41.0347 - Liability of State or political subdivision for failure to provide defense. - Nevada Statutes

41.0347  Liability of State or political subdivision for failure to provide defense.  If the official attorney does not provide for the defense of a present or former officer, employee, immune contractor, member of a board or commission of the State or any political subdivision or of a State Legislator in any civil action in which the State or political subdivision is also a named defendant, or which was brought in a court other than a court of competent jurisdiction of this state, and if it is judicially determined that the injuries arose out of an act or omission of that person during the performance of any duty within the course and scope of the person’s public duty or employment and that the person’s act or omission was not wanton or malicious:

      1.  If the Attorney General was responsible for providing the defense, the State is liable to that person for reasonable expenses in prosecuting the person’s own defense, including court costs and attorney’s fees. These expenses must be paid, upon approval by the State Board of Examiners, from the Reserve for Statutory Contingency Account.

      2.  If the chief legal officer or attorney of a political subdivision was responsible for providing the defense, the political subdivision is liable to that person for reasonable expenses in carrying on the person’s own defense, including court costs and attorney’s fees.

      (Added to NRS by 1979, 1735; A 1987, 542; 1991, 1751)