The Nevada Supreme Court found that a district court’s grant of a motion dismissing a complaint for forum non conveniens was an abuse of discretion and addressed a previously unresolved question of law regarding the level of deference owed to a plaintiff residing outside the state who selects Nevada as a forum.
Chantel Pepper, the plaintiff in the case, was widowed when husband Eric Pepper died following a motor vehicle crash in Texas with a semitruck driven by Nevada resident Tesfaye Alamin, according to the opinion. Eric Pepper, a Texas resident, suffered a head injury as a result of the crash and died a few days later. Chantel Pepper brought a wrongful-death suit on behalf of herself, her late husband’s son Travis Akkerman, and his estate in Nevada district court against the trucking company that employed Alamin, C.R. England, and Alamin.
