Lund v. District Court

In 2010, Brian M. Walsh filed a complaint against, among others, petitioner Benjamin A. Lund. Petitioner added counterclaims of his own against Walsh and several additional counterclaim defendants. The district court dismissed the counterclaims against the new parties. Lund then filed a petition for writ of mandamus in the Supreme Court. At issue was whether a defendant could, under Nev. R. Civ. P. 13(h), bring a counterclaim that adds new parties to the action. Under that rule, if there is at least one original party included in the counterclaim, a defendant may add new parties to the action through a counterclaim if the nonparty meets the joinder requirements under Nev. R. Civ. P. 19 or 20. The Court held the district court failed to apply the proper Rule 13(h) analysis and directed the district court to vacate its order dismissing the counterclaims and to reconsider the decision in light of its opinion. Because the petitioner failed to fully develop his petition for extraordinary relief by necessarily addressing Nev. R. Civ. P. 19 or 20, the Court rejected petitioner’s request that it order the dismissed counterclaims reinstated.