Opinion
No. 67001
07-01-2015
DIGNITY HEALTH D/B/A ST. ROSE DOMINICAN HOSPITALS, Petitioner, v. THE EIGHTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF CLARK; THE HONORABLE ELISSA F. CADISH, DISTRICT JUDGE; AND BONNIE BULLA, Respondents, and CHRISTINA MARIE FELIX, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS GUARDIAN AD LITEM OF CRUZ DOEL ROJAS, Real Parties in Interest.
An unpublished order shall not be regarded as precedent and shall not be cited as legal authority. SCR 123.
ORDER DENYING PETITION
This case comes before the court on a petition for a writ of mandamus or prohibition challenging the district court's refusal to dismiss a medical malpractice action pursuant to NRCP 16.1(e). Petitioner's motion to dismiss argued that dismissal was mandatory because the plaintiffs (real parties in interest) missed the 180-day early case conference deadline in NRCP 16.1(b)(1) by 18 days. But in authorizing dismissal as a sanction for missing NRCP 16.1(b)(1)'s 180-day deadline, NRCP 16.1(e) speaks in the permissive "may" not the mandatory "shall," and we have therefore held that dismissal under these provisions of NRCP 16.1 is entrusted to the sound discretion of the district court. Dornbach v. Tenth Judicial Dist. Court, 130 Nev., Adv. Op. 33, 324 P.3d 369, 373 (2014); see Arnold v. Kip, 123 Nev. 410, 414, 168 P.3d 1050, 1052 (2007). "Writ relief is not proper to control the judicial discretion of the district court, unless discretion is manifestly abused or is exercised arbitrarily or capriciously,'" State v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 118 Nev. 140, 147, 42 P.3d 233, 237-38 (2002) (quoting Round Hill Gen. Imp. Dist. v. Newman, 97 Nev. 601, 604, 637 P.2d 534, 536 (1981)), and is rarely available to review a district court order denying a motion to dismiss or for summary judgment. Id. at 147, 42 P.3d at 238. For these reasons, we decline to exercise our discretion in favor of entertaining this petition for extraordinary writ relief. See Smith v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 107 Nev. 674, 677, 818 P.2d 849, 851 (1991) (the decision to issue writ relief lies within the discretion of this court).
Accordingly, we
ORDER the petition DENIED.
/s/_________, J.
Saitta
/s/_________, J.
Gibbons
/s/_________, J.
Pickering
cc: Hon. Elissa F. Cadish, District Judge
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, LLP/Las Vegas
Arm & Associates, PC
Parker, Nelson & Associates
Eighth District Court Clerk