On August 25, 2021, Las Vegas Justice Court Chief Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa and Supreme Court of Nevada Chief Justice James Hardesty filed an order in the administrative matter regarding temporary procedures in criminal cases alleging traffic offenses. See Administrative Order #21-09.
Citing concerns for the administration of the courts, the order addresses matters related to procedures related to the following topics:
- Public health
- Closure of traffic division lobby
- Temporary use of customer service windows
- Bench warrants
- Legislative changes
- Alternative electronic methods for resolving traffic citations
- Traffic trials
The order stresses the need for traffic-related matters to be conducted by telephone, video, or remote electronic means and recommends that “defendants should consider consulting legal counsel of their choosing prior to entering a plea of not guilty and submitting a statement in defense or a written pleas form to the Justice Court.”
The order states, the “Las Vegas justice Court has not resumed setting traffic trials for defendants who wish to plead not guilty and have their case set for trial. Due to resurgence of COVID-19 cases, delays in construction of Courtroom 1D, IT programming necessary to develop and launch Matterhorn, and redirection of court resources, including hearing masters to assist with eviction cases, it is not anticipated that traffic trials will resume until January 2022.”
For more information, read the 6-page order, available below to download as a PDF file:
Learn about the court’s new service for dispute resolution to resolve traffic matters online by reading “Las Vegas Justice Court Traffic Update” at https://clarkcountybar.org/las-vegas-justice-court-traffic-update/.
For more information about the Las Vegas Justice Court’s rules and administrative orders, visit http://www.lasvegasjusticecourt.us/faq/laws_and_rules.php.