Bonaventura v. Ross

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA
CONSTABLE JOHN BONAVENTURA, No. 65897
AN INDIVIDUAL AND IN HIS
CAPACITY AS ELECTED OFFICIAL
LAS VEGAS TOWNSHIP CONSTABLE,
Appellant,
vs.
FILED
LAUGHLIN TOWNSHIP CONSTABLE SEP 0 2 2014
JORDAN ROSS, AN INDIVIDUAL; AND
TRACIE K. LINDEMAN
HENDERSON TOWNSHIP CLERK Of SUPREME COURT
Et
CONSTABLE EARL MITCHELL, AN DEPUTY CLERK
INDIVIDUAL,
Respondents.
ORDER DISMISSING APPEAL AND IMPOSING SANCTIONS
This is an appeal from a district court order denying a motion
to disqualify Judge Ronald J. Israel. Respondents have moved to dismiss
this appeal for lack of jurisdiction, asserting that no statute or court rule
permits an appeal from an order denying a motion to disqualify a judge.
Respondents also seek sanctions under NRAP 38, noting that appellant's
previous appeal from a district court sanctions order was dismissed for
lack of jurisdiction, see Bonaventura v. Ross, Docket No. 64370 (Order
Dismissing Appeal, March 18, 2014), and claiming that appellant
thereafter frivolously filed the motion to disqualify, and then this appeal,
to further delay the district court contempt proceedings arising from the
sanctions order.
Appellant filed an opposition to the motion. Within the
opposition's 12 pages, only three sentences, found on page 2 and repeated
nearly verbatim on page 6, relate to this court's jurisdiction. In those
sentences, appellant asserts that orders denying motions to disqualify can
SUPREME COURT
OF
NEVADA
(0) 1947A e 19 -247 (4.7
be reviewed by writ petition or appeal, citing to Ybarra v. State, 127 Nev.
, 247 P.3d 269 (2011), but explaining that Ybarra was decided on the
pre-2010 Nevada Code of Judicial ,Conduct and that no published opinion
has been rendered with respect to the revised 2010 code. Respondents
have filed a reply, pointing out that appellant's opposition fails to cite to
any relevant legal or statutory authority.
We agree with respondents that we lack jurisdiction over this
appeal. Appellant has pointed to no statute or court rule providing for an
appeal from an interlocutory order denying a motion to disqualify a judge,
and none appears to exist. See Taylor Constr. Co. v. Hilton Hotels Corp.,
100 Nev. 207, 209, 678 P.2d 1152, 1153 (1984); NRAP 3A(b); Nev. Code
Jud. Conduct. Ybarra was an appeal from an order denying post-
conviction relief in a criminal case; although an order denying a motion to
disqualify was discussed in the context of that appeal, we in no manner
indicated that an appeal directly from such an order was proper. Indeed,
jurisdiction was not even mentioned. 127 Nev. , 247 P.3d 269.
Accordingly, we grant the motion to dismiss and for sanctions under
NRAP 38. Appellant's counsel, Robert B. Pool, shall have 15 days from
the date of this order to personally pay respondents $250 for their efforts
in contesting jurisdiction. We thus
ORDER this appeal DISMISSED.
SA;
Hardesty
o
r/0" , J.
Douglas
SUPREME COURT
OF
NEVADA
2
(0) 1.947A
cc: Hon. Elizabeth Goff Gonzalez, District Judge
Robert B. Pool
Goodman Law Group
Eighth District Court Clerk
SUPREME COURT
OF
NEVADA
3
(0) 1947A