New laws reduce frivolous inmate lawsuits in Nevada

Sunday, Aug. 22, 1999 | 11:59 a.m.

While the number of inmates has increased by 25 percent since fiscal 1994-95, the number of inmate lawsuits has declined by 66 percent - from 253 to 86 - over the same period, she said.

The reduction follows the 1995 Legislature's passage of a bill calling for inmates to lose good-time credits for filing frivolous lawsuits.

It also follows legislation passed by Congress in 1996 streamlining frivolous inmate lawsuits so they can be disposed of more quickly.

"The reform legislation has allowed my office to become more aggressive with litigation involving inmate lawsuits," Del Papa said.

"Due to the significant drop in the number of frivolous inmate lawsuits, my office has been able to rechannel resources previously used to fight this type of litigation."

Additional steps are being taken to further reduce frivolous lawsuits, Del Papa said.

In the past 10 months, her office has obtained court-ordered sanctions against three inmates for filing such lawsuits.

Lovelock Correctional Center inmate Randy Wiideman was fined $1,500 for filing several lawsuits seeking the dismissal of various prison workers from their jobs.

Ely State Prison inmate Michael Sims was fined $1,000 for seeking the removal of agency Director Bob Bayer, while Lovelock inmate Harold Dutcher was fined $500 for claiming he was not getting proper medical treatment.

Wiideman and Sims have filed frivolous lawsuits before.

Wiideman sued in 1991 when a prison guard destroyed bras and bikini panties in his cell. He claimed he was making women's clothing to be sent as gifts.

Sims sued in 1994 on the grounds that a guard at the Ely prison was calling him names.

Nevada State Prison inmate Kenneth Parker helped spur the crackdown on frivolous lawsuits. He sued in 1989 because he received a jar of creamy peanut butter instead of the chunky kind, but the case was thrown out of court.