Supreme Court’s caseload still high

Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2001 | 9:20 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court, which handled 2,008 cases in the last fiscal year, apparently has one of the biggest caseloads in the nation.

The state Administrative Office of the Courts Monday released statistics on the number of cases the court dealt with.

The report said the Supreme Court has made progress in cutting its backlog during the fiscal year ending June 30. Cases pending last June numbered 1,628, down from 1,890 from the previous fiscal year.

It appears the justices have one of the biggest, if not the biggest caseload in the nation. The report cited 1999 caseload numbers from the National Center for State Courts that showed there are 271 cases filed per each of the seven Nevada justices. West Virginia's Supreme Court was second with 250 filings per justice.

"Nevada ranks the highest among courts without an intermediate appellate court," the report said.

The administrative office said the caseloads in District Court were heaviest in Clark County. There were 2,318 cases filed for each of the 30 district judges. The Carson City-Storey County Judicial District was next with 1,942 cases filed for each of its two judges.

In the Justice Court system, there were 12,473 cases filed per each of the eight justices of the peace in Las Vegas. Reno was second with 5,339 cases per judge.