VACATED Friday, March 20, 2020 - Las Vegas - J. Parraguirre, J. Hardesty, and J. Cadish

State Dep’t of Taxation vs. Dist. Ct. (Nev. Wellness Ctr., LLC)
Docket Number: 80637
Las Vegas - 10:00 a.m. - Northern Nevada Panel

The Nevada Department of Taxation petitions for a writ of mandamus or prohibition overturning a district court order granting, in part, Nevada Wellness Center, LLC’s motion to compel the discovery of information on the personal cellphones of nonparty workers the Tax Department hired temporarily, through a temp agency, to help score recreational marijuana establishment license applications in 2018.  The Tax Department argues that the information stored on a nonparty former worker’s cell phone is not within its possession, custody, or control such that it can be compelled to produce that information in discovery, and that the phones’ contents are not within the scope of recently amended NRCP 16.1.

ISSUES:

(1) May a governmental department be compelled to produce in discovery a nonparty, former worker’s personal cell phone contents; (2) Are the personal cell phones’ contents discoverable under NRCP 16.1, when the district court did not make any written findings on whether the Tax Department intends to use those contents to support its claims or defenses or whether the contents constitute a record concerning the incident giving rise to the suit, such that they are meet the NRCP 16.1 standard?

Disclaimer:

This synopsis is intended to provide only general information about this case before the Nevada Supreme Court.  It is not intended to be all-inclusive or reflect all positions of the parties.  To access the documents that have been filed in this matter, type the docket number into the court’s case search page: https://caseinfo.nvsupremecourt.us/public/caseSearch.do