Information About the Location and Duties of the Nevada District Court

The Nevada District Court is part of the federal court system in the U.S., which has 94 courts serving as the general courts of trial.

Both civil as well as criminal cases need to be filed in Nevada’s District Court, and this is a court of “law, equity, and admiralty”. A U.S. Bankruptcy Court also is associated with every district court in the country.

In contrast with the U.S. Supreme Court that was set up by the Article III of the Constitution, the U.S. Congress established district courts. The constitution does not require them.

After the constitution was ratified, there were those who did not like the idea of a powerful federal judiciary, and wanted the Supreme Court’s powers to be controlled to just hearing the appeals that come from the state courts. This did not gain acceptance, and subsequently the Congress developed the system of district courts.

The Nevada federal district court has two locations:

One division is in Las Vegas, 333 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89101; phone: (702) 464-5400, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.; Monday to Friday (except federal holidays).

The other is in Reno, 400 S. Virginia St., Reno, NV 89501; phone: (775) 686-5800; 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.; Monday – Friday (except federal holidays)

District Court Appeals

Cases from the Nevada District Cout are appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government, which must be appealed in the Federal Circuit).

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada represents the country in civil and criminal litigation in the court. The current United States Attorney is Daniel Bogden.

Jurisdiction of Federal Courts

The federal trial courts have jurisdiction on only certain kinds of cases. The district court also has simultaneous jurisdiction on many cases, but exclusively has criminal case jurisdiction.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims is the only one with authority that can settle claims of monetary damages that are related to the U.S., for federal contracts, forceful private property acquisitions, and federal property injury suits because of a federal government employee.

Filing a Case in Nevada District Court

Should you file a case in the Nevada federal district court, you must as per the E-Government Act of 2002 make sure not to include, or redact partially if you must include, a number of personal data from all filings submitted to the court.

These include Social Security numbers, names of minor children, dates of birth, financial account numbers and home addresses (in criminal cases only). For additional information, you can look up Section (i) of the Administrative Procedures Governing the Filing and Service by Electronic Means at http://www.med.uscourts.gov/ecf/adminprocedures.htm.