Track Filings in Federal Cases Using Pacer RSS Feeds

Automatic Notification Available for PACER

Federal courts now provide automatic case notification through the use of RSS feeds, allowing the public to easily stay informed of newly docketed events.

To do so, anyone can subscribe to a court’s RSS feed, which is free and includes automatic notification of activity in individual cases the user selects.

While the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada has not yet implemented RSS feeds, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada has. 

Free Westlaw Training at the Supreme Court Library

Did you know the Supreme Court Library offers free access to Westlaw*?  The Supreme Court Library will be hosting a Westlaw Patron Access training session on Thursday, February 23, 2012, from 10-11 a.m.

Topics include using Westlaw Library Patron Access to:

1. Use West editorial enhancements to get better results in both cases and statutes;
2. Understand and use KeyCite graphical indicators to improve search results and citation validation;
3. Review of natural language, and terms & connectors searching,  and
4. Review of online workflow tools such as using the “Copy with Reference” feature, Limit document display by fields, and efficient statutes browsing.

Attorneys can earn one general credit towards their Nevada CLE requirement.
 
*Free to search; results may be printed at $0.10 per page; downloading and emailing not available at this time.

Filing an Answer in Justice Court

The First Judicial District Court Clerk's Office has posted Instructions for Preparing, Filing, Serving an Answer in Justice Court on its page of Justice Court forms.  (There are sample District Court forms as well, although no Answer as of this posting.)

NOTE: This document has been prepared as a courtesy and to assist you with completing your Answer. It is not to be construed as providing legal advice or representation on how to prepare your case or defense.

If you’ve been served with a Summons and complaint in the Justice Court and have been named as a defendant in the case, you have the option of preparing, filing, and serving an Answer in response to the complaint. An Answer is your formal reply to the court and the plaintiff’s attorney (or the plaintiff if he doesn’t have an attorney.) You must reply to each paragraph/allegation in the complaint by admitting it, denying it, or denying it because you don’t have enough knowledge or information to be able to admit it. You only have 20 days from the day you were served with the Summons and complaint to file and serve your Answer. If you don’t file an Answer in the court and serve a copy to the plaintiff’s attorney (or the plaintiff, if he’s unrepresented) within 20 days of the day you were served, then the plaintiff may obtain a default judgment against you.

WARNING: The filing of an Answer affects your legal rights. If you file an Answer, you have agreed that the court in which you file your Answer has good and proper jurisdiction over you to decide your case.

If you are in Reno, there is a sample Answer on the Reno Justice court civil forms page.  In Las Vegas, the Clark County Civil Law Self-Help Center has information on civil actions including what to do if you've been sued, as well as small claims actions. 

Rule Amendments

Don't forget there is a lag between when a rule is adopted/amended/repealed and when it makes it into the print NRS.  There is a new sortable table available on the Supreme Court's website which has links to the Administrative Docket and orders amending court rules.  The table includes the ADKT number, rules affected, links to both the ADKT and order, a short description of the amendment and effective date and each column is sortable.

Attorneys practicing before the Nevada Supreme Court might be interested in the 11/4/11 order on ADKT 467 amending NRAP 3C, 3E, 28.1, 28.2, 32, 40, and 40A and Associated Forms - "Concerns format and length of briefs, fast track statements and responses, and petitions for rehearing and reconsideration" which is effective 1/3/12. 

Westlaw Pop-Up Blocker Fix

If you are having trouble printing Westlaw* documents, odds are the issue is caused by your browser's pop-up blocker. 

For IE, go to Tools | Pop-up Blocker | Pop-up Blocker Settings and type the following into the Address of Website to Allow box:

*.westlaw.com 

then click on Add and then add the three URLs listed below, click on Close and you should be good to go.  

print.westlaw.com
next.westlaw.com
web2.westlaw.com

*Actually this works with any sort of pop-up blocker issue, but we needed to use it for our public access Westlaw computers. 

Law Library Closed in Observance of Veterans' Day

The Supreme Court Library will be closed on Friday, November 11, 2011 in observance of Veterans' Day.  The Library will reopen at 8 a.m. on Monday, November 14.

Residency Requirements

While working on another matter, I recently discovered an interesting document on the Legislative Counsel Bureau Research Division's Publications/Fact Sheets page:  Fact Sheet on Residency Requirements in Nevada.  It includes links to relevant NRS citations.  For example, if one wondered how long s/he needed to live in Nevada to be eligible to vote:

Persons are eligible to vote if, before an election, they have continuously resided in the State and the county for 30 days and in the precinct for 10 days (NRS 293.485).