Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

District Court sees big jump in civil cases

District Court in Clark County last year saw a rapid increase in civil cases such as medical malpractice and construction-defect lawsuits, according to the court's annual case management report released Friday.

The court's Judicial Case Activity Report shows the number of civil cases filed in Clark County in 2002 jumped by 9 percent from the 2001, with about 1,713 cases filed.

Civil cases made up 28 percent of all cases filed in 2002. Family disputes made up the greatest percentage of cases, about 46 percent.

The court's criminal division saw less of an increase in the number of cases filed. Criminal filings in 2002 increased by less than 3 percent from 2001, according to the report. They made up 12 percent of cases, with juvenile cases making up the remainder, 13 percent.

Court officials say a large number of civil cases filed were "complex litigation" cases, such as construction defect and medical malpractice cases.

At the end of 2002 there were 227 construction-defects lawsuits in the courts in Las Vegas.

That increase in construction-defects cases could stop this year after a new bill was signed into law earlier this month.

The bill requires the owner of a building with defective construction to give the contractor responsible for the work a chance to make repairs before a lawsuit is filed. The law goes into effect Aug. 1.

But there is no end in sight for the flood of medical malpractice suits. The Legislature passed on a bill that could have lowered malpractice insurance rates by instituting more restrictive provisions.

The case activity report came after a year of steady growth in all areas of the Eighth Judicial District Court, the largest jurisdiction in the state.

In 2002 more than 67,700 cases were filed in the court. This was nearly a 3 percent increase from 2001, the report shows.

Short said the court's growth forced officials to create new ways to reduce the time it takes for cases to be closed, while developing ways to help manage judges' heavy workloads.

Officials created special courts and programs to help manage the flow of complicated civil cases, which could normally span weeks or months.

The Complex Litigation Center allowed civil cases with multiple parties to be streamlined into special departments.

In 2002 District Judges Allan Earl, Nancy Saitta and Michael Cherry were given special assignments to hear construction-defect cases.

Of the three judges, Earl, who heard no criminal cases, disposed of the most civil cases, about 2,008, during the year, the report shows.

About 19 civil cases were closed in one day each with the Nevada Short Trial Program, which allows judges to hear complete civil trials in a day or less.

Since its inception last year, the program has resolved 47 cases through trial or settlement.

Overall, the court achieved an 86 percent clearance rate, or cases disposed of, on other civil filings, the report shows.

Other areas of the report show consistent growth in Family Court, which made up about 47 percent of all cases filed in 2002.

The majority of those cases, about 11,980, were divorce filings.

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