BROTHERSON VS. BROTHERSON (FAMILY)

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

The court dismissed the appeal for failure to prosecute under NRAP 14 (docketing statement) and NRAP 9(a) (transcript request requirements). After the clerk's September 6, 2024 notice setting deadlines of 21 days for the docketing statement and 14 days for the transcript request form or certificate of no transcript request, the appellant did not comply. The court issued a follow-up order on October 3, 2024, with a hard deadline of October 10, 2024, and an express warning that noncompliance could result in dismissal. Continued noncompliance led the panel to treat the appeal as abandoned and order dismissal.

In plain language

This is a short procedural order, not a ruling on the merits of any family-law dispute. Maria Brotherson filed an appeal from a final judgment in a family-court case in Clark County. She represented herself. When someone files an appeal in Nevada, the Supreme Court clerk requires certain paperwork early in the process - including a "docketing statement" (a form summarizing the appeal) and either a request for transcripts of the lower-court proceedings or a certificate stating no transcripts will be requested. On September 6, 2024, the clerk sent Brotherson a notice telling her to file these documents within set deadlines. She did not. The court then issued a second order on October 3, 2024, giving her until October 10, 2024, to file the missing documents and warning that, if she did not, the appeal could be dismissed. She still did not file them. Concluding that she had abandoned her appeal, the court dismissed it. The order does not address the underlying family-law issues.