Order has District Court judges grumbling

Bill Gang

Thursday, July 15, 1999 | 10:52 a.m.

An order by Chief District Court Judge Lee Gates that judges with lighter workloads take cases from those with heavier ones caused some grousing among some of the judges Wednesday.

Gates sent a memo to his 16 fellow District Court judges July 6 saying that as the first strong chief judge, he was implementing a Nevada Supreme Court-endorsed plan that would require judges who specialize in criminal cases to take occasional civil trials when one of their cases has ended earlier than scheduled.

A majority of the local judges had voted to water down the proposal, but flexing new supervisory power granted to him by the state's high court as of July 1, Gates imposed the plan.

At a regular monthly meeting Wednesday, some of the judges seemed surprised at the order.

The discussion began when District Judge Valorie Vega, a civil judge, asked about how to turn over extra trials for reassignment.

"Is this system in place?" asked District Judge Donald Mosley, who handles criminal cases.

Gates replied that it was, based on a new law, an order from the Supreme Court and the agreement of judges who handle civil cases.

"I'm getting tired of these edicts," Mosley growled, noting that he was unaware of the memo.

"We don't read the Supreme Court order the same way you do," District Judge Jeff Sobel, a criminal judge, told Gates.

"It's my position that (the rule) is in effect," Gates declared as other judges headed off an escalation of the improptu debate that was not one of the agenda items at the public meeting.

The judges have scheduled a meeting July 26 to formalize their recommendations for court rules governing the strong chief judge system.

One of the main issues that has come up in the past is whether annual vacation time should be limited, but the dispute over the wording of the overflow trial rule and Gates' implementation of it is likely to come up as well.