Gray Line Tours of Southern Nevada, Inc. v. Eighth Judicial District Court
Gray Line Tours of Southern Nevada, Inc. v. Eighth Judicial District Court
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
This petition for writ of prohibition challenges the order of the district court denying petitioner’s motion to dismiss.
Shortly thereafter, Gray Line filed its answer with the division explaining its reasons for declining to operate daily sightseeing tours. On May 19, 1982, the director of the division wrote a letter to the attorney for Bonnie Springs with regard to the complaint. The letter explained that Gray Line was not required under the terms of its tariff to provide daily scheduled tours to Bonnie Springs’ place of business.
Gray Line moved to dismiss Bonnie Springs’ complaint, contending that the district court lacked jurisdiction to review the action of the division. The district court denied the motion, and this petition for a writ of prohibition followed.
NRS 706.706(1) authorizes judicial review of “an order of the commission fixing any rate or rates ... or any order fixing
The letter written by the division was not an “order of the commission” within the contemplation of NRS 706.706(1). See Public Serv. Comm’n v. Community Cable, 91 Nev. 32, 530 P.2d 1392 (1975) (interpretation of “order of the commission” as used in NRS 704.540, which provides for judicial review of decisions affecting public utilities). In addition, NRS 703.310 and Nev. Admin. Code § 703.635 clearly contemplate further administrative review of consumer complaints if the division has failed in its attempts at informal resolution.
Because the division’s letter was not a judicially reviewable “order of the commission,” and because Bonnie Springs did not exhaust its available administrative remedies, the district court is without jurisdiction, and petitioner’s motion to dismiss should have been granted. Prohibition is an appropriate remedy. See Public Service Comm. v. Court, 61 Nev. 245, 123 P.2d 237 (1942).
Accordingly, we grant the writ of prohibition.
NRS Chapter 706 regulates motor vehicle carriers. Specifically, Bonnie Springs contended that Gray Line had violated NRS 706.341.
The body of the letter read:
This is in response to the above-captioned complaint regarding Gray Line Tours of Southern Nevada and their service to Bonnie Springs Ranch and Old Nevada.
Please be advised that the company does not offer a daily, scheduled tour to Old Nevada and is not required to do so under the terms of its tariff. However, Gray Line is willing and able to provide on-call service to Old Nevada in charter and special services, pursuant to its certificate and in accordance with the terms and provisions of its tariff.
The Commission’s legal staff has determined that the company has not demonstrated a specific refusal of a request for transportation service, but has, in effect, discouraged service by giving erroneous information to the inquiring public. Please be assured that the management of Gray Lines has been specifically advised by this Commission that they must either honor requests for such transportation service or remove itself from that specific offering of the sightseeing tariff.
If you have any questions, or if we can be of assistance in the future, please contact us.
NRS 706.706(1) provides:
1. Any party in interest being dissatisfied with an order of the commission fixing any rate or rates ... or any order fixing any regulations, practices or services, may within 90 days commence an action in the proper district court against the commission and other interested parties as defendants to vacate and set aside any such order on the ground that the rate fixed in such order is unlawful or unreasonable, or that any such regulation, practice or service fixed in such order is unreasonable. [Emphasis added.]
NRS 703.310 provides that if the division is unable to resolve a complaint, “the division shall transmit the complaint and its recommendation to the commission,” and the commission may then investigate and hold a hearing on the complaint.
Nev. Admin. Code § 703.635, which contains Rule 8 of the PSC’s internal rules of practice, provides that written complaints must be transmitted to the division, and “[i]f the complaint cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of the parties involved, the complaint and the division’s recommendations will be transmitted to the commission for disposition.”
Reference
- Full Case Name
- GRAY LINE TOURS OF SOUTHERN NEVADA, INC., a Nevada Corporation v. THE EIGHTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA
- Status
- Published