Supreme Court of Nevada Decisions
The Nevada Supreme Court reviews appeals in Carson City and Las Vegas. It consists of seven justices, who receive appeals directly from trial courts. The justices can determine whether to review an appeal or assign it to the three-judge panel on the Nevada Court of Appeals. This intermediate appellate court was created in 2014, before which the Supreme Court reviewed all appeals from lower courts. In 2019, more women than men served on the Supreme Court for the first time in its history.
Nevada uses non-partisan elections to fill the seats on the Supreme Court. This means that the party affiliation of each candidate is not included on the ballot. Once they are elected, a justice will serve a six-year term. The Governor of Nevada has the authority to appoint an interim justice if a vacancy arises before the end of the term. To serve on the Nevada Supreme Court, a candidate must be at least 25 years old at the time of the election, and they must have been a resident of Nevada and have practiced law there for at least two years. They must have been admitted to practice law in a state in the U.S. for at least 15 years, although they do not need to have been admitted to practice in Nevada throughout that time.
Under the Nevada Constitution, the most senior justice serves a two-year term as the Chief Justice. If two or more justices have equal seniority, the Chief Justice position technically must be filled by lot. In reality, the justices often agree to each take a shorter term as Chief Justice to allow each of them to serve in this role. They can put this agreement in writing as a court order or another official document and file it with the Clerk of the Court.
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Recent Decisions From the Supreme Court of Nevada
Date: September 21, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 34
Docket Number: 83942
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court denying Appellant's petition for judicial review of the denial of her appeal of her suspension from her position as a correctional officer, holding that when…
Date: September 21, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 36
Docket Number: 83945
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court compelling an estate's claims to arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement signed during the decedent's admission to El Jen Convalescent Hospital and…
Date: September 21, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 35
Docket Number: 86108
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court denied the writ petition filed by Petitioner challenging the decision of the Las Vegas Municipal Court denying Petitioner's request for attorney fees and litigation expenses after criminal charges…
Date: September 14, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 30
Docket Number: 83859
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the district court declining to backdate the parties' marriage in this case to the date they would have been married but for Nevada's unconstitutional ban on same-sex marriage,…
Date: September 14, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 31
Docket Number: 84304
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of the district court that Appellant, a bank, did not comply with Nev. Rev. Stat. 17.214(3) in seeking to collect on a renewed judgment, holding that the district court did not…
Date: September 14, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 32
Docket Number: 84986
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that a commercial property insurance policy did not provide coverage for the economic losses JGB Vegas Retail Lessee, LLC suffered when COVID-19 forced JGB to shut down abruptly. JGB was insured…
Date: September 14, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 33
Docket Numbers: 85399, 85400
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the district court granting Defendant's motion to dismiss the charge against him for violation of his due process rights, holding that Defendant's due process rights were…
Date: September 7, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 29
Docket Number: 85155
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court dismissing a petition for judicial review challenging a decision by the Nevada Employment Security Division's (NESD) Board of Review, holding that, based on…
Date: August 31, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 27
Docket Number: 84086
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal from a district court order denying a motion to modify alimony and to reinstate child support the Supreme Court held that the district court erred in finding the it did not have jurisdiction to reinstate…
Date: August 31, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 28
Docket Number: 85554
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court denied Petitioner's petition for a writ of certiorari or mandamus in this matter arising from district court orders holding Petitioner, the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, in contempt…
Date: August 24, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 24
Docket Number: 83316
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed Defendant's conviction on one lewdness count as redundant to sexual assault involving the same episode but otherwise affirmed his convictions, holding that the two other errors identified by…
Date: August 24, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 26
Docket Numbers: 83833, 84257
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the portion of the order of the district court granting summary judgment in favor of Buyer in this dispute arising from an ordinary course covenant in an asset purchase agreement, holding that…
Date: August 24, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 25
Docket Number: 84174
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court determining that a deed of trust on real property continued to encumber the property, holding that there was no error. LV Debt Collect, which acquired title…
Date: August 24, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 23
Docket Number: 84931
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the judgment of the district court denying Appellants' return-of-property motion and Appellants' request to quash and unseal search warrants, holding that Nevada's…
Date: August 17, 2023
Citation: 139 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 22
Docket Numbers: 79658, 80113, 80968
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that, under the Nevada Constitution, both the governor and the Chief Justice may designate temporary substitutes for disqualified justices on the Supreme Court, thus rejecting Appellant's argument…
