Better times predicted for LV Justice Court

Sunday, Oct. 16, 2005 | 10:24 a.m.

Court Executive Officer Chuck Short predicted Friday that in two years a review of Las Vegas Justice Court will find that "order has returned."

A Clark County-commissioned study of Justice Court completed last month found the court in "chaos."

The report uncovered problems including ineffective leadership and management, lenient pro tem judges, stressful working conditions, a rapidly growing and apparently overwhelming caseload and a failure to collect $61 million in traffic fines.

Short said court administrators and Las Vegas Justice Court Chief Judge James Bixler didn't wait for the report to be completed to begin addressing the problems.

In March a small group of judges from District Court and Justice Court met and decided "the best way to begin fixing the problems was to combine the administrations of the courts," Short said.

They were combined in June.

"In two years we will have the best justice court in Nevada and in five years the best in the nation," Short said.

The court is trying to address several of the concerns raised in the report:

Las Vegas Justice Court handles preliminary hearings for almost every type of case as well as hearing traffic citation, conviction, misdemeanor, small claims and some civil cases for Las Vegas Township -- the city and much of the unincorporated part of the valley.