WRIGHT LAW GROUP RACKS UP ANOTHER WIN AGAINST
THE NEVADA CONTRACTORS BOARD IN DISTRICT COURT
One of The Wright Law Group’s clients recently experienced a situation where the Contractors Board was so determined to discipline a contractor that the Nevada Contractors Board was willing to ignore the Nevada Statute of Limitations to support what the District Court identified as “Ad Hoc Rule Making.” Fortunately, the District Court was not having it.
In the fall of 2017, the contractor had negligently removed and stored asbestos containing materials in violation of the Federal Clean Air Act and the Nevada Department of Environmental Quality (“NDEQ”) regulations. The contractor was cited by the Clark County Air Quality Control Board and at a hearing in the spring of 2018, the contractor agreed to pay a fine of $34,000.00. As it turned out, agents of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) were in attendance at the hearing before the Air Quality and Control Board and the EPA subsequently conducted its own investigation.
After a couple of years of negotiations with the U.S. District Attorney’s office, a Plea Agreement was reached and the contractor and its project manager each pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of Negligent Endangerment under the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(4).
In January of 2024, more than six years after the negligent act, the Contractors Board filed an administrative Complaint against the contractor for allegedly having committed a “fraudulent or deceitful act” alleging that the contractor had not been truthful with the Clark County Air Quality Control Board and the EPA during the 2018 investigation. This complaint was lodged by the Board to the Board .
The Wright Law Group filed a motion to dismiss the Complaint based on the running of the statute of limitations. However, at the hearing, held in February of 2024, the Board’s counsel argued that it was not the wrongful conduct in 2017 upon which the Plea Agreement was based. Instead, in a complete Ad Hoc manner, the Board argued that it was the act of entering into the Plea Agreement that is the conduct that formed the basis of the Complaint, thus attempting to avoid the applicable 4 year statute of limitations. At a hearing before a Board the Hearing Officer applied a non-existent tolling provision in an attempt to find a way for the complaint to work , ultimately issuing a disciplinary order against the contractor.
Fortunately, The Wright Law Group, filed a successful Petition for Judicial Review in the Clark County District Court in accordance with NRS 233B.130(1)(b). At the hearing on judicial review the District Court set aside the disciplinary order and admonished the Contractors Board, stating first and foremost that the Board could not be an injured party and therefore, should not have brought its own complaint.
Second, the District Court found that the Board had engaged in Ad Hoc Rule Making, in clear violation of a Nevada Supreme Court decision titled Silverwing Development v. Nevada State Contractors Board from 2020, which held that the Board cannot engage in ad hoc rulemaking and that no deference is owed to the Board’s interpretation of statutes and regulations.
Board To Return All Fine
The District Court ordered the Board to return all fines, fees and costs that the Board had ordered the Contractor to pay resulting from the citation.
Fortunately, the contractor was successful in its petition for review. However, that is not always the case and a contractor must take care to retain knowledgeable and experienced counsel to ensure that their rights are protected, because the Contractors Board does not always play fair. Sometimes, as shown here, the Board may even make up a rule, or incorrectly interprets a rule, to obtain their objectives.
The Wright Law Group has decades of experience defending claims and protecting the rights of contractors against such vexatious conduct by the Contractors Board and others. If you find yourself at odds with the Contractors Board don’t go it alone. Contact The Wright Law Group at 702-405-0001 and protect your license.