CAMPBELL VS. OFFUTT-OSBORNE (CHILD CUSTODY)

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

The court applied the settled rule that its appellate jurisdiction exists only where authorized by statute or court rule. See NRAP 3A(b); Taylor Constr. Co. v. Hilton Hotels, 100 Nev. 207, 678 P.2d 1152 (1984). The order denying appellant's "Ex Parte Motion for Allowing Me to Send Items and Gifts to my Son" was determined to be not substantively appealable, and no statute or rule authorizes an appeal from such an order. Lacking jurisdiction, the court dismissed the appeal.

In plain language

Johnnie C. Campbell asked a family court judge in Clark County for permission to send items and gifts to his son. The judge denied that request. Mr. Campbell then tried to appeal that denial to the Nevada Supreme Court, representing himself without a lawyer. The Nevada Supreme Court did not decide whether Mr. Campbell should or should not be allowed to send items and gifts to his son. Instead, the court explained that it can only hear appeals when a statute or court rule specifically allows that type of order to be appealed. Because no statute or court rule lets a person appeal this kind of order, the Supreme Court concluded it had no power - no "jurisdiction" - to consider the case. As a result, the court dismissed the appeal without addressing the underlying request about sending items and gifts.