Sellers v. Fourth Judicial District Court Ex Rel. County of Elko

OPINION

This proper person writ petition presents an issue of first impression — whether NRS 69.030 authorizes an award of attorney fees to a prevailing proper person litigant. We conclude that it does not and that a justice’s court exceeds its jurisdiction by awarding attorney fees to a prevailing proper person litigant who has not incurred any obligation to pay attorney fees, even if the proper person litigant is an attorney.

In the proceedings underlying this petition, Richard K. Matthews, an attorney, sued Dean K. Sellers, a non-attorney, in Elko justice’s court for unpaid attorney fees.…