Third-party claims in property levied on; undertaking by plaintiff; liability of sheriff; exception to sufficiency of sureties; hearing to determine title to property.
1. If the property levied on is claimed by a third person as his property by a written claim verified by his oath or that of his agent, setting out his right to the possession thereof, and served upon the sheriff, the sheriff must release the property if the plaintiff, or the person in whose favor the writ of attachment runs, fails within 7 days after written demand to give the sheriff an undertaking executed by at least two good and sufficient sureties in a sum equal to double the value of the property levied on. If such undertaking be given, the sheriff shall hold the property. The sheriff, however, shall not be liable for damages to any such third person for the taking or keeping of such property if no claim is filed by any such third party.
2. Such undertaking shall be made in favor of and shall indemnify such third person against loss, liability, damages, costs and counsel fees by reason of such seizing, taking, withholding or sale of such property by the sheriff. By entering into such an undertaking the sureties thereunder submit themselves to the jurisdiction of the court and irrevocably appoint the clerk of the court as agent upon whom any papers affecting liability on the undertaking may be served. Liability on such undertaking may be enforced on motion to the court without the necessity of an independent action. The motion and such reasonable notice of the motion as the court prescribes may be served on the clerk of the court, who shall forthwith mail copies to the sureties if their addresses are known.
3. Exceptions to the sufficiency of the sureties and their justification may be had and taken in the same manner as upon an undertaking given in other cases under titles 2 and 3 of NRS. If they, or others in their place, fail to justify at the time and place appointed, the sheriff must release the property; but if no exception is taken within 7 days after notice of receipt of the undertaking, the third person shall be deemed to have waived any and all objections to the sufficiency of the sureties.
4. The sheriff may demand and exact the undertaking herein provided for notwithstanding any defect, informality or insufficiency of the verified claim served upon him.
5. Whenever a verified third-party claim is served upon the sheriff upon levy of the writ of attachment, the plaintiff or the third-party claimant is entitled to a hearing within 10 days therefrom before the court having jurisdiction of the action, in order to determine title to the property in question, which hearing must be granted by the court upon the filing of an application or petition therefor. Seven days’ notice of such hearing must be given to all parties to the action and all parties claiming an interest in the property, or their attorneys, which notice must specify that the hearing is for the purpose of determining title to the property in question. The court may continue the hearing beyond the 10-day period, but good cause must be shown for any such continuance.
Last modified: February 27, 2006