp. 2d 475, 479 (D. Del. 1999).
Jay Young is a top mediator in Las Vegas, Nevada. ADR Certified since 1994. Additional 40 hour certification and graduate of Pepperdine Law’s Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution’s “Advanced Mediation: Skills and Techniques” program. Jay is a Nevada Supreme Court Settlement Judge (mediator), a Judge Pro Tem, a Special Master, and a National Mediation Panelist for the American Arbitration Association and Advanced Resolution Management. Contact him at 702.960.4494. Go here for Jay’s full bio.
“Jay Young did a truly spectacular job. The parties had tried countless times to reach a resolution and never got anywhere close prior to Jay’s involvement. He is as good a mediator as I have encountered anywhere in the country.” Anonymous Attorney participating in Nevada Supreme Court Settlement Program.
“He is extremely professional, fully prepared, strategic and effective.” Anonymous evaluation from Advanced Resolution Management Mediation.
“Simply put, Jay Young is a person you can trust.” Anonymous evaluation from Advanced Resolution Management Mediation.
acts to encourage and facilitate the resolution of a dispute between two or more parties. It is an informal and non-adversarial process with the objective of helping the disputing parties reach a mutually acceptable and voluntary agreement. In mediation, decision-making authority rests with the parties. The role of the mediator includes, but is not limited to, assisting the parties in identifying issues, fostering joint problem solving, and exploring settlement alternatives.
Since no two disputes are alike, no two solutions will be the same. The process of how mediation proceeds will therefore depend largely on the needs of those involved. I will attempt to illustrate some of the possible ways a mediation might proceed.
As a mediator, I believe my first role is to understand the dispute between the parties. The parties to the suit have the most information about the issues that they currently face. To help them reach a resolution, I need to understand the genesis of the dispute through its current status. Therefore, before the parties and their counsel meet with me, I ask each of them to provide me with a “mediation brief,” which is essentially a summary of your dispute. Your brief should not be a trial advocacy brief or contain bundles of pleadings and deposition transcripts unless those are absolutely necessary to educate me. You should simply provide me general information regarding the types of claims filed, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence regarding those claims. Briefs should be civil and professional in tone, without personal attacks. The goal your brief should be to inform me, not to inflame your opponent.
Finally, understand that I will often be asked to “carry water” for a party—that is, a party will ask that I deliver a message to the other party. These messages could be positive in nature—a willingness to express a sincere apology, or a more negative approach—if you don’t accept our offer, we intend to file a motion for fees, etc.
In litigation, your attorney does most of the heavy lifting, and as a party, you are mostly watching the presentation. Much of that presentation, if not all, focuses on the past. In mediation, your attorney will still be an important advocate for your cause and will certainly be a very important adviser to you, but you play a more central role. I will sometimes speak with your attorney and I will sometimes speak directly to you in order to help find the best way forward. I will have learned about the past from your counsel’s brief and will look forward to understanding its impact on you when we meet. Please be engaged in the process and share with me your feelings both about what occurred as well as what you would like to see for the future. Even though I have been involved in thousands of disputes, I guarantee that I have never had one “just” like yours. Therefore, I need your help to understand your unique situation.
Litigation is about proving your case and having a judge, or an arbitrator declare a winner; one party wins and another loses. In contrast, at mediation the law and your likelihood of success is a very important aspect of your case, but it is not the only factor. Mediation allows other factors to be considered and developed without being limited to just what the law might provide if everything at trial goes the way that you hope it will. Mediation is designed to try to find a resolution that is a win-win. Unless parties insist, I normally do not normally suggest that counsel give an opening statement at mediation. Doing so is, more often than not, counterproductive as they tend to devolve into a chest pounding session about who will win the litigation.
The uncertainty of a litigated outcome alone justifies considering alternatives to a litigated result. Every experienced litigator can point to cases they won when they didn’t think they had a chance winning. They can also point to times when if there was any justice, they would have won, but lost. There simply is no way to accurately predict with certainty the outcome of a litigated case whether decided by a judge, a jury, or an arbitrator. A mediated result gives you certainty without the risk of litigation.
All is not good news for defendants, however. Although they seem to do better at predicting outcomes, the 24% of the time they are wrong ends up being much more costly to them. Defendants who fared worse at trial than the last demand, ended up with a verdict that was on average $1.1 Million more than the Plaintiff’s last demand. On the other hand, plaintiffs received on average $43,000 less than the last offer given before trial. Some studies suggest that 95% or more of lawsuits settle rather than go to trial. Assuming that is true, your case seems destined to settle; therefore, why not resolve it now rather than later? Doing so will save time, aggravation, stress, and money. That said, mediation will not be an easy process. At times, you may feel uncomfortable, pressured, and perhaps even emotional. If the process were easy, the parties wouldn’t need a mediator’s assistance to settle the matter.
There may come a time during mediation when you may feel like giving up and you might feel like settlement is impossible. It is likely that in order to settle, both parties will be urged to step beyond the original “bottom line” limit they determined for themselves before the process started, in order to make a deal. Once the parties have come this close to a settlement, the last thing they should do is to give up. The easy answer will be to walk out the door in frustration. But remember what awaits you if you choose to leave: more attorney fees, stress, frustration, and an uncertain result through litigation. If you are inclined to say, “I offered my last dollar and they rejected it,” I would also urge you to avoid drawing a line in the sand. Instead, explore if there is something of non-monetary value that you can give or get that might make the deal more palatable. If not, I would recommend that instead of walking out the door, you tell the mediator that you are ready to quit and allow the mediator a chance to give you a reason to stay. If you give the process a chance, you may walk away with a settlement you can live with, rather than an uncertain future where the decision will be made by someone else.
All parties directly involved in the dispute should attend the mediation. You and your attorney, as well as the other party and their counsel need to appear. Anyone who would be responsible to pay or to approve the amount paid or received should be in attendance or, at a minimum, be available by telephone. If an insurance company will be paying for any settlement, a representative of that insurance company who has full settlement authority should be there in person. If a company is a party to the litigation, an individual with final settlement authority should be present. My preference is that parties not participate via telephone, as it is easier to be dispassionate and disassociated with the process. Anecdotal evidence suggests that having a party appear by telephone increases the chances that the mediation fails to end in a settlement, so I prefer to have all decision makers present for my mediations.
Yes, mediation proceedings are confidential. There are several aspects of mediation confidentiality that are explained in greater detail below, which you should understand: 1) confidential submissions to the mediator; 2) confidentiality of the settlement itself; 3) admissibility of the negotiations should the matter not settle; and 4) the obligation of the mediator keep confidential, the information shared with him or her by a party.
As I indicated above, counsel may submit truly confidential matters to me without sharing it with the other side. I will absolutely hold those in confidence unless you later authorize me to share that information with someone. The settlement reached at a mediation is not necessarily confidential unless the parties make confidentiality a term of the agreement. The parties will have to determine whether they should allow one or both parties to be able to speak openly about the fact that the case settled, or about the amount of the settlement.
Things that happen and information exchanged at mediation cannot be used against a party to that litigation or in other court proceedings so long as the information is not discoverable by other means. This point is so important that it is written into the law. First, an offer to compromise one’s position by way of negotiation “is not admissible to prove liability for or invalidity of the claim or its amount. Evidence of conduct or statements made in compromise negotiations is likewise not admissible.” Nevada Revised Statutes 48.105. Federal Rule of Evidence, Rule 408 provides the same protection for matters in Federal Court. Second, a mediator in Nevada cannot be forced by any court to disclose any matter discussed during mediation proceedings. Nevada Revised Statutes 48.109(3). Finally, in order to encourage parties to be open, honest, and to achieve a mediated resolution, our legislature has declared that “no admission, representation or statement made during the [mediation] session, not otherwise discoverable or obtainable, is admissible as evidence or subject to discovery.” Nevada Revised Statute 48.109(2).
Mediators may not share confidential information you provide to him or her to your opponent. Some mediators will tell you they hold everything you tell them in confidence and only divulge what you specifically tell them is not confidential. Other mediators (me included) feel that sharing of information is so essential to the process that nothing is treated as confidential unless they are specifically instructed that the matter is confidential. I will assume you want me to be able to share information if and when I feel it may assist with settlement unless you tell me it is confidential. There is no right or wrong approach, but you should make sure you understand your mediator’s philosophy before you share sensitive information. Finally, communications between you and your counsel are attorney-client privileged communications protected by law.
First, I prefer to have a pre-mediation discussion by telephone with counsel a few days before we meet. I find that these conversations give me a flavor for the dispute that I cannot always get from the written briefs and help me to jumpstart the actual mediation by getting to know the attorneys and their issues better. Attorneys often choose to use this phone call as an opportunity to deliver an ”opening statement,” laying out their client’s case in a safe environment where they are not likely to enflame emotions as sometimes happens when opening statements are given with litigants present. I appreciated the candid exchange, as well as the advocacy in an environment that is not likely to set negotiations back because someone is offended.
A separate session is sometimes referred to as a caucus or a private session. It is simply a private meeting between a mediator and one party (with that party’s counsel). I place the parties in separate rooms, and far enough apart that they won’t run into each other easily and uncomfortably in the hall and will not be able to hear one another’s separate session. I then meet separately with each party. These sessions can be as short as a few minutes and as long as necessary to make progress.
The time spent in separate sessions will certainly not be equal between the parties, but you should not read any significance into that fact. Understand that each person processes information, offers, and emotions differently, so a mediator may have to spend more time with one party than another. It does not mean that I am in the other room “drinking the kool-aid” being served by the other side. Rather, think of it as me taking the amount of time I believe is necessary to move that party closer to a resolution. During a separate session, a mediator may simply gather information before even asking either party to make any offer. Thereafter, a mediator may engage in shuttle diplomacy, moving from one room to another, delivering information, exploring options, and making offers and counteroffers.
Yes! All you have to do, whether in a joint session or separate session, is tell me and I will make arrangements for privacy so that you can speak freely with your counsel.
No two mediations are alike, but you should be prepared for a long, sometimes tedious, tiresome, trying, and emotional process. The more complex the problem, the more likely that the mediation will take some time to come to a conclusion. I have spent as little as an hour and as long as 40 hours (over multiple days of course) mediating a single matter. Most business mediations take at least a half a day, but complex matters can go a full day or longer. Bring any item with you that you need to be comfortable. Some people bring a good book or a hobby to work on during down time when the mediator is in a separate session with the other party.
Everything I have covered in this article is designed to assist you in trying to resolve your dispute. The more you prepare, the more likely you are to reach a settlement. Perhaps the most important factor in you being able to settle your case is having a realistic expectation regarding the value of your case and what is means to really compromise. If you think you could get $1,000,000 from a jury on your very best day, do not expect the other side to be willing to pay you that $1,000,000, as they will be looking at how little they could pay you if the jury believes them more than it believes you. If you are an injured party, you may likely feel that no amount of money can really make the past go away. Likewise, if you are defending that case, do not expect to walk away paying the amount you think you would at trial if you did everything right and the jury agreed with all of your analysis and presentation. The sweet spot for settlement is somewhere between those two extremes.
Ultimately, if your case is not settled at mediation, a judge or jury will decide the case value. Jurors are strangers to your case and may have differing beliefs and attitudes toward you. Jurors are often suspicious of people who bring lawsuits and of their attorneys. They also tend to wonder why they shouldn’t get the $1,000,000 that you are seeking and sometimes resent the person asking for money. This is especially true where there are minimal property damages and soft tissue injuries that cannot be verified objectively or where damages in a business matter are caused to a new business and are hard to quantify. On the other hand, juries tend to be unforgiving if they feel a plaintiff has been treated unfairly or if they feel the acts of the defendant are particularly harmful that they need to be punished. Further, some jurors have religious or moral objections to filing a lawsuit and therefore hold some bias. Some jurors, for reasons they may not even understand, will simply like one party more than the other party. You should come prepared to discuss a realist case value in light of all of these risks.
An abuse of process claim in Nevada has two fundamental elements: (1) an ulterior purpose, and (2) a willful act in the use of the process not proper in the regular conduct of a proceeding. Executive Mgmt. Ltd. v. Ticor Title Ins. Co., 114 Nev. 823, 843, 963 P.2d 465, 478 (1998). The action for abuse of process hinges on the misuse of regularly-issued process. Nevada Credit Rating Bureau, Inc. v. Williams, 88 Nev. 601, 606, 503 P.2d 9 (1972).
What is mediation and how is it different from court or arbitration?
Why should the client consider mediation?
What is the client’s role in mediation?
Are there desirable non-monetary solutions, such as future business or payment in-kind?
What is the client’s role in the mediation?
Simply Wireless sells cellular telephone goods and services to consumers and provides advertising, marketing, and distribution services to other businesses in the telecommunications industry. Simply Wireless is the registered owner of multiple trademarks using the name SIMPLY WIRELESS. Simply Wireless is also the originator and owner of the trademark SIMPLY PREPAID in connection with the sale of cellular telephone goods and services.
This article explores the advantages and disadvantages of various types of business entities in Nevada. Generally, the main advantage of a corporate entity is to shield its owners from placing their personal assets in jeopardy for the obligations of the business. If you are unsure which entity is right for you, call today 702.667.4828 for a consultation with one of our business attorneys.
I often hear litigators and clients complaining that the process of arbitration is flawed and does not deliver on its aspirations to provide a cheaper, quicker alternative to litigation in court. My response is that they are not really upset with the process of arbitration or mediation, but with the person who drafted the Alternative Dispute Resolution clause in their contract. The Arbitrator must administer the arbitration proceed pursuant to how the parties wrote the agreement. Therefore, as I wrote in this post, if you want a better process, write a better contract. I have endeavored to provide both my preferred standard ADR clause (with explanations), but also some alternative model arbitration, mediation, and ADR clauses from other trusted sources. The drafter should determine the process which will best benefit each client and draft the clause accordingly.
LAS VEGAS – In an effort to expand its reach and create occupational opportunities for adults with disabilities, Easterseals Nevada has acquired Toys 4 Smiles, a local non-profit organization dedicated to creating toys from scrap materials for children in need. A staple in the valley for more than a decade, Toys 4 Smiles will continue operating as a permanent program within the Easterseals Nevada organization.
Created in 2005, Toys 4 Smiles began as a community-based campaign by founder Rex Doty to manufacture wooden toy cars for underprivileged children in the Las Vegas valley. Each toy starts as a simple block of donated scrap hardwood and ends as a polished wooden car, created entirely by retired volunteers. Since its inception, the non-profit has donated over 300,000 cars to first responders and philanthropic organizations such as Safe Nest, The Shade Tree, Opportunity Village and Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada.
With this acquisition, Toys 4 Smiles cars will also be used to assist in developmental therapy for children with disabilities and will enhance services at Easterseals new Children’s Therapy and Autism Clinic. Additionally, instead of relying only on volunteer woodworkers, Easterseals will expand the program to create occupational opportunities for veterans and adults with disabilities who have completed its Community Training Services program, providing adults with disabilities the opportunity to earn a paycheck. In an effort to create a seamless transition, Toys 4 Smiles president and founder Rex Doty and board members Donovan Thiesssen and Jay Young have joined the Easterseals Nevada Board of Directors to spearhead the expansion efforts for the program.
The Toys 4 Smiles workshop is currently located at 4315 Dean Martin drive. For more information, please visit EastersealsNevada.org or call (702) 870-7050.
Since 1950, Easterseals Nevada has been advocating for, and working with, infants, children, youth and adults who have disabilities and other challenges. We work to address our community’s social service gaps, and to leverage partnerships and other strategic opportunities to increase participation in economic and civic life for all people. Easter Seals Nevada is one of Nevada’s largest community disability agencies serving more than 9,000 people with disabilities and their families each year. To keep up with Easter Seals Nevada’s news and events, follow us on Twitter @EasterSealsNV and like us on Facebook or visit our website at www.eastersealsnevada.org.
Las Vegas: James Kohl and Jay Young, of Howard & Howard in Las Vegas, have been reappointed Settlement Judges by the Nevada Supreme Court for a second three-year term.
Recognized by his peers as an outstanding attorney, Kohl is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell. He has also been named to the Nevada Business Top 100 Lawyers and to Mountain State Super Lawyers.
In addition, Young is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized by Mountain States Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, Nevada Business magazine Legal Elite and Vegas, Inc. Top Lawyers.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.