District of Nevada
IN BRIEF
Process summary
Early case evaluation in prisoner cases (triage hearings).
Under Local Rule 185, the court began an experimental ADR program in 1994 for in forma pauperis pro se prisoner cases. Under the program, called early case evaluation or triage hearings, summary hearings are held in selected cases before service of process, discovery, and motion practice occur. Cases are selected for the program by the assigned district or magistrate judge after a screening for frivolousness. The judge issues a minute order notifying parties of the mandatory referral and setting the time and place of the hearing. The evaluation hearings usually last about fifteen minutes. The prisoner is required to attend, usually by telephone, along with a representative of the state office of the Attorney General. The hearing is on the record.
The court reports that judges, pro se law clerks, attorneys in the Nevada office of the Attorney General, Nevada Department of Prison officials, and inmates have expressed satisfaction with the hearings. Between January and September 1994, approximately 75 cases were referred to the program.
Other ADR.
Under 1992 revisions to Local Rule 185, judges in the district are authorized to set any appropriate civil case for summary jury trial or other form of ADR.
Magistrate judge settlement conferences.
Local Rule 185 also authorizes use of magistrate judge settlement conferences, which are usually ordered by the assigned judge on a case-by-case basis.
Of note
Plans.
The court and the district's CJRA advisory group are monitoring ADR developments in the courts nationally to determine whether additional ADR initiatives would be beneficial to litigants in the district.
Evaluation.
The Federal Judicial Center is currently conducting a study of the early case evaluation program in pro se prisoner cases.
For more information
Howard D. McKibben, U.S. District Judge, 702-784-5111
Excerpted from
ADR and Settlement in the Federal District Courts: A Sourcebook for Judges & Lawyers, 1996,
a publication of the Federal Judicial Center and CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution