• About Us
  • Activity
  • Advertising
  • Books
  • Business
  • Contact
  • Dashboard
  • EB5
  • Entertainment
  • feedback
  • Forgot Your Password?
  • Government
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • Login
  • Members
  • Meme generator
  • National
  • Nevada
  • Nevada News and Views
  • Newsmax
  • NN&V Ads
  • Opinion
  • Pick a New Password
  • Politics
  • Polls
  • Privacy Policy
  • Profile
  • Recent comments by me
  • Recent comments on my posts
  • Register
  • Submit post
  • Subscribe
  • Subscription Confirmation
  • Survey
  • Survey
  • Terms of Service
  • Today’s Top 10
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Welcome!
  • Yop Poll Archive
Nevada News and Views
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • More
    • Nevada
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Travel
    • News
    • Sports
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Pinterest

  • RSS

Government

Are Nevadans Paying To Sue Themselves?

Are Nevadans Paying To Sue Themselves?
Chuck Muth
June 28, 2011

(Michael Chamberlain/Nevada Business Coalition) – The Constitutions of both the United States and the State of Nevada proclaim that those accused of a crime have the right to have an attorney represent them. Courts have ruled that people who cannot afford to pay for an attorney themselves must be provided one paid for by the State.

The US Supreme Court recently ruled this right does not apply to civil cases. There is no Constitutional right for a party in a civil proceeding to have an attorney provided for him at the expense of others. However, Clark County does force its residents to pay for the legal representation of some people in civil disputes against others.

Earlier this week the Clark County Commission agreed to award a $3 million grant to help build a brand-new $13 million, 35,000-square foot office for the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, Inc. (LACSN), which performs legal services in civil cases for low-income people. The City of Las Vegas also kicked in $2.5 million for this facility.

LACSN already receives approximately $2.5 million each year from Clark County. People filing certain court documents are forced to pay additional fees, which the County directs to LACSN to help fund its activities.

Former Nevada State Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley is the Executive Director of LCASN. According to a report in the Review-Journal,

Last year, the nonprofit center helped 31,000 people, and this year that number could reach 38,000 clients who face eviction, foreclosure, lawsuits from credit card companies and other legal problems plaguing the poor, Buckley said.

All of the problems Buckley specifically mentioned are a product of unpaid debts and efforts to collect. While there are certainly instances of abuse by creditors there are also many cases of people in these situations trying to work the system.

There are also many attorneys willing to take cases in which individuals allege abuse by creditors on a contingency basis. That’s evident simply by sitting through a couple commercial breaks on virtually any local television show. Furthermore, if trial lawyers are as altruistic as they’d like us to believe, no meritorious case would go un-pursued for lack of counsel.

The State of Nevada collects money from its citizens to fund the legitimate functions of government. That money should not be used to advocate on behalf of one side in a private dispute or civil litigation between private parties.

If one side has committed fraud or another violation of the law, the government should prosecute that violation. But it should not intervene in favor of one party or another in civil actions.

It is not as though LCASN has trouble raising money from private sources. In the last few years, the corporation has been able to obtain at least $10 million from non-government sources to put toward mortgage payments and building costs in addition to the private funding for operations it receives each year. At the end of 2009 it had more than $8 million in net assets and it spent over $220,000 on fundraising in that year.

LACSN is likely to get even more money from the government in the future, as a result of two new laws signed this session. One, AB192, adds $3 to each filing fee for a Notice of Default and directs it to LACSN’s work on behalf of abused and neglected children. Our calculations estimate this will provide about $176,000 for LACSN next year.

AB259 directs $10 from existing fees from certain District Court filings to LACSN but does not mandate how it must be spent. So those funds are free to be used to advance the corporation’s efforts at social justice.

There are plenty of attorneys who will represent people who have been wronged on a contingency basis. There are plenty of attorneys who perform pro-bono legal services for those who cannot afford them. There are plenty of people who will donate money to an organization that provides services for the poor and indigent.

There is no reason the citizens of Nevada and the residents of Clark County should be forced to fund legal services in private, non-criminal matters. Neither the Nevada nor US Constitution requires it nor is intervening in disputes between private parties a legitimate function of government.

(Michael Chamberlain is Executive Director of Nevada Business Coalition.)

Prev postNext post

Related Items
Government
June 28, 2011
Chuck Muth

Related Items

More in Government

Amodei Statement on Debt Ceiling Bill

Chuck MuthJune 1, 2023
Read More

Stone: The Truth About AB 250: Will Patients Really Benefit?

NN&V StaffMay 26, 2023
Read More

Amodei vs. Biden: Debunking Misinformation on Debt and Border Policies

NN&V StaffMay 23, 2023
Read More

Quarter-Million Dollar Ad Campaign Targets Nevada Legislators for Trapping Hispanic Families in Unsafe Schools

NN&V StaffMay 22, 2023
Read More

Lombardo’s Veto Message on AB354 (Gun Control)

NN&V StaffMay 17, 2023
Read More

Lombardo’s Veto Message on AB355 (Gun Control)

NN&V StaffMay 17, 2023
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Subscribe Free By Email

Looking for the best in breaking news and conservative views? Let Chuck do all the work for you! Subscribe to his FREE "Muth's Truths" e-newsletter.

* indicates required
Nevada News and Views
Nevada News & Views is an educational project of Citizen Outreach Foundation, a non-partisan IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organization. It is not associated or affiliated with any political party or group. Nevada News & Views is accessible by the public at no cost. It funds its operations through tax-deductible contributions from donors and supporters and does not accept government money or grants.

TAGS

Featured Article Nevada Politics business Muth's Truths government Muth’s Truths Opinion Government Obama Ron Knecht News Donald Trump GOP Republicans

Copyright © 2023 Citizen Outreach | Maintained by VirtualAlly

A Story of Republican Failure in the Nevada Legislature
Nevada Supreme Court Hears Special Election Arguments Today