How are Trials Dates Scheduled in Las Vegas, Nevada?

When you file a lawsuit in Las Vegas, Nevada, your case will actually take place in the Clark County, Nevada court system. As soon as you file a file lawsuit, your case will be automatically assigned to a specific trial judge. In Las Vegas, all trial dates are set by the trial judge assigned to your case. 

If your lawsuit is in Las Vegas’ regular litigation channels, once the at-fault party answers the complaint, the parties’ attorneys must meet and discuss what type of information needs to be exchanged before the case can proceed to trial. This exchange of information is called “discovery”. Once the attorneys meet, they must prepare what is called a Joint Case Conference Report and submit it to the Discovery Commissioner, who rules on all discovery disputes in the first instance (appeals are then brought to your individual trial court judge).  The Discovery Commissioner then prepares an Order regarding discovery, called a Discovery Scheduling Order.

Once the Discover Scheduling Order is signed by the Discovery Commissioner and filed with the clerk of the court, then a copy gets forwarded to your trial judge. Based upon how long when your discovery period is and the trial judge’s trial availability, that is when your trial date will be issued. 

When a trial date is issued, you are put on what is called a “trial stack”.  A trial “stack” means that many other cases are given the same trial date. Usually trial stacks last 5 weeks. This means, that if your case does not settle, you could go to trial anytime within that 5 week block of time.

Since most cases settle before trial, this has proven to be an effective way to schedule trials. So, for example, let’s say you have a trial “stack” date of July 1st. If your case has not settled, the week before you are scheduled to go to trial, your personal injury attorney will go to court for you and see if you are actually going to proceed with trial on that date or sometime within the following 5 weeks. That is called a “calendar call”. At the time of the calendar call, you will usually be issued a firm trial date. This is because, the judge knows which of the cases have settled and puts the remaining cases within that 5 week period, usually taking into account everyone’s schedules in the process. 

Next time, we will discuss statutes of limitations in Las Vegas, Nevada Court cases.