BYRD VS. BYRD (CHILD CUSTODY)

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

The court dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction based on an untimely notice of appeal. Under NRAP 4(a)(1), the notice of appeal was due 30 days after service of the notice of entry of the challenged order. The certificate of service reflected electronic service on appellant's counsel on November 9, 2022, fixing a December 9, 2022 deadline. Appellant filed her notice of appeal in the Supreme Court rather than the district court. Pursuant to NRAP 4(e), the clerk noted the receipt date of December 12, 2022, forwarded the notice to the district court, and the notice is deemed filed in the district court on that date. Because December 12 fell outside the 30-day window, the court held it lacked jurisdiction, citing Healy v. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft, 103 Nev. 329, 330, 741 P.2d 432, 432 (1987).

In plain language

Kelly Byrd asked a family court in Clark County to change a custody arrangement involving her minor children. The judge denied her request. She then tried to appeal that denial to the Nevada Supreme Court. In Nevada, a person who wants to appeal a district court ruling has to file a piece of paper called a "notice of appeal" within a strict deadline - generally 30 days after being served with notice that the order has been entered. Here, notice that the order had been entered was served electronically on Byrd's lawyer on November 9, 2022. That meant the notice of appeal had to be filed in the district court by December 9, 2022. Byrd missed that deadline. She also filed her notice of appeal in the wrong court - she sent it to the Supreme Court instead of the district court. Under the appellate rules, when that happens the Supreme Court clerk notes the date it was received and forwards it to the district court, and the notice is treated as filed on the date the Supreme Court received it. That date was December 12, 2022 - three days late. Because the notice of appeal was untimely, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that it had no power (no "jurisdiction") to hear the appeal at all. The court did not consider whether the custody ruling was right or wrong. It simply dismissed the appeal.