Mistaken Foreclosure

September 2008, obtained a reversal of $1.2 million in damages on behalf of Countrywide in a case regarding a mistaken foreclosure. The Nevada Supreme Court agreed that damages for breach of contract and negligence were duplicative of plaintiffs’ damages for trespass and conversion to their personal property. The court also agreed that the trebling provision of NRS 40.170 applies only to damages to real property. In the same appeal, also successfully argued that NRS 41.007 supersedes the Restatement standard for imposing punitive damages for vicarious liability relied on in Smith’s Food & Drug Centers v. Bellegarde, 122 Nev. 556, 138 P.3d 433 (2006), and the court expressly overruled Bellegarde. The court also clarified that under NRS 42.001, implied malice is a discrete basis for assessing punitive damages where conscious disregard can be demonstrated. In defining conscious disregard, the court no longer looks to definitions from cases that predate the statute, but relies on the plain language of NRS 42.001(1). Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. v. Thitchener, 124 Nev. Adv. Op. 64 (Sep. 11, 2008).