‘Unenforceable’ law on speech still on books

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2001 | 10:31 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- If state lawmakers were allowed to repeal one old law apiece each session, Sen. Terry Care knows how he'd use his.

Care, D-Las Vegas, has introduced Senate Bill 53 to repeal a law making it a crime to say anything derogatory about a bank.

Nevada Revised Statute 668.105 specifies a penalty for willful and malicious making of derogatory reports -- even if the remark is true.

Care told the Senate's Commerce and Labor Committee on Monday he cannot understand why banks are named in the law and casinos and power companies are not.

The law makes it a gross misdemeanor -- punishable by up to one year in prison and a $2,000 fine -- to make any statement "which is directly or by inference derogatory to the financial condition, or affects the solvency or financial standing of any bank."

Care said he can't even understand the law's origin in 1971. At first he suspected the statute was created during the Depression era, when a run on banks was possible.

Richard McCracken, a Las Vegas attorney who defended the Culinary Union in the only known attempt to prosecute someone under the law, said he believes the statute is unenforceable.

When that case was heard in District Court, Judge Lloyd George enjoined the attorney general from enforcing the statute because it criminalized speech that was true, McCracken said.

"There has never been a prosecution under this statute," McCracken said. "In a sense the law has already been appealed."