Watson Rounds v. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct. (Nev. Supreme Ct. – Sep. 24, 2015)

NRS 7.085 allows a district court to make an attorney personally liable for the attorney fees and costs an opponent incurs when the attorney files, maintains, or defends a civil action that is not well-grounded in fact or is not warranted by existing law or by a good-faith argument for changing the existing law. The issues are whether (1) Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure NRCP 11 supersedes NRS 7.085, and (2) the district court abused its discretion in sanctioning the law firm under NRS 7.085.

FortuNet, Inc., is a gaming company that leases bingo equipment to casinos. In 2011, FortuNet filed the initial version of its complaint in an action against former FortuNet employees and an entity they created; the claims centered on allegations that the employees breached various duties to FortuNet and improperly used FortuNet’s intellectual property. FortuNet later retained Watson Rounds, P.C. (Watson), as its new counsel, and Watson prepared a second amended complaint adding Bruce Himelfarbl and Himelfarb & Associates, LLC (collectively Himelfarb), as defendants. All claims against Himelfarb derived from an alleged kickback scheme and the alleged theft of FortuNet’s intellectual property.

Each of FortuNet’s claims against Himelfarb survived summary judgment. The parties proceeded to trial, but before the jury entered a verdict, the district court dismissed several of FortuNet’s claims against Himelfarb for lack of evidence under NRCP 50(a). FortuNet also voluntarily dismissed several other claims against Himelfarb. The remaining claims against Himelfarb made it to the jury, which had the option of finding that Himelfarb was involved in the kickback scheme, the theft of FortuNet’s intellectual property, both, or neither. The jury rejected FortuNet’s claims against Himelfarb, found for Himelfarb on its counterclaims, and specifically asked the district court if it could include Himelfarb’s attorney fees when calculating the damages Himelfarb suffered from FortuNet’s breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The district court instructed the jury that it could not add attorney fees because such fees, if any, would be assessed posttrial.

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