Nevada state bar concerned about attorney’s bizarre lawsuit

The State Bar of Nevada plans to request a competency hearing for a Las Vegas lawyer who filed a bizarre lawsuit against his former boss.

No complaints are pending against Ty Maynarich with the bar, but a lawsuit he filed June 27 against longtime attorney John Cotton raised red flags for Daniel Hooge, the bar counsel who oversees attorney discipline.

“It was a very odd complaint, and some of the veiled threats did concern us,” Hooge said.

In unrelated cases, Maynarich also has been admonished by a federal judge for unprofessional behavior and faces allegations he smashed someone’s car windows.

Maynarich, an attorney in Nevada since 2017, once served as a law clerk in Clark County District Court. He obtained his law degree from UNLV.

In his recent suit, filed in District Court, Maynarich alleges that Cotton may have been involved in stealing his license plate in 2017 and suggests that Cotton also may have been part of a civil conspiracy to tamper with store-bought chicken in his refrigerator the same year. As relief, Maynarich said in the filing that he wanted a trial by jury.

“I would settle for a trial by combat but that is also now illegal and I cannot beat up an old man because I respect the elderly,” Maynarich wrote.

Cotton, who has been licensed to practice law in Nevada since 1995, denies the suit’s allegations and believes Maynarich is abusing the court system in an attempt to damage his reputation. He said he did not even meet Maynarich until 2024.

“It’s the rantings of someone who’s got problems,” he said.

‘Spread like wildfire’

On the Las Vegas Law Blog, a website where attorneys trade gossip and discuss legal issues anonymously, the suit has been a topic of discussion for days.

“The complaint, once it was made public, kind of passed around the legal community pretty quickly, spread like wildfire,” Hooge said.

Cotton said he is concerned about the well-being of his paralegals and himself. Someone from the state bar called him Sunday to express concern, as well, he said.

Hooge confirmed that the bar spoke with Cotton. He said the bar also has tried unsuccessfully to reach Maynarich and asked Henderson police to conduct a welfare check on him.

In addition, Hooge said, the bar plans to file a petition with the Nevada Supreme Court to ask that Maynarich be subject to a competency hearing.

Maynarich could not be reached for a response to Hooge’s comments but previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he has not been diagnosed with any mental health condition and does not think he needs treatment.

“All these people are involved in a civil conspiracy, and it makes me sound like a crazy person, but I’m not,” he said in a recent phone interview. “All I’ve done is try to do my job.”

Other issues

In a pending Las Vegas Justice Court case, Maynarich is accused of injuring or tampering with a vehicle, a felony.

A Metropolitan Police Department report from February stated that Maynarich damaged another man’s vintage Cadillac by smashing all the windows, headlights and taillights with a flashlight. The owner estimated damage at $20,000.

Court records state that Maynarich has been “identified as indigent” and is now represented by the public defender’s office. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for August.

Maynarich declined to comment on the criminal allegations in his interview with the Review-Journal.

Cotton said he hired Maynarich in November and had to speak to him about being more civil. Maynarich would scream at clients, Cotton said.

“He just got stranger and stranger to the point my paralegals were afraid of him,” Cotton said.

He said that he allowed Maynarich to resign in April or May. Maynarich confirmed he resigned.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe also was troubled by Maynarich’s behavior. In a Sept. 5 order entered in a civil case, she called him out by name and wrote that she was admonishing him for “a completely offensive, unacceptable, and inappropriate comment” at a settlement conference.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.