NRS 11.207(1) (providing that an action for legal malpractice must be filed
within 4 years after a plaintiff sustains damage). The instant complaint
was filed on June 3, 2010, and is thus time-barred.
We conclude, however, that factual issues remain regarding
whether appellants' malpractice claims based on Walter Boyle's life
insurance policy are time-barred. Respondent Henry Cavallera relied on a
letter sent in September 2006, memorializing a telephone conversation
that occurred on August 31, 2006, in which Cavallera stated that
appellants had acknowledged that their half-brother, Kaniela Boyle, had
spent virtually all of the insurance proceeds on items other than Dorothy
Boyle's care. This letter suggests that damages were sustained by this
date, and thus, the complaint was required to be filed by September 2010,
which it was.
Cavallera nevertheless asserts that the letter demonstrates
that appellants were also aware of the basis for any legal malpractice
claim by this date, which triggered the two-year limitation portion of NRS
11.207, which requires a legal malpractice claim to be filed within two
years of when the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered
"the material facts which constitute the cause of action." NRS 11.207(1).
Nothing in the record, however, conclusively establishes that appellants
were aware of any negligence by respondent at the time the letter was
sent. Consequently, it is not clear that appellants were aware of the
material facts underlying any claim against respondent, or whether
respondent's conduct constituted concealment under NRS 11.207(2), and
these factual issues preclude summary judgment based on statute of
limitations.
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Accordingly, we affirm the portion of the district court's order
dismissing appellants' claims based on the denial of Medicaid benefits,
and we reverse the portion of the order dismissing the claims based on the
life insurance beneficiary designation and we remand this matter for
further proceedings consistent with this order.
It is so ORDERED.
Gibbons
cc: Second Judicial District Court, Dept. 8
Nicholas F. Frey, Settlement Judge
Kenneth J. McKenna
Laxalt & Nomura, Ltd./Reno
Washoe District Court Clerk
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