Board of Trustees of Teamsters Local 631 Security Fund for Southern Nevada v. Bliss Exhibit Services, LLC

Opinion

1 || Bryce C. Loveland, Esq., Nevada Bar No. 10132 Christopher M. Humes Esq., Nevada Bar No. 12782 2 || William D. Nobriga, Esq., Nevada Bar No. 14931 3 BROWNSTEIN HYATT FARBER SCHRECK, LLP 100 North City Parkway, Suite 1600 4 || Las Vegas, NV 89106-4614 Telephone: 702.382.2101 5 || Facsimile: 702.382.8135 Email: beloveland@bhfs.com © || Email: chumes(@bhfs.com 7 Email: wnobriga@bhfs.com 8 || Attorneys for Plaintiffs 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 11 12 || BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE CASE NO.: 2:23-cv-01625-JAD-EJY TEAMSTERS LOCAL 631 SECURITY 13 | FUND FOR SOUTHERN NEVADA and ig BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE 14 || TEAMSTERS CONVENTION INDUSTRY | FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS 1s | TRAINING FUND, OF LAW, AND ORDER GRANTING Plaintiffs MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT 16 , AGAINST GARNISHEE DEFENDANT | WILLWORK, INC. BLISS EXHIBIT SERVICES, LLC, a Nevada 18 || limited liability company, ECF No. 33 19 Defendant. 20 21 Before the Court is the Plaintiffs’, Boards of Trustees of the Teamsters Local 631 Security 22 || Fund for Southern Nevada and of the Trustees of the Teamsters Convention Industry Training 23 || Fund (“Trust Funds”) Application for Default Judgment (the “Application”) Against Garnishee 24 || Defendant, Willwork, Inc. (“Willwork”). The Court having reviewed the Trust Funds’ 25 || Application, being fully advised, and good cause appearing, now makes the following findings of 26 || facts and conclusions of law. 27 | /// 28

1 I. Findings of Fact. 2 1. On July 24, 2024, the Court entered judgment against Bliss Exhibit Services, LLC 3 (“Bliss”), and in favor of the Trust Funds. See ECF No. 27. 4 2. On August 28, 2024, this Court issued a writ of execution to enforce the judgment 5 against Bliss. See ECF No. 29. 6 3. On December 17, 2024, the Trust Funds conducted a judgment debtor 7 examination. During the judgment debtor examination, it was uncovered that Willwork worked 8 with Bliss on several projects and likely had property or money in its possession belonging to 9 Bliss. 10 4. As a result, the Trust Funds issued a writ of garnishment to Willwork, in 11 accordance with NRS 31.450. 12 5. The writ of garnishment specifically stated, as required by NRS 31.260(2), that if 13 Willwork failed to answer the interrogatories contained within the writ of garnishment, “a 14 judgment by default will be rendered against [Willwork] for the amount of $39,741.” 15 6. The writ of garnishment was served on Willwork by the sheriff on January 16, 16 2025. 17 7. To date, Willwork has failed to answer the interrogatories or otherwise respond to 18 the writ of garnishment. 19 8. Despite being served with the instant Application, Willwork has failed to appear 20 and oppose or otherwise respond to the application. See ECF No. 34. 21 II. Conclusions of Law. 22 1. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 69(a)(1) provides that procedure on enforcing 23 money judgments and “proceedings supplementary to and in aid of judgment or execution—must 24 accord with the procedure of the state where the court is located. . . .” 25 2. In Nevada, any person “having a judgment remaining unsatisfied in any court of 26 record in the State,” may, “without application to the court, have a writ of garnishment issued,” 27 against “any third person as garnishee, for the security of such judgment[.]” NRS 31.450. 28 1 3. The writ of garnishment must be served by the sheriff and must include “[t]he 2 amount demanded in the writ of garnishment[.]” NRS 31.260(1)-(2), 2(a). 3 4. Once the writ of garnishment is issued, the garnishee must submit “an answer to 4 the interrogatories within 20 days after service of the writ upon the person.” NRS 31.260(1)(e). 5 5. If the garnishee fails to submit answers within that timeframe, “the garnishee shall 6 be deemed in default.” NRS 31.290(2). 7 6. If the garnishee is in default by failing, neglecting, or refusing to answer the writ 8 of garnishment, then the court must enter a judgment against the garnishee for “[t]he value of the 9 property or amount of money specified in the writ of garnishment.” NRS 31.320(1)(a). 10 7. As the Nevada Supreme Court has explained, failure to answer a writ of 11 garnishment mandates the issuance of a judgment against the garnishee for the underlying 12 judgment amount: 13 When a writ of garnishment is served, the garnishee defendant then has 20 days to answer statutorily specified interrogatories. If a properly served garnishee 14 defendant fails to answer the interrogatories, the court must enter judgment for the garnished amount “in favor of the defendant for the use of the plaintiff against the 15 garnishee.” 16 Frank Settelmeyer & Sons, Inc. v. Smith & Harmer, Ltd., 124 Nev. 1206, 1214, 197 P.3d 1051, 17 1056 (2008); see also Kaplan v. Miller, No. 2:15-CV-1395-JCM-PAL, 2017 WL 520550, at *3 18 (D. Nev. Feb. 7, 2017) (holding that the failure to respond to a writ of garnishment mandated that 19 a judgment issue because “[i]n light of NRS 31.320's imperative construction, this court is 20 obligated to grant the requested relief.”); Henry v. Rizzolo, No. 2:08-CV-00635-PMP, 2013 WL 21 636734, at *3 (D. Nev. Feb. 20, 2013) (“Plaintiffs could have applied to the District Court for a 22 judgment pursuant to NRS § 31.320 when Transamerica did not submit answers to interrogatories 23 within 20 days of being served with the writ of garnishment.”). 24 8. The Trust Funds have demonstrated that Willwork was served with the writ of 25 garnishment, by the sheriff, on January 16, 2025. Willwork did not answer the writ of 26 garnishment within the required timeframe. 27 28 1 9. Willwork has not appeared to oppose or otherwise contest the instant Application, 2 || and has thereby consented to this Court granting the Application by operation of the Local Rules. 3 || See LR 7-2(e). 4 10. Therefore, entry of judgment for the underlying amount of the judgment against 5 || Willwork is mandated by NRS 31.320(1)(a). 6 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the motion for default judgment against garnishe 7 || Willwork, Inc. [ECF No. 33] is GRANTED; the Clerk of Court is directed to ENTER 8 || JUDGMENT against Garnishee Defendant, Willwork, Inc. in the amount of $39,741. 9 10 || DATED this 7th day of July, 2025 1] 12

14 UNITED STATES DISTRIGT GOURT JUDGE

15 16 || Respectfully submitted by: 7 BROWNSTEIN HYATT FARBER SCHRECK, LLP

18 /s/ Christopher M. Humes Bryce C. Loveland, Esq., Nevada Bar No. 10132 19 || Christopher M. Humes, Esq., Nevada Bar No. 12782 William D. Nobriga, Esq., Nevada Bar No. 14931 20 || 100 North City Parkway, Suite 1600 Las Vegas, Nevada 89106-4614 21 22 || Attorneys for Plaintiffs 23 24 25 26 27 28