Nevada Judiciary

Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Nancy Becker has announced the publication of the Nevada Judiciary's Annual Report for fiscal year 2005. Statistics in the report show that case filings have increased, including at the Nevada Supreme Court, where filings jumped by 9 percent last year (1,852 to 2,022) to top 2,000 for the first time.

The annual report also provides comparative statistics about case filings and dispositions for each of the 82 trial courts in the state. This is the sixth annual report of the work of Nevada's courts, and prior statistics are provided for comparative purposes.

"Our courts strive every day to improve our system of justice, and I believe this annual report demonstrates our success in addressing citizen concerns in some areas while highlighting where additional resources are needed in others,"said Chief Justice Becker.

State Court Administrator Ron Titus said, "The courts continue to improve their abilities to track and report court statistics, providing a more accurate picture of what they do."

"Technology projects, such as the Nevada Rural Courts System where more than 30 rural courts are collaborating on a single case management system, have assisted in this goal," Titus said.

Overall, the number of civil and criminal cases in Nevada's courts each topped 153,000 during fiscal year 2005. The courts handled more than 58,000 family cases, nearly 29,000 juvenile cases and more than 659,000 traffic and parking cases. When combined, 391,809 non-traffic cases were filed in the trial courts during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005.

In the District Courts, caseloads increased about four percent from fiscal year 2004, slightly lower than the five percent increase in the state's population. District Court civil caseloads, however, dipped slightly while Justice Court civil caseloads jumped by 3,600 cases during the last 6 months of the fiscal year. This is likely due to recent legislation that increased the dollar limit of general civil litigation in Justice Courts from $7,500 to $10,000 effective January 2005 (half of the fiscal year covered in the report). This gave the Justice Courts jurisdiction over many cases previously handled by the District Courts.

For other types of cases, Justice Court caseloads showed increases similar to population increases. Municipal Court caseloads saw marginal increases.

Supreme Court

At the Supreme Court, 1,980 cases were resolved, compared with 1,750 cases during fiscal year 2004. The backlog at the end of fiscal year 2005 stood at 1,570 cases. In 1997, the backlog of pending cases was 2,521. Nevada has one of the busiest Supreme Courts in the nation with 263 cases filed per justice.

Nevada remains one of only 11 states without an Intermediate Appellate Court. With increasing caseloads during the past few decades, many states have either added Intermediate Appellate Courts or expanded the ability of the justices to choose which cases they will hear. Nevada does not have such discretionary jurisdiction and must consider all cases filed.

District Courts

For the district courts, the Eighth Judicial District Court (Clark County) was the busiest court with 2,726 cases filed per judge. The Second Judicial District Court (Washoe) was second at 1,899 cases per judge. The Fifth Judicial District (Esmeralda, Mineral and Nye Counties) was third with 1,497 cases per judge.

Justice Courts

Justice Courts statewide recorded 204,712 non-traffic cases filed (compared to 194,299 in fiscal year 2004) and 410,153 traffic and parking violations filed (compared to 395,978 in fiscal year 2004). Las Vegas Justice Court was the busiest by far, with 14,620 non-traffic cases filed per judge. Reno Justice Court was second at 5,304 cases per judge. Sparks Justice Court was third with 3,915 cases per judge.

Municipal Courts

Non-traffic case filings at the Municipal Courts statewide totaled 58,521 in fiscal year 2005 (compared to 58,235 the prior year) and 241,529 traffic and parking violations in fiscal year 2005 (compared to 236,126 the prior year). North Las Vegas Municipal Court was the busiest with 5,673 cases per judge. Las Vegas Municipal Court was second with 5,210 cases per judge. Henderson Municipal Court was third with 3,114 cases per judge.

Court statistics were gathered pursuant to the Uniform System for Judicial Records enacted in 1999 to require the standardized collection and reporting of judicial workload statistics.

The Nevada Judiciary Annual Report may be viewed at most libraries in the state. Copies may be obtained by contacting the Administrative Office of the Courts in Carson City (775) 684-1719 or in Las Vegas (702) 486-3232. The report is also available on the Supreme Court website at www.nvsupremecourt.us.

• 2005 Annual Report of the Nevada Judiciary
• All Reports