Plaintiffs can’t be added to lawsuit against Vegas constable’s office

A former Utah woman cannot pursue her lawsuit against the Las Vegas constable’s office as a class-action case, a federal judge has ruled.

The lawsuit, filed last year by Nicole McMillen, centers on a $100 fee the constable’s office charged when citing new residents for not having Nevada license plates. McMillen’s attorney, Jeffrey Barr, had asked to add more than 14,000 people as plaintiffs in the case.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon denied the request in an order filed Thursday.

“We’re disappointed with the court’s ruling, and we disagree with it,” Barr said Friday. “There are still thousands of victims who remain without justice.”

After numerous controversies, the Clark County Commission voted in 2013 to abolish the constable’s office. That decision became effective Jan. 4, when Constable John Bonaventura’s term ended. The Metropolitan Police Department since has taken over the office.

Nevada law allows the constable’s office to collect a $100 fee from the owner or driver of a vehicle that is not properly registered. After McMillen was cited in March at the upscale Turnberry Towers in Las Vegas, she obtained Nevada license plates but refused to pay the $100 fee.

In her lawsuit, McMillen claimed Bonaventura and his office violated her due process rights because she was given no opportunity to challenge the collection process in state court.

McMillen received a letter informing her that she had been issued a citation. It also said she could avoid having charges filed if she paid a $100 fee to the constable’s office. “You are responsible for the $100 fee regardless of judicial adjudication,” the letter noted.

In June, Gordon granted a preliminary injunction that barred the constable’s office from collecting the $100 fee for improperly registered vehicles. His recent order lifted that injunction, but a police spokeswoman said Friday that she did not know whether the department would resume collecting the fee.

Gordon’s recent order also dismissed McMillen’s due process claim. The judge ruled that her claim was moot because the defendants have waived her fee and her citation has been dismissed.

“There are some individuals who actually paid the fee in response to receiving the letter from defendants, and those individuals could challenge the statute’s constitutionality and defendants’ means of enforcing it,” Gordon wrote.

Attorney Robert Pool, who represents the defendants, said he was pleased with the judge’s decision to dismiss most of what Pool called a “frivolous” case.

Former Deputy Constable Bryan Cornell remains a defendant in the case. The lawsuit claims Cornell conducted an illegal search when he entered the guard-gated parking garage at McMillen’s residence looking for vehicles with out-of-state license plates.

According to Gordon’s order, McMillen’s allegations “do not support the conclusion that Cornell had probable cause.”

However, Gordon dismissed McMillen’s Fourth Amendment claim against the constable’s office and Bonaventura after concluding that her complaint “does not contain adequate factual allegations” that they “personally participated in or otherwise caused any Fourth Amendment violation.”

The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, and requires that warrants be supported by probable cause.

Gordon’s order gives McMillen until March 2 to amend her complaint.

“We’re weighing our options as to how to amend to get justice for the thousands of victims,” Barr said.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Find her on Twitter: @CarriGeer.