Maupin: Court trimming backlog — for now

Friday, Feb. 23, 2001 | 11:38 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Chief Justice Bill Maupin told the Legislature Thursday that the Nevada Supreme Court has reduced its backlog of cases by 32 percent in the last three years, but he added the court can't keep up this pace with the growing population.

In his "State of the Nevada Judiciary," Maupin ticked off improvements in the system made in the last several years ranging from the Supreme Court down to the justice and municipal courts.

Five years ago, the court system was "simply trying to deal with day-to-day survival," he told a joint session of lawmakers. Now the courts are "thinking in terms of systems to manage and not simply reacting to the problems of burgeoning caseloads."

Talking about the Supreme Court, Maupin said it had "one of the most serious backlogs of any appellate court in the country." It developed because of the tremendous increase in appeals and there was no intermediate appellate court to handle some of these cases.

The 1997 Legislature expanded the court to seven justices and gave it more staff. In addition, new systems were started to speed the handling of the cases. At the end of 1997, the case inventory was 2,521 and three years later it was down to 1,720 cases pending.

The court will continue to work to reduce the backlog further, he said, adding, "I must emphasize, however, that this trend cannot continue indefinitely given the growth picture of this state, particularly in Southern Nevada."

He said he will be asking the Legislature to start a constitutional amendment to create an appellate court so the voters can decide the issue in the 2004 election.