Outgoing Chief Justice Mark Gibbons announced the Nevada Supreme Court accepted their 80,000th case with the filing of Patel v. Patel, a civil appeal from the Family Division of Clark County’s Eighth Judicial District Court.
“Eighty-thousand cases is a noteworthy signpost for the Nevada Supreme Court and shows how important our effort is to the state,” Chief Justice Gibbons said in a statement this past fall. “As our caseload grows, the issues presented to the court are more complex, precedent-setting, and demand added time to consider.”
The number of cases filed with the clerk of the court reflects the size of the Supreme Court. Nevada had three Supreme Court justices and managed its workload with that number until population growth in the 1960s.
In 1967, the Nevada Legislature enlarged the Supreme Court from three to five justices. In 1999, with Nevada being the fastest-growing state in the nation, it expanded the Supreme Court to seven members.
Nevada voters approved the Court of Appeals in 2014. This unique court hears cases assigned to it by the Supreme Court. This allows the seven justices to consider the most complex cases.
“In 2019, we received a record number of case filings, deposed of a record number of cases, and compared with last year, saw a reduction in the pending case backlog,” Gibbons said. “These results show a commitment to maintaining our work at a superior level.”
The first 10,000 cases filed in the court were between Oct. 31, 1864 and Aug. 12, 1977, a period of 113 years. Between 1977 and August 13, 2007, 40,000 cases were filed. On Jan. 9, 2012, the court reached 60,000 cases. Filing number 70,000 came on March 18, 2016. The 80,000 filing came three years and eight months later.