Beauregard v. Sampson

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided September 23, 2024·No. 2:20-cv-02123·Unknown

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3

4 MARY JANE BEAUREGARD and JOHN Case No. 2:20-cv-02123-KJD-DJA HUGH SMITH, 5 ORDER Plaintiffs, 6 v. 7 CLAYTON SAMPSON, et al., 8 Defendants. 9 10 After a three-day bench trial, the Court ruled in Plaintiffs’ favor on their claims of breach of 11 contract, common law securities fraud, securities fraud under NRS § 90.570, and breach of the 12 implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. (#140, at 17). However, before the Court could 13 issue a final damages judgment, it requested supplemental briefing. See id. at 17-18. Specifically, 14 the Court ordered three actions: (1) Plaintiffs shall file a new damages summary, (2) a motion for 15 attorneys’ fees and costs, and (3) Defendants shall produce a full accounting of all corporate and 16 personal financial records related to EnvyTV, EnvySolutions, EnvyCares, EnvyConnect, 17 EnvySocial, and EnvyCrypto. Id. After reviewing all submitted documents, the Court finds that 18 Plaintiffs are entitled to a total monetary award of 810,445.47, with the additional punitive 19 damage amount to be assessed at a forthcoming hearing. 20 I. Analysis 21 A. Attorneys’ Fees, Interest, and Costs – NRS 90.660 22 In the Court’s January 31, 2024, Order, it held that Plaintiffs are entitled to reasonable 23 attorneys’ fees and costs and directed that supplementary briefing be provided to determine the 24 correct amount. Id. at 17. Plaintiffs have since submitted the requested information, claiming 25 entitlement to $301,103.75 in attorneys’ fees and $15,679.13. in costs. (#142, at 6). Defendants 26 argue that attorney fees and costs are not warranted in this case and present several arguments to 27 support their position. (See #152). Specifically, Defendants argue: (1) that the December 13, 28 2018, email is not a security, (2) that any damage award should be reduced by the amount of 1 income received on the security, (3) that the attorneys’ fees are excessive, and (4) that the Court 2 should exercise its discretion not to award costs. Id. 3 As an initial matter, the Court notes that, despite its prior ruling, a substantial portion of 4 Defendants’ response is devoted to disputing whether securities fraud, the basis for awarding 5 attorney fees, occurred in this case. See id. at 9-15 (“The issue of the appropriate attorney’s fee 6 award, however, is outstanding and that question requires examination of whether securities 7 fraud occurred. It did not.”). Among these arguments, Defendants assert that the December 13, 8 2018, email is not actually a security. See id. The Court outright rejects this argument, as its prior 9 Order clarified how the contractual ownership interest in EnvyTV is considered a security under 10 Section 90.295 of the Nevada Revised Statutes (“NRS”). (See #140, at 8, 10). Therefore, the 11 Court disregards any arguments concerning the merits of its prior Order and focuses its 12 remaining analysis on determining the appropriate amount of damages to award. 13 “A federal court sitting in diversity applies the law of the forum state regarding an award of 14 attorneys’ fees.” Kona Enterprises, Inc. v. Est. of Bishop, 229 F.3d 877, 883 (9th Cir. 2000). In 15 Nevada, attorneys’ fees are not recoverable unless authorized by statute, rule, or agreement 16 between the parties. First Interstate Bank of Nevada v. Green, 694 P.2d 496, 498 (Nev. 1985). 17 As stated in its prior Order, the Court finds that NRS 90.660(1)(d) permits the award of 18 reasonable attorney fees. NRS 90.660(1)(d) provides, in relevant part: 19 “Upon tender of the security, the purchaser may recover the consideration paid for 20 the security and interest at the legal rate of this State from the date of payment, costs and reasonable attorney’s fees, less the amount of income received on the 21 security.” 22 Nev. Rev. Stat. § 90.660(1)(d). After analyzing the statute, the Court reaffirms that it permits 23 Plaintiffs an award of attorneys’ fees. However, while maintaining that there is no statutory 24 authority for attorneys’ fees of any amount, Defendants argue that if NRS § 90.660 were 25 applicable, the Court did not apply its plain terms correctly. (See #152, at 15). Specifically, they 26 argue that the total award should be the consideration paid for the security ($100,000) minus the 27 income received on the security ($116,887.50), equating to “less than zero damages.” Id. 28 Defendants’ argument fails for two reasons: (1) they have incorrectly applied the statute, and (2) 1 no income has been received from the security. 2 First, the statute does not define damages as the consideration paid minus the amount of 3 income received. See Nev. Rev. Stat. § 90.660(1)(d). Instead, it specifies that the purchase may 4 recover the consideration paid, interest, costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees, less the amount of 5 income received from the security. Id. Defendants’ argument entirely overlooks the fact that 6 interest, cost, and attorneys’ fees are recoverable under the statute. (See #152, at 15). In essence, 7 NRS § 90.660(1)(d) can be seen as a rescissory measure of damages. “Rescission is an equitable 8 remedy which totally abrogates a contract and which seeks to place the parties in the position 9 they occupied prior to executing the contract.” Bergstrom v. Est. of DeVoe, 854 P.2d 860, 861 10 (Nev. 1993). While the Court initially concluded that rescission would not fully compensate 11 Plaintiffs, it now finds that rescission under the statute constitutes a component of a cumulative, 12 rather than an exclusive, recovery. This view is supported for by NRS § 90.700, which states that 13 “[t]he rights and remedies provided by this chapter are in addition to any other rights or remedies 14 that may exist at law or in equity[.]” See Nev. Rev. Stat. § 90.700(2) (encompassing NRS 15 90.660). As such, the Court finds that awarding relief under NRS § 90.660 would not preclude 16 additional recovery for breach of contract based on fraud. 17 Second, while the Court agrees that any income received from the security must be deducted, 18 it finds that no such income has been received. The only income Plaintiffs received came directly 19 from their Affiliate positions, which were a distinct provision of the contract. (See #140, at 2) 20 (“In addition to the 2% ownership interest in EnvyTV, Clayton Sampson represented to 21 Beauregard, Smith, and Freeman that they would receive master Affiliate positions in the 22 EnvyTV Affiliate multilevel hierarchy.”).

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