COVID-19: Clark County Court Operations Plan

Tuesday, March 17, 2020, Clark County Superior Court issued Emergency Order 20-06 which makes broad changes to court operating during the COVID-19 Pandemic. On Monday, March 16, 2020, Clark County District Court issued Administrative Order 2020-1, which also lists changes to that court’s operating. Stated plainly, the courts are open. However, operations are limited to avoid spreading the COVID-19 amongst litigants.

The courts remain open, however, all matters that are scheduled before the court currently have been struck from the dockets. This means that any Superior Court hearing dates set between now and April 24, 2020, are canceled. This includes all jury trials, bench trials, motions, and other hearings.

Although the court has canceled dockets, the court will hear, by special request motions on an emergency basis. In Family law, examples of an emergency basis for a hearing include: temporary restraining orders, child safety concerns, and financial concerns that limit a party’s ability to meet basic needs.

The court will also hear emergency matters in regards to Guardianship Cases. The court did not give specific examples of what matters it will hear on an emergency basis. In general, examples of an emergency in guardianship include: limiting financial exploitation, petitions for instruction on medical treatment, and other situations that concern the health and safety of a ward.

Moving forward, hearings on emergency issues will be conducted by telephone. Parties, attorneys and other litigants will need to contact the assigned judicial department to arrange for a telephonic hearing.

In District Court, civil matters will still be heard subject to some conditions. Small Claims cases will be rescheduled past May 31, 2020. Anti-harassment and stalking protection orders, as well as, criminal no contact order review will continue as scheduled. Other Civil matters will still be heard by the court over the telephone.  It the responsibility of attorneys and self-represented litigants to provide the court with good working telephone numbers. Hearings conducted over the telephone may take place from the scheduled hearing time plus four hours.

The courts will refuse entry to any person exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19. Also, people bringing business before the court must observe social distancing protocols. This means that individuals need to provide at least 6 feet of space between each other.

Our team at Navigate Law Group is still operating during the COVID-19 outbreak. We have the tools and procedures to assist you with your legal needs while we all take preventive measures to slow the outbreak of the virus. We are committed to sharing information about law and courts during this outbreak.