VAUGHN VS. KURSH-JACKSON, JR. (CHILD CUSTODY)

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

The court dismissed the appeal for failure to prosecute after the pro se appellant did not file a transcript request form or certificate of no transcript request, a docketing statement, or a fast track opening brief, despite a September 26, 2025 notice setting deadlines and a November 3, 2025 order directing compliance within 14 days and warning of possible dismissal. The court invoked NRAP 3E(1) and NRAP 14(c) and concluded that the appellant had abandoned the appeal.

In plain language

This was an appeal by Deniece Vaughn, representing herself, from a Clark County family court decision about child custody. To move an appeal forward in the Nevada Supreme Court, the person appealing must file certain documents on a schedule - including a form telling the court whether transcripts of the lower-court hearings are being ordered, a "docketing statement" (a form summarizing the appeal), and an opening brief (the written argument explaining why the lower court got it wrong). On September 26, 2025, the Supreme Court sent Vaughn a notice telling her when each of these documents was due. When she did not file the transcript request form or the docketing statement, the court issued a second order on November 3, 2025, giving her another 14 days and warning that the appeal could be dismissed if she did not comply. Vaughn still did not file those documents, did not file the opening brief that was due November 25, 2025, and did not otherwise contact the court. Concluding that Vaughn had abandoned the appeal, the Supreme Court dismissed it. The dismissal does not address the merits of the underlying custody dispute; it ends this particular appeal because the procedural steps required to pursue it were not taken.