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Gumm v. Mainor12/26/2002
Jurisdictional screening of an appeal from a post-judgment order, entered in a personal injury action, which adjudicated various liens, directed disbursement of more than $127,000 in court-held judgment funds to lien holders on their liens, and reserved more than $18,500 for possible future distribution to lien holders for attorney fees, costs and interest. Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County; Nancy M. Saitta, Judge.
Jurisdiction clarified and appeal allowed to proceed.
BEFORE The Court En Banc.
OPINION
This appeal from a post-judgment order provides us with an opportunity to clarify what constitutes a special order made after final judgment, which is substantively appealable under NRAP 3A(b)(2). We have generally held that a post-judgment order, to be appealable, must affect the rights of the parties growing out of the final judgment, but this standard has proved inadequate. Here, for example, the order does not technically affect the rights of the "parties" growing out of the final judgment, but only the rights of the plaintiff, his trial attorneys and various lien holders to receive judgment proceeds. Yet, the order would have qualified as an appealable order under an earlier interpretation of the rule, which required only that it affect some party's rights growing out of the judgment. We conclude that the earlier interpretation is the preferable one since the more recent and narrower interpretation contradicts the broad language of NRAP 3A(b)(2), which permits an appeal from any special order made after final judgment.
Thus, to be appealable under NRAP 3A(b)(2), a special order made after final judgment must be an order affecting the rights of some party to the action, growing out of the judgment previously entered. It must be an order affecting rights incorporated in the judgment. The order being appealed in this case clearly qualifies: it affects the plaintiff's right to distribution of the judgment proceeds. We conclude that we have jurisdiction, and that the appeal may therefore proceed.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Appellant John Gumm sued Albertson's, Inc., and Top Quality Maintenance for personal injuries he sustained in a grocery store slip and fall accident. Gumm settled with the maintenance company for its $500,000 insurance policy limits, and proceeded to trial against Albertson's. A jury awarded Gumm more than $1.8 million (to be reduced by thirty percent for his own fault). Gumm's settlement and award were subject to more than $120,000 in medical provider lien claims, and a claim in an unspecified amount for his trial attorneys' costs and fees. A dispute arose between Gumm and his trial attorneys, Randall Mainor and Thomas Murphrey, regarding the validity of the medical liens and the amount of their attorney fees. Gumm hired another attorney to help him resolve the dispute.
Mainor then filed a "motion to interplead trust funds." Gumm apparently opposed the motion on the basis that Mainor needed to file a separate complaint for interpleader under NRCP 22. At the May 31, 2001 hearing on the motion, however, and in its June 6, 2001 order, the court (1) ruled that Mainor's motion was to be treated as a motion to adjudicate lien claimants, (2) ordered that the $145,655.80 held in the attorneys' trust fund to cover medical liens be deposited with the court clerk, (3) gave Gumm fifteen days within which to file objections to lien claims, and (4) rescinded Mainor's agreement to reduce Gumm's outstanding costs by $2,500. The court granted Gumm's request for NRCP 54(b) certification, and Gumm appealed.
Gumm's appeal was docketed in this court on June 25, 2001, as No. 38079, and
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