MOORE VS. ACKER (CHILD CUSTODY)

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

The court dismissed the appeal sua sponte for lack of appellate jurisdiction based on an untimely notice of appeal. Notice of entry of the January 12, 2023, custody order was served on appellant by U.S. mail on January 12, 2023. Applying NRAP 4(a)(1) and NRAP 26(a), the court calculated the appeal deadline as February 16, 2023. Appellant's notice of appeal was filed on February 29, 2024. Citing Healy v. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengescellschaft, 103 Nev. 329, 331, 741 P.2d 432, 433 (1987), the court reiterated that an untimely notice of appeal fails to vest jurisdiction in the Supreme Court, requiring dismissal.

In plain language

This is a child-custody appeal that the Nevada Supreme Court threw out before reaching the merits. The reason was timing. When a trial court issues a final order, the losing party has a limited window to file a "notice of appeal" - the document that starts the appeal process. In this case, notice that the district court had entered its custody order was mailed to Dollye Moore on January 12, 2023. Under the appellate rules, that meant she had to file her notice of appeal by February 16, 2023. She did not file it until February 29, 2024 - more than a year late. Because the deadline to appeal is jurisdictional, meaning the Supreme Court has no power to hear an appeal filed after the deadline, the court dismissed the case without considering any of the underlying custody arguments.