Polk v. The Supreme Court of the State of Nevada

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedFebruary 28, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-00625
StatusUnknown

This text of Polk v. The Supreme Court of the State of Nevada (Polk v. The Supreme Court of the State of Nevada) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Polk v. The Supreme Court of the State of Nevada, (D. Nev. 2025).

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 Geoffrey Polk, Case No.: 2:24-cv-00625-JAD-DJA

4 Plaintiff Order Granting Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss and Granting in Part Plaintiff’s 5 v. Motion for Leave to File Second-Amended Complaint 6 State Bar of Nevada, et al., [ECF Nos. 25, 28] 7 Defendants

8 To practice law in Nevada, an attorney generally must take and pass the Nevada Bar 9 Exam and become licensed by the State Bar of Nevada. Nevada Supreme Court Rule 49.1 10 carves out a narrow exception to that rule. It grants a limited-practice certification to certain 11 categories of out-of-state attorneys who live in Nevada or will move here within the next six 12 months. 13 Geoffrey Polk is a non-Nevada-licensed lawyer who wants to be the first attorney 14 licensed in every jurisdiction in this country. Because he doesn’t want to take the Nevada bar 15 exam, he’d like access to Nevada’s bar through the limited-practice-certification process. But 16 Polk doesn’t live in Nevada and has no intention of moving here, so he sues the State Bar of 17 Nevada, the Nevada Supreme Court, the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Nevada, the 18 Nevada Board of Bar Examiners, and various state officers, claiming that the residency 19 requirement in Rule 49.1 violates the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the United States 20 Constitution. 21 The defendants move to dismiss Polk’s suit, and Polk responds with a motion to amend. 22 Because Polk does not oppose the motion to dismiss and tacitly concedes that the defendants 23 named in his first-amended complaint enjoy Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit, I grant 1 the defendants’ motion to dismiss. But I also grant in part Polk’s motion to file a second- 2 amended complaint, permitting him to amend his pleading to assert claims against Sydney Lisy 3 and Richard M. Trachok II only in their official capacities. 4 Background 5 Plaintiff Geoffrey Polk is a lawyer who “intends and desires to be the first attorney

6 licensed throughout the entire country.”1 He claims that he’s well on his way—having been 7 licensed to practice law in 26 states.2 Polk seeks to add Nevada to that list. 8 The primary mode of admission to the Nevada State Bar is to sit for and pass the Nevada 9 bar exam. This path to practice is available regardless of residency status.3 But Nevada 10 Supreme Court Rule 49.1 provides another avenue. This limited-practice rule allows out-of-state 11 attorneys employed in certain types of jobs to “apply for” this certification if they “[r]eside, or 12 intend within the next six months to reside, within the State of Nevada.”4 For example, this 13 application process is available if the attorney is “[e]mployed exclusively as an in-house counsel 14 for a single . . . business entity situated in or qualified to do business in Nevada, whose lawful

15 business consists of activities other than the practice of law or the provision of legal services.”5 16 Polk has neither applied for admission in Nevada nor sat for Nevada’s bar exam. 6 He 17 represents that he “intends to apply for Nevada Limited Practice for in-house counsel.”7 But 18 19 1 ECF No. 20 at 2, ¶ 8. 20 2 Id. at ¶ 4. 21 3 ECF No. 25 at 7. 4 Nev. Sup. Ct. R. 49.1(1), (2)(f). 22 5 Nev. Sup. Ct. R. 49.1(1)(h). 23 6 ECF No. 32 at 5 n.3. 7 ECF No. 20 at 3, ¶ 10 (cleaned up). 1 Polk has no “intention to reside in Nevada.”8 So he sues the State Bar of Nevada, the Nevada 2 Supreme Court, the Nevada Board of Bar Examiners, the Chair of the Nevada Board of Bar 3 Examiners, the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Nevada, and the President of the Board of 4 Governors of the State Bar of Nevada, seeking both a declaration that the limited-practice rule’s 5 residency requirement violates the U.S. Constitution’s Privileges and Immunities Clause and a

6 mandatory injunction compelling the defendants to allow him to apply for the certificate 7 “irrespective of any residency requirement.”9 8 The defendants move to dismiss Polk’s operative complaint, arguing that he lacks 9 standing to bring it, his claims are not ripe, and Polk fails to state a claim upon which relief may 10 be granted.10 They add that this action is barred by the Eleventh Amendment, which immunizes 11 arms of the state and state employees sued in their official capacities from suit in federal court.11 12 Polk did not oppose the defendants’ motion to dismiss and instead filed a motion for leave to file 13 a second-amended complaint.12 His proposed amended complaint reframes his constitutional 14 claim as one brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and substitutes the state-entity defendants with

15 individuals who work in those offices in an attempt to overcome the Eleventh Amendment bar. 16 The defendants oppose Polk’s amendment request.13 17 18 19

20 8 Id. at ¶ 12. 21 9 ECF No. 20 at 6, ¶ 39. 10 ECF No. 25 at 6–10, 14–15. 22 11 Id. at 10–14. 23 12 ECF No. 28. 13 ECF No. 30. 1 Discussion 2 A. Defendants’ unopposed motion to dismiss is granted.

3 Polk does not oppose the defendants’ motion to dismiss.14 And he tacitly concedes that 4 that the entities and offices he names in his first-amended complaint are immune from suit under 5 the Eleventh Amendment by seeking to amend to swap in “the names of certain individual 6 defendants” to meet the narrow exception—known as “the Ex parte Young exception,”15 which 7 permits an injunctive-relief suit against a state officer responsible for enforcing an illegal law. 8 So I grant the defendants’ unopposed motion to dismiss the claims against all defendants named 9 in his first-amended complaint based on sovereign immunity. 10 B. Polk’s motion to file a second-amended complaint is granted in part.

11 Rather than responding to the defendants’ motion to dismiss, Polk seeks leave to file a 12 second-amended complaint. That proposed amended pleading primarily deletes the previously 13 sued defendants and replaces them with the names of the four individuals: Director of 14 Admissions of the State Bar of Nevada Sydney Lisy; Assistant Director of Admissions of the 15 State Bar of Nevada Dean Fernandez; Clerk of the Supreme Court of Nevada Elizabeth Brown; 16 and Chair of the Nevada Board of Bar Examiners Richard M. Trachok II. It also adds some 17 factual allegations and a clarified claim. 18 Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that “[t]he court should freely 19 give leave [to amend] when justice so requires.” The Ninth Circuit has construed this rule 20 21

22 14 This alone is a sufficient basis to grant the motion to dismiss. See L.R. 7-2(d) (noting that the “failure of an opposing party to file points and authorities in response to any motion . . . 23 constitutes a consent to the granting of the motion”). 15 ECF No. 32 at 4 (cleaned up). 1 broadly, requiring that leave to amend be granted with “extreme liberality.”16 With this standard 2 in mind, a court may consider “the presence of any of four factors: bad faith, undue delay, 3 prejudice to the opposing party, and/or futility.”17 “An amendment is futile when no set of facts 4 can be proved under the amendment to the pleadings that would constitute a valid and sufficient 5 claim or defense.”18 The burden is on the party opposing the motion to amend to show that these

6 factors are present.19 The Supreme Court has counseled that, “[i]f the underlying facts or 7 circumstances relied upon by a plaintiff may be a proper subject of relief, he ought to be afforded 8 an opportunity to test his claim on the merits.”20 9 The defendants ask the court to deny leave.

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Bluebook (online)
Polk v. The Supreme Court of the State of Nevada, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/polk-v-the-supreme-court-of-the-state-of-nevada-nvd-2025.