Appealing in Nevada : Nevada Appellate Lawyer & Attorney : Tami D. Cowden : Nevada Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

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.

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In these partisan times, unanimous votes aren’t all that common in any legislature, including the Nevada State Assembly. But the vote in favor of amending the Nevada Constitution to create an intermediate court of appeals received just such unanimous support yesterday.   If SJR9 is approved again in the 2009 legislative session, the issue will be presented to the voters. 

Similar efforts to create an intermediate court have failed before. However, the population, and with it, the number of cases filed in the Supreme Court (consistent with the vast increase in district court filings) has also risen to a degree that greatly burdens that court, and further delays a final disposition for all litigants. Nevada needs an intermediate court to help with the increased cases. It is heartening to see the legislature put aside partisan differences for the sake of an issue fully deserving of unanimous support.

See the report  in the R-J.

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The Assembly Judicial Panel voted unanimously today in favor of SJR 9, which seeks a constitutional amendment to create an intermediate appellate court in Nevada.  The Nevada Appeal reports on the vote here.

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