Opinion ID: 2378741
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Due process and the sufficiency of the January 18, 2007, hearing

Text: The hearing held by the district court on January 18, 2007, was sufficient based upon the facts and circumstances of this case. The only witnesses to the discovery dispute were the respective attorneys for Bahena and Goodyear. These attorneys are all officers of the court. Their conduct is governed by Nevada Rule of Professional Conduct (RPC) 3.3, which addresses the standards of candor that a lawyer must have towards a court. This rule provides that the lawyers must not make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal, fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer, or offer evidence that the lawyer knows to be false. The district court heard all the factual representations of the respective lawyers and asked them questions at the hearing. Representations of the respective lawyers were sufficient for the district court to question the lawyers about the deposition and document production dispute without the necessity of cross-examination. [1] We concluded in Bahena I that the district court should hold such hearing as it reasonably deems necessary to consider matters that are pertinent to the imposition of appropriate sanctions. The length and nature of the hearing for non-case concluding sanctions shall be left to the sound discretion of the district court. 126 Nev. at ___, 235 P.3d at 601. This standard set forth in Bahena I provides sufficient due process and creates a more extensive requirement for hearings before entry of default as to liability only than many other state jurisdictions cited by Goodyear and discussed below. The district court's hearing on January 18, 2007, was sufficient, and the district court judge properly received factual representations from officers of the court pursuant to RPC 3.3. [2] While we reject Goodyear's argument to mandate evidentiary hearings in all cases before a district court may strike a defendant's answer as to liability only, we agree in part with our dissenting colleague that district courts should be encouraged to exercise their discretion to hold evidentiary hearings regarding non-case concluding sanctions when requested and when there are disputed issues of material fact regarding the discovery dispute identified by the parties. Examination of witnesses who have personal knowledge of the material issues of fact in dispute may assist the district courts in making findings of fact. Although Goodyear requested an evidentiary hearing, it did not make an offer of proof to the district court as to what evidence should be considered in addition to the representations of counsel.