High court hoping for help

The Nevada Supreme Court hopes voters approve a long-needed state intermediate appeals court, but funding the new court and other programs could be difficult amid one of the worst economic meltdowns in state history.

This is the issue facing the Nevada Supreme Court and its new chief justice, Ron Parraguirre, who switched places with former Chief Justice James Hardesty on New Year's Day.

"My focus in 2010 will be on the challenges we face with the current economic environment," said Parraguirre, who was elected to the state high court in 2004. "My plan is to really look at the courts, at their internal operations and the central staffs in the civil and criminal divisions and in the clerks' offices. They are working nonstop."

Parraguirre will look into ways to increase productivity while holding the line in a crippled economy. "Let's face it, we're not getting any new bodies, but we still need to speed up dispositions of cases so there's no backlog."

The establishment of the intermediate court would go a long way in doing that, he said.

Voters could help ease the strain later this year when the issue of adding an intermediate appeals court to the state judiciary will be a ballot question. Parraguirre and Hardesty -- along with every other justice -- say it is well past time for Nevada to create such a court.

Nevada is one of a handful of states that doesn't have an intermediate appeals court. So, for every appeal of every decision, the state Supreme Court is the first and last stop.

"Nevada has grown up," said Parraguirre. "We have to pursue this if we want to maintain our credibility."

"The court of appeals was approved in the last two sessions of the Legislature," Hardesty said. "There's an overwhelming workload in this state. The cases per year in Nevada is much higher than in California, Arizona and Utah" per capita.

The court developed a comprehensive business plan for voters to consider. Startup costs will be $1.6 million and involve electing three judges and other personnel, but significant savings will be realized over the long run because the "push-down" court business plan championed by Hardesty when he made his case before lawmakers during the 2009 session calls for using existing court space.

The plan calls for the intermediate court to be housed on the 17th floor of the Regional Justice Center, so a new facility won't have to be constructed, furnished and maintained. Appeals will still be filed with the state Supreme Court. The justices will grant "appeals that need to be heard," Hardesty has previously said. Because the creation of an intermediate appeals court requires an amendment to the state constitution, voters must approve the measure in two consecutive elections.

The court has other priorities facing it in the coming year.

Recently, Hardesty and fellow justices won praise after the Legislature enacted the Foreclosure Mediation Program and tasked the state Supreme Court with implementing and operating it following last year's session.

The goal is to keep beleaguered mortgage holders in their homes and lenders solvent. The program is in its infancy and it is not known whether it will be effective. More than 160 mediators have been trained, and the rules continue to be tweaked.

"It was a big strain to get the program up and running," Hardesty said. "We had to put that together and we worked as fast as we could."

Parraguirre will also continue Hardesty's efforts to implement a business plan to advance funding sources in both rural and urban courts. That plan, largely funded through fees, generated enough money to hire nine additional judges in Clark County, one more judge in Washoe County, and provided desperately needed funds for rural courts.

One other focus of the high court in 2010 is on its Commission on Access to Justice. More people are choosing to represent themselves in court. The high court has already established civil law self-help facilities at the Regional Justice Center and at Family Court. The law can be intimidating to most laypersons, however, and the state Supreme Court encourages lawyers to donate their services.

To that end, about 600 attorneys across Nevada were recently honored after committing thousands of hours to pro bono work.

"Without their help, those people would have had no chance to prevail," Hardesty said. "We need to encourage more attorneys to do pro bono work. The reality is, many people can't pay for legal services. It's a terrible problem."

Contact Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.