Additional reporting by Bob Conrad
The information about Mayor Hillary Schieve and former County Commissioner Vaughn Hartung that was gathered and shared by private investigator David McNeely with an unknown client doesn’t fall within the state’s anti-doxxing statutes.
That’s according to Washoe County District Court Judge David Hardy, who ruled partially in McNeely’s favor yesterday in the ongoing case.
Hardy ruled on a motion to dismiss four of the eight counts in a complaint Schieve and Hartung filed against McNeely, his company 5 Alpha Industries and the individual who hired him.
Three of the claims, which include doxxing, negligence and a request for declaratory relief, were dismissed. The request to dismiss the claim for invasion of privacy was denied.
In the ruling, Hardy found that the information McNeely shared about the plaintiffs – photos of Schieve and the locations of their vehicles – doesn’t qualify as “sensitive information” or “personal identifying information” under the state’s anti-doxxing law.
“Plaintiffs’ arguments to the contrary would expand the statutorily defined terms of ‘personal identifying information’ and ‘sensitive information’ beyond what the Legislature prescribed,” Hardy wrote.
In general, sensitive information would include things such as a person’s HIV status or sexual orientation. Personal identifying information includes social security, driver’s license or credit card numbers, date of birth, fingerprints or other similar details.
The lawsuit against McNeely and his client was filed by Schieve in December 2022 after a GPS tracking device was found on her vehicle. Hartung joined the lawsuit in February after learning his vehicle – which was also driven by his wife and daughter – was also tracked.
McNeely sought to get the suit against him dismissed because he said he broke no laws.
The identity of the person who hired the private investigator remains unknown. Whether his identity can be made public is in the hands of the state supreme court.
Both sides have filed their respective arguments with the court, which is expected to decide whether McNeely’s client’s identity can be revealed so that Schieve and Hartung continue to sue the person.
A state of Nevada employee, an attorney for the state’s Public Utilities Commission, yesterday filed a brief with the court requesting the court not side with McNeely in the case.
“While representing only himself in this proceeding, the Undersigned is one of over 17,000 state employees whose rights would be adversely affected by a granting of this writ petition,” Rost Olsen wrote. “Granting this writ would not just affect elected officials. Rather, it would set disastrous precedent for the rank-and-file workers in our state workforce, such as Undersigned, who wish to do their jobs and go about their lives peacefully without tortious harassment from conspiracists armed with private investigators.”
