Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit Filed Against Nye County Sheriff's Department

A plaintiff identified only by the surname Curtis filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Nye County Sheriff's Department in U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on March 18, 2026, adding to a growing list of federal civil rights actions targeting the county's law enforcement apparatus in recent years.

The case, docketed as Curtis v. Nye County Sheriff's Dept., et al., is classified under the Civil Rights (Prison Condition) nature of suit and invokes 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the federal statute that allows individuals to sue state and local government actors for constitutional violations. The "et al." designation in the case title indicates at least one additional defendant beyond the department itself. No case number, judge assignment, complaint text, or specific allegations have been made publicly available in the initial docket filing.

The Curtis lawsuit arrives roughly two months after a separate § 1983 action against Nye County, Jordan v. Nye County et al. (Case No. 2:24-cv-01028), was terminated on January 1, 2026. That case was filed on June 12, 2024, by plaintiff Justin Jordan against Nye County, Nevada, and a named individual defendant, Nicholas Huggins. It was heard before U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon and referred to Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Albregts. Before its termination, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on March 14, 2025, attaching seven exhibits; attorneys for Nye County and Huggins, represented by attorney Brent Ryman, also submitted Exhibit 1 as a manual filing of DVD video files spanning two volumes. The Jordan case was classified under nature of suit 440, Civil Rights - Other Civil Rights, also citing 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Attorney Adam Breeden filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Nye County Sheriff's Department in January 2025 in a related but separate matter involving alleged excessive force, underscoring that the department has faced repeated federal court scrutiny under § 1983 in recent years. Former Nye County Sheriff's Capt. David Boruchowitz was separately accused of arresting Valley Electric Association CEO Angela Evans in February 2019 without probable cause, a case that ultimately ended in a federal guilty plea in 2025.

The "Prison Condition" designation on the Curtis filing distinguishes it from the Jordan and Boruchowitz matters, suggesting the claims center on conditions of confinement or treatment of a person held in custody, though the specific allegations remain undisclosed pending access to the full complaint through PACER. The Nye County Sheriff's Department had not issued a public statement regarding the Curtis filing as of publication. Full case details, including the complaint, the identity of co-defendants listed under "et al.," and any judicial assignments, are expected to become available through the District of Nevada's court docket as the case progresses.