Nev. Rev. Stat. » NRS: CHAPTER 42 - DAMAGES

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 42.007

Exemplary and punitive damages: Limitations on liability by employer for wrongful act of employee; exception

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section NRSleg.state.nv.us (official) Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar
NRS 42.007  Exemplary and punitive damages: Limitations on liability by employer for wrongful act of employee; exception.

      1.  Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, in an action for the breach of an obligation in which exemplary or punitive damages are sought pursuant to subsection 1 of NRS 42.005 from an employer for the wrongful act of his or her employee, the employer is not liable for the exemplary or punitive damages unless:

      (a) The employer had advance knowledge that the employee was unfit for the purposes of the employment and employed the employee with a conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others;

      (b) The employer expressly authorized or ratified the wrongful act of the employee for which the damages are awarded; or

      (c) The employer is personally guilty of oppression, fraud or malice, express or implied.

Ê If the employer is a corporation, the employer is not liable for exemplary or punitive damages unless the elements of paragraph (a), (b) or (c) are met by an officer, director or managing agent of the corporation who was expressly authorized to direct or ratify the employee’s conduct on behalf of the corporation.

      2.  The limitations on liability set forth in subsection 1 do not apply to an action brought against an insurer who acts in bad faith regarding its obligations to provide insurance coverage.

      (Added to NRS by 1995, 2668)

     

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 19 cases (9 in the last 5 years), 1998–2025 · leading case: Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. v. Thitchener
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. v. Thitchener (2008) nev · cites it 18× “Separately, we conclude that NRS 42.007 governs vicarious employer liability for punitive damages and overrule Smith’s Food & Drug Centers v.”
Terrell v. Central Washington Asphalt, Inc. (2016) nvd · cites it 3× “Nev. Rev. Stat. § 42.007 (1). Where the employer is a corporation, it may only be held liable for the actions of its employees if these factors “are met by an officer, director or managing agent of the corporation who was expressly authorized to direct or.”
Kennedy v. Carriage Cemetery Services, Inc. (2010) nvd · cites it 2× “See Nev.Rev.Stat. § 42.007(1)(b)-(c). The Court therefore denies the motion as to punitive damages.”
Humana Inc. v. Forsyth (1999) scotus “11 See also Nev. Rev. Stat. §42.007 (2) (1996) (limiting punitive damages liability by employers for wrongful acts of employees except in “an action brought against an insurer who acts in bad faith regarding its obligations to provide insurance coverage”).”
Maduike v. Agency Rent-A-Car (1998) nev “Except as otherwise provided in NRS 42.007, in an action for breach of an obligation not arising from contract, where it is proven that defendant has been guilty of oppression, fraud or malice, express or implied, the plaintiff, in addition to the compensatory damages, may…”
In Re USA Commercial Mortg. Co. (2011) nvd “concealment of a material fact with the intent to deprive another person of his or her rights or property; (iii) "malice, express or implied" to be despicable conduct which is engaged in with a conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others; and (iv) "conscious disregard"…”
Merrick v. Paul Revere Life Insurance (2008) nvd “005(2)(b); NRS 42.007(2). Such an exception, in the face of a prior Nevada Supreme Court case approving punitive damage ratios approaching 30:1, Ainsworth supra, suggests that, but for the Ninth Circuit’s “rough framework” ratio analysis, the current *1192 awards as to both…”
Peters v. Swift Transportation Co. of Arizona, LLC (2023) nvd · cites it 16× “16, 2022) (citing 24 NRS § 42.007). NRS § 42.007 captioned in part “Limitations on liability by employer for 25 wrongful act of employee,” permits an employee’s conduct to be imputed to the employer if a 1 corporate “officer, director, or managing agent” (1) “had advance…”
3685 San Fernando Lenders, LLC v. Compass USA SPE LLC (2011) nvd · cites it 2× “epresentation or concealment of a material fact with the intent to deprive another person of his or her rights or property; (iii) “malice, express or implied” to be despicable conduct which is engaged in with a conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others; and (iv)…”
Bontly v. Audi of America, LLC (2025) nvd · cites it 6× “Therefore, these allegations plausibly, but barely, plead 13 facts sufficient to show that Audi had a policy of denying warranty service.”
Rodrigues De Freitas v. The Hertz Corporation (2022) nvd · cites it 4× “22 23 81 Nev. Rev. Stat. § 42.007 (1). 1 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this case is REFERRED to the magistrate judge for 2||a mandatory settlement conference between De Freitas and Hertz.”
Bontly v. Audi of America, LLC (2025) nvd · cites it 4× “His request for punitive damages does not plead facts that could 19 satisfy NRS § 42.007(1). However, Bontly states a claim for breach of express warranty, but 20 only as to the remedies available for breach of warranty, and only for manufacturing defects, not 21 22 1 The first…”
Show all 19 citing cases →
— Nev. Rev. Stat. § 42.007(1) — 8 cases
Terrell v. Central Washington Asphalt, Inc. (2016) nvd “Nev. Rev. Stat. § 42.007 (1). Where the employer is a corporation, it may only be held liable for the actions of its employees if these factors “are met by an officer, director or managing agent of the corporation who was expressly authorized to direct or.”
In Re USA Commercial Mortg. Co. (2011) nvd “concealment of a material fact with the intent to deprive another person of his or her rights or property; (iii) "malice, express or implied" to be despicable conduct which is engaged in with a conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others; and (iv) "conscious disregard"…”
3685 San Fernando Lenders, LLC v. Compass USA SPE LLC (2011) nvd “epresentation or concealment of a material fact with the intent to deprive another person of his or her rights or property; (iii) “malice, express or implied” to be despicable conduct which is engaged in with a conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others; and (iv)…”
Bontly v. Audi of America, LLC (2025) nvd “His request for punitive damages does not plead facts that could 19 satisfy NRS § 42.007(1). However, Bontly states a claim for breach of express warranty, but 20 only as to the remedies available for breach of warranty, and only for manufacturing defects, not 21 22 1 The first…”
Peters v. Swift Transportation Co. of Arizona, LLC (2023) nvd “16, 2022) (citing 24 NRS § 42.007). NRS § 42.007 captioned in part “Limitations on liability by employer for 25 wrongful act of employee,” permits an employee’s conduct to be imputed to the employer if a 1 corporate “officer, director, or managing agent” (1) “had advance…”
— Nev. Rev. Stat. § 42.007(1)(b) — 1 case
Kennedy v. Carriage Cemetery Services, Inc. (2010) nvd “See Nev.Rev.Stat. § 42.007(1)(b)-(c). The Court therefore denies the motion as to punitive damages.”
— Nev. Rev. Stat. § 42.007(2) — 1 case
Merrick v. Paul Revere Life Insurance (2008) nvd “005(2)(b); NRS 42.007(2). Such an exception, in the face of a prior Nevada Supreme Court case approving punitive damage ratios approaching 30:1, Ainsworth supra, suggests that, but for the Ninth Circuit’s “rough framework” ratio analysis, the current *1192 awards as to both…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.