1. If the Board proceeds with disciplinary action pursuant to NRS 678A.510, the Board shall serve a complaint upon the respondent either personally, or by registered or certified mail at the address of the respondent that is on file with the Board. Such complaint must be a written statement of charges and must set forth in ordinary and concise language the acts or omissions with which the respondent is charged. The complaint must specify the statutes and regulations which the respondent is alleged to have violated, but must not consist merely of charges raised in the language of the statutes or regulations. The complaint must provide notice of the right of the respondent to request a hearing. The Chair of the Board may grant an extension to respond to the complaint for good cause.

2. Unless granted an extension, the respondent must answer within 20 days after the service of the complaint. In the answer the respondent:

(a) Must state in short and plain terms the defenses to each claim asserted.

(b) Must admit or deny the facts alleged in the complaint.

(c) Must state which allegations the respondent is without knowledge or information to form a belief as to their truth. Such allegations shall be deemed denied.

(d) Must affirmatively set forth any matter which constitutes an avoidance or affirmative defense.

(e) May demand a hearing. Failure to demand a hearing constitutes a waiver of the right to a hearing and to judicial review of any decision or order of the Board, but the Board may order a hearing even if the respondent so waives his or her right.

3. Failure to answer or to appear at the hearing constitutes an admission by the respondent of all facts alleged in the complaint. The Board may take action based on such an admission and on other evidence without further notice to the respondent. If the Board takes action based on such an admission, the Board shall include in the record which evidence was the basis for the action.

4. The Board shall determine the time and place of the hearing as soon as is reasonably practical after receiving the respondent’s answer. The Board shall deliver or send by registered or certified mail a notice of hearing to all parties at least 10 days before the hearing. The hearing must be held within 45 days after receiving the respondent’s answer unless an expedited hearing is determined to be appropriate by the Board, in which event the hearing must be held as soon as practicable.

(Added to NRS by 2019, 3784, effective July 1, 2020)