Nevada Court Records

Nevada Court Record Lookup

Nevada NV court records are public record, available to anyone who makes a request. If you were involved in a court case in Nevada you may want a copy of a record to complete a course of action such as collecting a judgement, securing an inheritance, finding Nevada criminal records, establishing child custody, or clearing one’s driving record. They can be obtained by performing a Nevada court records search.

Limited jurisdiction courts

Municipal courts do not conduct jury trials. These Nevada courthouses only have responsibility for violations of local ordinances.

Justice courts have jurisdiction over misdemeanor offenses, small claims, civil lawsuits under $15,000 value, and preliminary hearings on felony cases.

Crimes and legal disputes that take place on sovereign Native American land within Nevada are heard by tribal courts.

Trial courts

The state’s district courts are located in 11 districts and have jurisdiction over felony offenses, civil lawsuits, and family concerns, such as cases of Nevada child support and custody. Two districts have separate family court divisions.

Specialty courts have been created to reduce the number of nonviolent offenders in the legal system and to connect them with treatment options. There are 42 specialty courts within Nevada’s judiciary, including for DUI, drugs, mental health, veterans, and prostitution.

Records of court proceedings are public document and can be found by Nevada court record lookup. Some records may be restricted by confidentiality laws, including those of juvenile court cases and those that name certain crime victims.

Court statistics show that the trial court’s caseload has fallen from a high of around 40,000 in 2009 to 30,000 or below while family cases have risen from near 60,000 filed in 2008 to around 80,000 about 10 years later. Family cases comprise 60 percent of trial court business.

Appellate courts

The state’s intermediate appeals court was created in 2015 to hear cases from lower courts that remain in dispute. Three justices sit on the bench of the state appeals court.

The state supreme court hears selected cases from lower courts a well as questions of the constitutionality of laws.

U.S. District Courts

There is at least one federal court in each state with jurisdiction over violations of federal law, bankruptcy cases, and lawsuits that span more than one state.  Anyone can access Nevada court records online via Nevada court case lookup.

Nevada Notable Court Cases

One of the most famous cases originating in Nevada's judicial system is that of State v. Millain, which occurred in 1867. In this case, the state charged a man with the murder of Virginia City's most notorious prostitute, Julia Bullette. He was convicted and subsequently executed publicly. Perhaps most interesting is that Mark Twain was known to have attended the trial.

In State v. Kuhl (1918), a murderer was convicted after a bloody palm print was allowed to be submitted in court as evidence against the defendant. The murder took place during the last known stagecoach robbery in the U.S.

In 1915, four years after the last Indian Battle in the U.S., courts upheld that members of a posse which captured a group of Shoshone Indians to collect a reward for returning Shoshone Mike to the government were well within their rights.