Interesting tidbits from Chief Justice Hardesty's State of the Judiciary Speech
Justice Hardesty gave the State of the Judiciary address to a joint session of the Nevada Legislature last week. Among the information presented.
-- specialty courts include drug, mental health, business, DUI, Women in Need and the Habitual Offender Prevention and Education (HOPE) Court
-- family law cases now comprise more than half of all civil cases
--construction defect and medical malpractice cases continue to impose considerable challenges in terms of time to resolve; the endoscopy cases, currently numbering over 445, are expected to create a case management crisis
--the traffic amnesty program at Las Vegas Township Justice Court brought in $5.4 million, with another $5.8 million promised through payment plans.
-- the Nevada Supreme Court reverted almost $2 million to the General Fund for fiscal year 2008, r
The CJ ended by asking the legislature to increase filing fees on civil cases to fund additional judges or provide for other judicial needs, to continue funding of the Senior Judge Program, and to approve a Constitutional amendment to create an Intermediate Appellate Court in Nevada. The latter was approved in the 2007 legislature, and if approved again this year, will go to the voters next year.
Download a copy of the speech from the Supreme Court website HERE or listen to the audio file HERE.
