357.080 - Action by private plaintiff; venue of actions.
357.080 Action by private plaintiff; venue of actions.
1. Except as otherwise provided in this section and NRS 357.090 and 357.100, a private plaintiff may maintain an action pursuant to this chapter on his or her own account and that of the State if money, property or services provided by the State are involved, or on his or her own account and that of a political subdivision if money, property or services provided by the political subdivision are involved, or on his or her own account and that of both the State and a political subdivision if both are involved. After such an action is commenced, it may be dismissed only with leave of the court, taking into account the public purposes of this chapter and the best interests of the parties.
2. If a private plaintiff brings an action pursuant to this chapter, no other person may bring another action pursuant to this chapter based on the same facts.
3. An action may not be maintained by a private plaintiff pursuant to this chapter:
(a) Against a member of the Legislature or the Judiciary, an elected officer of the Executive Department of the State Government, or a member of the governing body of a political subdivision, if the action is based upon evidence or information known to the State or political subdivision at the time the action was brought.
(b) If the action is based upon allegations or transactions that are the subject of a civil action or an administrative proceeding for a monetary penalty to which the State or political subdivision is already a party.
4. A complaint filed pursuant to this section must be placed under seal and so remain for at least 60 days or until the Attorney General has elected whether to intervene. No service may be made upon the defendant until the complaint is unsealed.
5. On the date the private plaintiff files a complaint, he or she shall send a copy of the complaint to the Attorney General by mail with return receipt requested. The private plaintiff shall send with each copy of the complaint a written disclosure of substantially all material evidence and information he or she possesses.
6. An action pursuant to this chapter may be brought in any judicial district in this State in which the defendant can be found, resides, transacts business or in which any of the alleged fraudulent activities occurred.
(Added to NRS by 1999, 825, 826; A 2007, 2399)