Today's Nevada Supreme Court Opinions (9/25/08)
Today the Nevada Supreme Court issued opinions relating to tax assessment, sovereign immunity, NRS Chapter 40 (construction defect litigation) and the constitutionality of a rule relating to ballot initiatives.
In Canyon Villas v. State, Tax Comm'n, the Nevada Supreme Court held that, for tax assessment purposes, it is appropriate to use the income capitalization method to assess the full cash value of income-generating property that contains constructional defects in its improvements.
In Ransdell v. Clark County, the Nevada Supreme Court held that a county’s actions in abating a nuisance satisfy the two part test to determine whether acts are discretionary, entitling the County to sovereign immunity on Ransdell’s claims. The claims arose after the county removed “vehicle parts, tires, engines, vehicle body parts, dismantled bicycles, bicycle parts, scrap metals, a dilapidated shed, wood pallets, tarps, discarded chairs, rusted metal fencing, rusted grates, numerous inoperative motor bikes and parts, garbage, rubbish, weeds, and debris” from the property. The Court held that the county’s actions involved individual judgment and deliberation, and were based upon social and public policy considerations. The Court also rejected assorted constitutional challenges to the action, based upon the alleged vagueness of the term “inoperable vehicles.”
In ANSE, Inc. v. Dist. Ct., the Court held that subsequent purchasers of homes are entitled to the protections of NR Chapter 40. The decision clarifies the holding in Westpark Owners’ Ass’n v. District Court, 123 Nev. ___, ___, 167 P.3d 421, 429 (2007), which had held that “new residence” for constructional defect purposes is “a product of original construction that has been unoccupied as a dwelling from the completion of its construction until the point of sale.” In Westpark, the properties at issues were condominiums that had been rented out as apartments prior to their sale to individual homeowners. In ANSE, the Court clarified that the “sale” in question refers to the first.
In We the People Nevada v. Secretary of State, the Court held that the requirement in NRS 295.056(3), which requires that an initiative petition proposing to amend the Nevada Constitution be submitted “not later than the third Tuesday in May of an even-numbered year” is unconstitutional. Article 19, §§ 2(4) and 3(2) of the Nevada constitution do not permit the deadline to be more 155 days from the general election.
