LV Justice Court braces for heavier workload

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004 | 9:02 a.m.

Las Vegas Justice Court officials expect their workload to grow and may have to hire more support staff and judges in the wake of a Nevada Supreme Court ruling last week that determined that civil cases involving less than $5,000 are entitled to jury trials.

Chief Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo said last week that he expects to see a marked increase in requests for civil jury trials in the coming weeks and months.

"It is going to have a huge impact on court time and staff time," he said.

The ruling comes at a time when judges in the court are already strapped to handle a heavy flow of criminal and civil cases. Each year the volume of cases the court handles increases by about 33 percent, Abbatangelo said.

Las Vegas Justice Court currently has seven courtrooms and eight judges. One department "floats," meaning the judge in that department is in a different courtroom each day.

Abbatangelo said the court would likely need more courtrooms, counter staff and judges to adequately handle the expected increase in jury trials.

"We're slammed at the counters as it is with evictions and civil filings," he said. "We're getting buried. It's because of the population and that more people are suing."

Between July 2002 and June 2003, Las Vegas Justice Court handled 26,497 civil filings alone, Court Administrator Martin Lotz said. During that year the court handled anywhere from 2,000 to 2,400 civil cases each month, he said.

"Technically any one of those or all of those could now be eligible for jury trials," he said.

The Nevada Supreme Court's ruling determined that there is a guarantee of the jury trial even if only small amounts of money are involved.

It overturned the decisions of District Judges Valorie Vega and Mark Denton, who had rejected claims from citizens who wanted a jury trial and had not received one in Justice Court.

Las Vegas Justice Court in 1999 adopted the policy allowing jury trials only when the damages are $5,000 or more. Instead, justices of the peace made the decisions without a jury.

Abbatangelo said the court is still doing legal research to determine how the ruling will affect cases that were already denied jury trials.

He said the old policy was created because it allowed judges to make better use of the court's time. Bench trials are usually shorter because attorneys can make succinct representations directly to a judge.

An average bench trial takes an average of two to three hours, while an average jury trial could take more than six hours, he said.

"It's definitely going to take up much, much more time," Abbatangelo said.

Other justice courts in Clark County did not limit jury trials because they do not have the same volume of cases, said North Las Vegas Justice Court Administrator Oly Embry said.

In addition to the heavy caseload, Las Vegas justice's of the peace thought they had other valid reasons to limit jury trials, Abbatangelo said.

The U.S. Constitution, for instance, says parties are entitled to a civil jury trial if the amount in question is more than $25, which is likely the equivalent of a lot more money today, he said.

"That tells me that the founding fathers didn't anticipate a jury trial to be held in every single case," he said.

Abbatangelo also pointed out that people charged with misdemeanors are not entitled to a jury trial. Misdemeanors can be punished with up to six months in jail.

"These are people who are at risk of losing their civil liberties and they are not even entitled to a jury trial," he said.