The district court held appellant in contempt and imposed a ten-day
suspended jail sentence, ordered appellant to pay $300 per month until he
satisfied the amount owed, and directed appellant to pay $2,286 in
attorney fees. This appeal followed.
Having reviewed the record and appellant's civil proper person
appeal statement, we conclude that the order challenged in this matter is
not appealable. This court has jurisdiction to consider an appeal only
when the appeal is authorized by statute or court rule. Taylor Constr. Co.
v. Hilton Hotels, 100 Nev. 207, 678 P.2d 1152 (1984). NRAP 3A(b)(8)
allows an appeal to be taken from a special order entered after a final
judgment. To be appealable as a special order after final judgment, the
order must affect the rights of some party to the action growing out of the
judgment. Gumm v. Mainor, 118 Nev. 912, 920, 59 P.3d 1220, 1225
(2002). Further, in the context of post-divorce proceedings, an order
denying a motion to amend a divorce decree is appealable as a special
order after final judgment, if "the motion is based upon changed factual or
legal circumstances and the moving party is not attacking the original
judgment." Burton v. Burton, 99 Nev. 698, 700, 669 P.2d 703, 705 (1983).
Here, the district court's order merely enforced appellant's
obligation under the divorce decree. Neither respondent's motion to
enforce the divorce decree nor appellant's arguments in response to the
motion were based on changed factual or legal circumstances. Rather, in
opposing respondent's motion, appellant was simply attacking the original
divorce decree. Therefore, we conclude that the district court's order is not
appealable as a special order after final judgment under NRAP 3A(b)(8).
Moreover, the portions of the district court's order imposing contempt and
awarding attorney fees are also not appealable, and to the extent
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appellant seeks to challenge them, he may do so through a petition for
extraordinary relief. See Pengilly v. Rancho Santa Fe Homeowners, 116
Nev. 646, 649, 5 P.3d 569, 571 (2000) (recognizing that a contempt order is
not appealable). Having concluded that we lack jurisdiction, we
ORDER this appeal DISMISSED.
Hardesty
, J.
Parraguirre
cc: Hon. James E. Wilson, District Judge
Alfred D. Asti
Jennifer S. Anderson
Carson City Clerk
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