Nev. Supreme Court issues 2 opinions
The Nevada Supreme Court issued two opinions today. Both were in civil cases:
In Las Vegas Fetish and Fantasy v. Ahern Rental (my favorite case caption so far this year), the Court addresses the doctrine of unclean hands: "This appeal presents us with the opportunity to clarify the circumstances under which the unclean hands doctrine will bar a party from obtaining an equitable remedy. We now conclude that the unclean hands doctrine should only apply when the egregiousness of the party's misconduct constituting the party's unclean hands and the seriousness of the harm caused by the misconduct collectively weigh against allowing the party to obtain such a remedy. Applying our conclusion to this case, we reject appellant's contention that its abuse of process judgment against respondent automatically barred respondent from obtaining a judgment against appellant based on unjust enrichment."
In Bob Allyn Masonry v. Murphy, the Court considers whether injuries of an employee who, like Murphy, is involved in a vehicular accident while on the return journey of a special errand undertaken at the employer's request, arise out of and in the course of employment, entitling the employee to workers' compensation benefits. In so doing, the Court adopts" the street-risk rule, which provides that, when an employee is required to drive as a component of employment, the risks and hazards associated with the roadways are incident to that employment, and thus injuries sustained due to risks associated with those roadways arise out of the employment. We also clarify that our workers' compensation jurisprudence includes an employee's return journey within the special errand exception to the going and coming rule, which provides that, even though going and coming from work generally is not in the course of employment, an employee is acting within the course of employment when completing a "special errand" for the employer. Thus, depending upon the facts, an employee's injuries sustained in a vehicular accident during the return journey of a special errand may arise out of and in the course of employment."