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Despite court setback, Uber keeps up attorney fees cap effort

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Despite court setback, Uber keeps up attorney fees cap effort


A continued effort by an Uber-backed group to cap attorney’s fees — despite a state Supreme Court ruling against its ballot initiative — is showing up around Nevada in the form of a large-scale advertising campaign.

Digital and billboard advertisements around Las Vegas, Reno and Carson City rail against “greedy lawyers” and “lawsuit abuse,” the subject of a ballot initiative that gained more than 206,000 signatures in 2024.

Nevadans For Fair Recovery, a political action committee that brought the petition initiative to cap attorney fees in civil cases at 20 percent, was behind the ballot effort. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Jan. 27 that the initiative’s description was “misleading and confusing.”

The decision prevented the initiative from going to the Nevada Legislature for consideration during the 2025 session or from going to voters in the 2026 general election. About a week after in early February, the group turned its funding toward a media blitz.

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Spokesperson Karen Griffin said the open-ended campaign reflects that the group is “back to square one” after the Supreme Court’s ruling. Griffin said the group will watch how the Legislature takes up the issue, if at all.

“We’re really committed to this issue and committed to continuing to fund it moving forward,” Griffin said. “Because ultimately, the insurance industry is in crisis. It’s at the root of the problem, and we have a system in Nevada that incentivizes and sanctions legal abuse in a lot of ways.”

Nevadans for Fair Recovery argues excessive attorney’s fees from “billboard attorneys” eat into settlements for plaintiffs and drive up the costs of everyday goods, services and insurance rates. The petition’s opponents contend Uber was trying to make it easier for the company, and others like it, to hire expensive defense attorneys to fight lawsuits while limiting citizen’s abilities to find legal representation.

That’s because contingency fees in civil cases — which are currently not capped in most cases — tie the cost of the attorney’s services to the results of the case. Civil plaintiffs’ attorneys say a cap could discourage attorneys from taking smaller cases or force some firms to switch to an hourly rate model.

Reform efforts elsewhere

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Nevadans for Fair Recovery’s sole supporter is Uber. The San Francisco-based ridesharing company poured $5 million into the PAC last year, according to campaign finance reports, and the company has seven paid lobbyists registered for this legislative session.

Nevada is not the only state where Uber is pushing insurance and legal reforms. The company launched a million-dollar ad campaign in California, Georgia, Nevada and New York, according to Sacramento-based TV station KTXL.

Attorney Deepak Gupta, who represented Uber Sexual Assault Survivors for Legal Accountability and the Nevada Justice Association, said the campaign likely reflects the company’s broader effort to change legal and insurance laws. He said they believe Uber sees Nevada as “a testing ground” for policy reform.

“It continues to be troubling, because they are pushing a proposal that would be the most extreme limit on access to the civil justice system in the country but attempting to portray it as something very different,” Gupta said. “And it’s no surprise why they’re doing this. It’s been a moment when this company faces thousands of sexual assault claims.”

Justin Watkins, a partner at Battle Born Injury Lawyers and a non-paid lobbyist for the Nevada Justice Association, said he was surprised to see the media campaign.

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“I’m confused as to their continuous effort, to be honest with you, to apply pressure to the Legislature to change laws or to complain about laws that they themselves wrote,” Watkins said, referring to ridesharing regulations set in the 2015 legislative session. “I’m up here in Carson City right now, and there is no proposal from Uber or anybody else to change the structure of the laws that they themselves wrote and are complaining about in these media campaigns.”

Nevada Justice Association has 11 paid and 13 non-paid lobbyists registered during this session, legislative reports show.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.



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Nevada

28-year-old inmate at Southern Nevada prison dies

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28-year-old inmate at Southern Nevada prison dies


A man serving time at the Southern Desert Correctional Center for felony reckless driving died last month, the Nevada Department of Corrections said Tuesday.

Shiloh Walker, 28, died at the Indian Springs facility on Nov. 24, a news release said. Cause of death was not listed.

Walker was serving a sentence of up to six years after a plea agreement was reached in 2022 following a DUI crash that happened May 31, 2021 in Las Vegas, according to online court records.

An autopsy was requested following Walker’s death, though results were not available as of Monday evening. Attempts to reach Walker’s family members have been unsuccessful, according to the department.

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Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.



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Is USPS breaking vow not to use Sacramento for Northern Nevada mail?

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Is USPS breaking vow not to use Sacramento for Northern Nevada mail?


After widespread condemnation last year, the U.S. Postal Service backed away from plans to move its Reno mail-processing operations to Sacramento — but did it stay true to what it told the public?

The question arose recently after letters sent from one Carson City address to another in Carson City were both postmarked in Sacramento.

Northern Nevadans did not want first class mail sent from one Northern Nevada address to another going first to California. They sent a unified message to the USPS all the way up to the postmaster general.

Critics of the USPS plan were especially worried about delays from mail having to go back and forth over the Sierra during winter.

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The Washoe County District Attorney’s office filed a lawsuit over the plan, the Washoe County Commission voted to oppose the plan, public comment was universally opposed, and Democratic and Republican elected officials from across the state joined to stop it.

Could it possibly have happened anyway? The answer is yes, temporarily, for a brief time.

How letters sent in Carson City came to be processed at Sacramento USPS facility

A reader told the Reno Gazette Journal they’d twice had letters internal to Carson City postmarked in Sacramento, so we asked USPS if the policy had changed.

“Mail processing for First Class mail that originates in Northern Nevada and is destined to Northern Nevada has not changed,” USPS spokesperson Sherry Patterson responded by email.

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“However,” she added, “without the specific mail piece and class of mail, we cannot determined if there is an issue.”

The reader then supplied a photo of the two envelopes postmarked Nov. 5 in Sacramento, and this was shared with USPS.

“Our processing machine in Reno was temporarily out of service while we awaited a replacement part,” Patterson said after viewing the postmarks to nail down the specific date the letters went through Sacramento.

“To ensure that mail was not delayed during this time, we implemented a contingency plan that involved routing certain mail to our Sacramento facility for cancellation and processing. This measure allows us to maintain service continuity and minimize disruptions for our customers. We understand that this may cause some confusion, and we are committed to ensuring that all mail is processed efficiently and accurately.”

Bottom line: Regarding first class mail that’s being sent to and from Northern Nevada addresses, it’s still USPS policy to process that in Reno at its Vassar Street facility, she said.

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The path these particular letters took, Patterson added, “is indeed an unusual occurrence.”

Mark Robison is the state politics reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal, with occasional forays into other topics. Email comments to mrobison@rgj.com or comment on Mark’s Greater Reno Facebook page.



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Holiday loneliness affects thousands in Nevada as many face Christmas away from loved ones

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Holiday loneliness affects thousands in Nevada as many face Christmas away from loved ones


LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Loneliness has become a significant health issue for people everywhere, and the holiday season sometimes intensifies those feelings. For many, December looks like family gatherings, matching pajamas and bustling homes. But this time of year can also be very difficult for those who may be battling distance, work commitments or recent life changes.

Marc Valli, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, has lived in Las Vegas since 1988. He moved to Nevada to join a ministry and be closer to his wife’s parents.

WATCH| Shellye Leggett talks to an army vet who’s recently moved into Escalante at the Lakes assisted living facility

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Holiday loneliness affects thousands in Nevada as many face Christmas away from loved ones

“I wanted to come and join ministry here. Also my wife’s parents lived here,” Valli said.

Valli’s wife Barbara, known to friends and family as Bobby, passed away in 2018 after 54 years of marriage.

“I’m still counting the years. We’ve been married 54 years,” he said.

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His children moved him into Escalante at the Lakes assisted living facility in June, making this his first holiday season in his new home.

“People are very nice, they treat you good,” Valli said.

Come Christmas Day, the facility’s common room will be filled with residents ready for holiday activities, but Valli hopes to get outside these walls to see his family that still lives nearby.

“I have grandkids. One goes to Cal Poly. He’s here right now, but he’s on vacation, and then I have two little granddaughters, one’s 11, one’s 7,” Valli said. “I don’t know if they’re gonna come for Christmas or I’m going there.”

Gus Farias, the executive director of Escalante at the Lakes Assisted Living, says many of his residents don’t have family nearby. Keeping their spirits high throughout the holidays is an important task.

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“We can tell when our residents are feeling down. There’s a lot of pressure during the holidays because some of our residents don’t have families that are nearby, but they have us,” Farias said.

The organisation A Mission for Michael released a study showing just how many people are expected to spend the holidays alone this year. Nevada ranked 43rd on the list of loneliest states, with more than 212,000 people expected to spend Christmas by themselves.

“It’s pretty surprising that there’s so many Nevadans that are gonna spend the holidays by themselves,” Farias said.

He says combating loneliness will take a community effort.

“When you’re at the grocery store or whatever, reach, look back and ask them, you know, wish them a merry Christmas or happy holidays and ask them how they passed their holidays in the past because we, we as a younger generation than our seniors, we can learn a lot from that,” Farias said.

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It’s an effort that Valli says makes the holidays a little brighter.

“Oh, it makes a big difference,” he said.





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