Before the Court en banc. Opinion per curiam.
In this appeal, the Court addressed the requirement of Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program Rule 8(3)-(4) (now renumbered as Rule 11) that a deed-trust beneficiary provide an appraisal or broker’s price opinion prepared “no more than 60 days before the commencement date of the mediation,” and the authority of a servicer to attend mediation on behalf of the beneficiary of the deed of trust. In this case, the Markowitzes elected to attend mediation; Saxon Special Servicing (“Saxon”), the servicer for the deed-trust beneficiary, represented the beneficiary at mediation. Saxon provided an 83-day-old broker’s price opinion (BPO). The Markowitzes petitioned for judicial review of the mediator’s decision to issue a certificate allowing for foreclosure, arguing that Saxon failed to strictly comply with the BPO requirement and was not authorized to mediate on behalf of the beneficiary. On review, the District Court refused to withhold the certificate, finding that neither party acted in bad faith. The Markowitzes appealed. On appeal, the Court determined that a deed-trust beneficiary must strictly comply with the requirement to produce a BPO, but that substantial compliance could satisfy the content-based rule regarding the age of the BPO. As such, the Court held that without a demonstration of prejudice to the Markowitzes from the 83-day-old appraisal, Saxon substantially complied with the rule. Additionally, the Court held that a servicer can validly represent a beneficiary at foreclosure mediation. Affirmed. (David Stoft, Associate in the Las Vegas office of McDonald Carano Wilson.)
