Blackjack Bonding v. Las Vegas Mun. Ct.

• Decision Date: 29 December 2000
• Docket Number: No. 33345.,33345.
• Citation: 14 P.3d 1275,116 Nev. 1213
• Parties: BLACKJACK BONDING, Pat's Bail Bonds, All American Bail Bonds, Signature Bail Bonds, Mainstreet Bonding & Bail, Mary's Bail Bonds, Mike's Bail Bonds, and Able Bail Bonds, Appellants, v. CITY OF LAS VEGAS MUNICIPAL COURT and City of Las Vegas, Respondents.
• Court: Nevada Supreme Court

14 P.3d 1275

116 Nev. 1213

BLACKJACK BONDING, Pat's Bail Bonds, All American Bail Bonds, Signature Bail Bonds, Mainstreet Bonding & Bail, Mary's Bail Bonds, Mike's Bail Bonds, and Able Bail Bonds, Appellants, v. CITY OF LAS VEGAS MUNICIPAL COURT and City of Las Vegas, Respondents.

No. 33345.

Supreme Court of Nevada.

December 29, 2000.

Haney, Woloson & Mullins and Robert E. Griffy, Las Vegas, for Appellants.

Bradford R. Jerbic, City Attorney, and Stephen G. Jones, Deputy City Attorney, Las Vegas, for Respondents.

Before ROSE, C.J., SHEARING and AGOSTI, JJ.

OPINION

SHEARING, J.:

Blackjack Bonding and co-appellants (hereinafter collectively known as "Blackjack") appeal from a district court order dismissing their complaint, which sought to recoup $185,960.00 in bail bond filing fees paid between 1991 and May 12, 1997, to the Las Vegas Municipal Court. We affirm the district court's order dismissing the complaint. The municipal court possessed the power to assess such fees pursuant to its inherent judicial powers.

FACTS

Beginning in 1991, the Las Vegas Municipal Court started assessing a $40.00 filing fee for bail bonds. On April 10, 1995, the Office of the Attorney General issued an opinion stating that municipal courts could not assess property or bail bond fees because such courts were created under statutory authority; therefore, absent statutory authorization, municipal courts lacked the authority or power to collect fees. 95-05 Op. Att'y Gen. 23, 24 (1995).

From 1991 to 1997, NRS 5.073 (now NRS 5.073(1)) read, in pertinent part:

The practice and proceedings in the municipal court must conform, as nearly as practicable, to the practice and proceedings of justices' courts in similar cases.... The municipal court must be treated and considered as a justice's court whenever the proceedings thereof are called into question.

From 1991 to 1997, NRS 266.550 (now NRS 266.550(1)) read, in pertinent part: "The municipal court shall have such powers and jurisdiction in the city as are now provided by law for justices' courts."

In response to the Attorney General's 95-05 opinion, the Nevada Legislature added section 2 to NRS 266.550, which provides: "The powers of the municipal court include the power to charge and collect those fees authorized pursuant to NRS 5.073." In addition, the Nevada Legislature added section 2 to NRS 5.073, which provides: "Each municipal judge shall charge and collect such fees prescribed in NRS 4.060 that are within the jurisdictional limits of the municipal court." Both of these amendments became effective May 12, 1997.¹

On April 24, 1998, Blackjack filed a complaint claiming that between 1991 and May 12, 1997, the Las Vegas Municipal Court had improperly charged fees for bail bonds because it lacked the authority to assess fees. It also requested that the $185,960.00 collected from appellants in filing fees for bail bonds over that period be returned. The City of Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Municipal Court filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, arguing that the municipal court had the inherent power to charge and collect fees. The district court granted the City's motion, holding that municipal courts had a specific grant of authority to collect fees prior to 1997 pursuant to NRS 5.073 and NRS 4.060. This timely appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

As a threshold matter, we must determine whether the district court's dismissal of Blackjack's claim should be reviewed as an order granting an NRCP 12(b)(5) motion to dismiss or as an order granting an NRCP 12(c) motion for summary judgment. We conclude the district court's order should be reviewed as a motion to dismiss. Although documents outside the pleadings were presented to the district court, the district court did not rely on these documents in its ruling.

An order granting an NRCP 12(b)(5) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted faces a rigorous standard of review on appeal, as this court must construe the pleadings liberally and accept all factual allegations in the complaint as true. See Simpson v. Mars Inc., 113 Nev. 188, 190, 929 P.2d 966, 967 (1997). Furthermore, this court must draw every fair inference in favor of the nonmoving party. Id. "A complaint will not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond a doubt that the plaintiff could prove no set of facts which, if accepted by the trier of fact, would entitle him or her to relief." Id.

Blackjack argues that because municipal courts had no specific statutory authorization to collect fees prior to May 12, 1997, the filing fees for bail bonds collected by the Las Vegas Municipal Court between 1991 and May 12, 1997, were ultra vires and constituted unjust enrichment. Blackjack contends that because municipal courts are created by statute instead of being mandated by the Nevada Constitution, municipal courts only have powers given to them by statute. The district court dismissed Blackjack's claim, determining that "there was a specific grant of authority for Las Vegas Municipal Court to charge a filing fee for bail bonds prior to 1997 under NRS 5.073 and 4.060."

Whether municipal courts have the power to collect fees independent of specific statutory authorization is an issue of first impression. We conclude that a municipal court possesses the authority to collect reasonable fees pursuant to its inherent judicial powers. Blackjack's arguments that fee collection by the Las Vegas Municipal Court was ultra vires and constituted unjust enrichment fail because Blackjack's underlying premise that municipal courts only have powers given to them by statute is incorrect.

In advancing its argument, Blackjack mistakenly relies on an opinion of the Nevada Attorney General that concluded that municipal courts are not empowered by the Nevada Constitution or statutory authority to collect filing fees for bail or property bonds because municipal courts lack jurisdiction to collect such fees.²See 95-05 Op. Att'y Gen. 23, 24 (1995). Opinions of the Attorney General are not binding legal authority or precedent. See Goldman v. Bryan, 106 Nev. 30, 42, 787 P.2d 372, 380 (1990). We reject Blackjack's argument. The Attorney General's opinion confuses jurisdiction, which is subject to legislative control, with independent, inherent judicial powers, which are not subject to legislative control.

Inherent judicial powers stem from two sources: the separation of powers doctrine and the power inherent in a court by virtue of its sheer existence. See Felix F. Stumpf, Inherent Powers of the Courts: Sword and Shield of the Judiciary 6 (The National Judicial College 1994). Under the separation of powers doctrine, each branch of government is considered to be co-equal, with inherent powers to administer its own affairs. See State v. Second Judicial Dist. Ct., 116 Nev. ___, 11 P.3d 1209 (2000) (citing Goldberg v. Eighth Judicial District Court, 93 Nev. 614, 615-17, 572 P.2d 521, 522 (1977)); see also City of No. Las Vegas v. Daines, 92 Nev. 292, 294, 550 P.2d 399, 400 (1976). Without inherent powers to perform its duties, the judiciary would become a subordinate branch of government, which is contrary to the central tenet of separation of powers. See William Scott Ferguson, Note, Judicial Financial Autonomy and Inherent Power, 57 Cornell L.Rev. 975, 986 (1972).

The power inherent in a court by virtue of its sheer existence is broader and more fundamental than the inherent power conferred by separation of powers. See Stumpf, supra, at 8; accord Barland v. Eau Claire County, 216 Wis.2d 560, 575 N.W.2d 691, 693 (1998). It is impossible to give an all-inclusive enumeration of inherent judicial powers. See Farmer v. Administrative Dir. of the Court, 94 Hawai`i 232, 11 P.3d 457, 466 (2000) (citing State v. Moriwake, 65 Haw. 47, 647 P.2d 705, 711-12 (1982)); accord Barland, 575 N.W.2d at 698. Nonetheless, when a constitution or statute gives a general power, it also grants by implication every particular power necessary for the exercise of that power. See Stumpf, supra, at 8; see also Roger A. Silver, The Inherent Power of the Florida Courts, 39 U. Miami L.Rev. 257, 289 (1985); State v. Mitchell, 234 Kan. 185, 672 P.2d 1, 8 (1983).

We conclude that both sources of inherent judicial power authorized the municipal court's collection of fees in the instant case.

Ours is a government of separation of powers. See Nev. Const. art. 3, § 1.³It is fundamental to such a system of government that powers separately vested in the executive, legislative, and judicial departments be exercised without intrusion. See Goldberg, 93 Nev. at 615, 572 P.2d at 522; see also Daines, 92 Nev. at 294, 550 P.2d at 400. The Nevada Constitution expressly vests judicial power in the courts:

The Judicial power of this State shall be vested in a court system, comprising a Supreme Court, District Courts, and Justices of the Peace. The Legislature may also establish, as part of the system, Courts for municipal purposes only in incorporated cities and towns.

Nev. Const. art. 6, § 1.

In addition to vesting judicial power in the courts, Article 6, section 1, of the Nevada Constitution distinguishes municipal courts as being statutorily, rather than constitutionally, created. Nonetheless, this court has declared that municipal courts, once established, are part of the constitutional judicial system of Nevada, and "enjoy the inherent powers of all constitutionally created courts, and are entitled to manage internal affairs without interference from separate governmental branches." Nunez v. City of North Las Vegas, 116 Nev. ___,___, 1 P.3d 959, 962 (2000); see also Daines, 92 Nev. at 294,550 P.2d at 400; accord City of Milwaukee v. Wroten, 160 Wis.2d 207, 466 N.W.2d 861, 867 (1991); cf. Evan Caminker, Allocating the Judicial Power in a "Unified Judiciary," 78 Tex. L.Rev. 1513, 1517-18 (2000) (noting that because Article III of...