USA Statutes : nevada
Title : Title 02 - CIVIL PRACTICE
Chapter : CHAPTER 16 - DATE OF TRIAL; TRIAL BY JURY; MASTERS
A motion to postpone a trial, on the ground of the absence of
evidence, shall only be made upon affidavit showing the materiality of
the evidence expected to be obtained, and that due diligence has been
used to procure it. The court may also require the moving party to state
upon affidavit the evidence which he expects to obtain; and if the
adverse party thereupon admit that such evidence would be given and that
it be considered as actually given on the trial, or offered and overruled
as improper, the trial shall not be postponed.
[1911 CPA § 260; RL § 5202; NCL § 8758]
1. The party obtaining the postponement of a trial shall also, if
required by the adverse party, consent that the testimony of any witness
of such adverse party who is in attendance be then taken by deposition
before a judge or clerk of the court in which the case is pending, or
before such notary public as the court may indicate, which shall
accordingly be done, and the testimony so taken may be read on the trial,
with the same effect, and subject to the same objections, as if the
witness were produced.
2. In actions involving the title to mining claims, if it be made
to appear to the satisfaction of the court that in order that justice may
be done, and the action fairly tried on its real merits, it is necessary
that further development should be made, and that the party applying has
been guilty of no laches and is acting in good faith, the court shall
grant the postponement of the trial of the action, giving the party a
reasonable time in which to prepare for trial. And in granting such
postponement, the court may, in its discretion, annex as a condition
thereto an order that the party obtaining such postponement shall not,
pending the trial of the action, remove from the premises in controversy
any valuable earth or ore, and for any violation of an order so made, the
court or the judge thereof may punish for contempt, as in the cases of
violation of an order of injunction, and may also vacate the order of
postponement.
[1911 CPA § 261; RL § 5203; NCL § 8759]
1. Upon the motion of a party to an action who is 70 years of age
or older, the court may give preference in setting a date for the trial
of the action, unless the court finds that the party does not have a
substantial interest in the case as a whole.
2. A court may grant a motion for preference in setting a date for
the trial of an action if the court determines that based upon clear and
convincing medical evidence, a party to the action suffers from an
illness or condition which raises a substantial medical doubt that the
party will survive for more than 6 months, and the court determines that
the interests of justice would be served by granting the motion.
3. If a motion for preference is granted pursuant to subsection 1
or 2:
(a) The court shall set a date for the trial of the action that is
not more than 120 days after the hearing on the motion; and
(b) The court shall not continue the date for the trial of the
action beyond 120 days after the hearing on the motion, except for the
physical disability of a party or attorney in the action, or for other
good cause entered on the record.
4. If the plaintiff in an action seeks to recover damages
allegedly caused by a defendant during the commission of acts for which
the defendant is convicted of a crime punishable as a felony, the court
may, upon the motion of the plaintiff, give preference in setting a date
for the trial of the action. If the motion is granted, the trial of the
action must, unless the court deems it infeasible, be held not more than
120 days after the hearing on the motion.
(Added to NRS by 1987, 784)
TRIAL BY JURY
1. Except when the jurors are drawn by a jury commissioner, in
preparing for the selection of the jury, the clerk, under the direction
of the judge, shall place in a box ballots containing the names of the
persons summoned who have appeared and have not been excused. The clerk
shall mix the ballots and draw from the box the number of names needed to
complete the jury in accordance with the procedure provided either in
subsection 3 or subsection 4, as the judge directs.
2. Whenever the jurors are drawn by the jury commissioner, the
judge may also direct him to draw, in advance, the names of additional
jurors in the order they would be used to replace discharged or excused
jurors pursuant to subsections 3 and 4.
3. The judge may require that eight names be drawn, and the
persons whose names are called must be examined as to their
qualifications to serve as jurors. If any persons are excused or
discharged, or if the ballots are exhausted before the jury is selected,
additional names shall be drawn from the jury box and those persons
summoned and examined as provided by law until the jury is selected.
4. The judge may require that the clerk draw a number of names to
form a panel of prospective jurors equal to the sum of the number of
regular jurors and alternate jurors to be selected and the number of
peremptory challenges to be exercised. The persons whose names are called
must be examined as to their qualifications to serve as jurors. If any
persons on the panel are excused for cause, they must be replaced by
additional persons who must also be examined as to their qualifications.
The jury must consist of eight persons, unless the parties consent to a
lesser number. The parties may consent to any number not less than four.
This consent must be entered by the clerk in the minutes of the trial.
When a sufficient number of prospective jurors has been qualified to
complete the panel, each side shall exercise its peremptory challenges
out of the hearing of the panel by alternately striking names from the
list of persons on the panel. After the peremptory challenges have been
exercised, the persons remaining on the panel who are needed to complete
the jury shall, in the order in which their names were drawn, be regular
jurors or alternate jurors.
5. Before persons whose names have been drawn are examined as to
their qualifications to serve as jurors, the judge or his clerk shall
administer an oath or affirmation to them in substantially the following
form:
Do you, and each of you, (solemnly swear, or affirm under the
pains and penalties of perjury) that you will well and truly answer all
questions put to you touching upon your qualifications to serve as jurors
in the case now pending before this court (so help you God)?
6. The judge shall conduct the initial examination of prospective
jurors and the parties or their attorneys are entitled to conduct
supplemental examinations which must not be unreasonably restricted.
[1911 CPA § 262; RL § 5204; NCL § 8760]—(NRS A 1971, 344; 1977,
417; 1979, 917; 1981, 329, 556)
1. Either party may challenge the jurors. The challenges must be
to individual jurors and be peremptory or for cause. Each side is
entitled to four peremptory challenges.
2. If there are two or more parties on any side and their
interests are diverse, the court may allow additional peremptory
challenges, but not more than four, to the side with the multiple
parties. If the multiple parties on a side are unable to agree upon the
allocation of their additional peremptory challenges, the court shall
make the allocation.
[1911 CPA § 263; RL § 5205; NCL § 8761]—(NRS A 1977, 295; 1979, 66)
1. Challenges for cause may be taken on one or more of the
following grounds:
(a) A want of any of the qualifications prescribed by statute to
render a person competent as a juror.
(b) Consanguinity or affinity within the third degree to either
party.
(c) Standing in the relation of debtor and creditor, guardian and
ward, master and servant, employer and clerk, or principal and agent, to
either party; or being a member of the family of either party or a
partner, or united in business with either party; or being security on
any bond or obligation for either party.
(d) Having served as a juror or been a witness on a previous trial
between the same parties for the same cause of action; or being then a
witness therein.
(e) Interest on the part of the juror in the event of the action,
or in the main question involved in the action; except the interest of
the juror as a member or citizen of a municipal corporation.
(f) Having formed or expressed an unqualified opinion or belief as
to the merits of the action, or the main question involved therein; but
the reading of newspaper accounts of the subject matter before the court
shall not disqualify a juror either for bias or opinion.
(g) The existence of a state of mind in the juror evincing enmity
against or bias to either party.
2. A challenge for cause for standing in the relation of debtor
and creditor when the party to an action is a public utility as defined
in NRS 704.020 may be allowed only where the circumstances as determined by
the court so warrant.
[1911 CPA § 264; RL § 5206; NCL § 8762]—(NRS A 1967, 99)
Challenges for
cause shall be tried by the court. The juror challenged and any other
person may be examined as a witness on the trial of the challenge.
[1911 CPA § 265; RL § 5207; NCL § 8763]
1. As soon as the jury is completed, the judge or his clerk shall
administer an oath or affirmation to the jurors in substantially the
following form:
Do you, and each of you, (solemnly swear, or affirm under the
pains and penalties of perjury) that you will well and truly try the case
now pending before this court and a true verdict render according to the
evidence given (so help you God)?
2. As soon as the alternate juror or jurors are selected, the
judge or his clerk shall administer an oath or affirmation to them in
substantially the following form:
Do you, and each of you, (solemnly swear, or affirm under the
pains and penalties of perjury) that, if required to replace a regular
juror or jurors you will well and truly try the case now pending before
this court, and a true verdict render according to the evidence given (so
help you God)?
3. After the oath or affirmation has been administered and the
jury has been fully impaneled, the court may order the jury into the
custody of the sheriff or other officer selected by the court. The jurors
shall not be allowed to separate or depart from the custody of the
sheriff or other officer except by order of the court. The sheriff shall
in such cases, at the charge of the parties to action, prepare suitable
and comfortable accommodations and provide food for the jury pending the
trial.
[1911 CPA § 266; A 1937, 173; 1931 NCL § 8764]—(NRS A 1977, 300,
881)
After the impaneling of the jury and
before verdict, the court may discharge a juror upon a showing of his
sickness, a serious illness or death of a member of his immediate family,
an undue hardship, an extreme inconvenience, any other inability to
perform his duty or a public necessity. Alternate jurors, in the order in
which they were selected, shall replace jurors who become unable or
disqualified to perform their duties. If an alternate juror is required
to replace a regular juror after the jury has retired to deliberate, the
court shall recall the jury, seat the alternate and resubmit the case to
the jury. If no alternate juror has been selected, the trial may proceed
with the remaining jurors, only if the parties so agree. If the parties
do not so agree, the jury shall be discharged, and a new jury then or
afterwards impaneled.
[1911 CPA § 267; RL § 5209; NCL § 8765]—(NRS A 1977, 300)
When
the jury has been sworn, the trial must proceed in the following order,
unless the judge for special reasons otherwise directs:
1. The pleadings may be read by counsel for the respective
parties, as they may prefer, or, if not so read, counsel for the
respective parties may state the issue during their opening statements.
If the pleadings are not read before jury voir dire, the court or either
counsel, as the court directs, may state the nature of the case to the
jury and advise the jurors of the witnesses whom each side proposes to
call. After the jury has been selected and sworn, counsel for the
plaintiff and defendant, shall make opening statements if they desire.
2. The plaintiff and defendant shall then each offer the evidence
upon his part.
3. The parties may then respectively offer rebutting evidence
only, unless the court for good reason, in furtherance of justice,
permits them to offer evidence upon their original case.
4. When the evidence is concluded, unless the case is submitted to
the jury by either or both sides without argument, the plaintiff must
commence and may conclude the argument.
5. If several plaintiffs or defendants, having separate claims or
defenses, appear by different counsel, the court shall determine their
relative order in the evidence and argument.
6. The court shall settle and give the instructions to the jury
before the argument begins, but this does not prevent the giving of
further instructions which may become necessary by reason of the argument.
[1911 CPA § 268; RL § 5210; NCL § 8766]—(NRS A 1977, 301)
When, in the
opinion of the court, it is proper for the jury to have a view of the
property which is the subject of litigation, or of the place in which any
material fact occurred, it may order them to be conducted, in a body,
under the charge of an officer, to the place, which shall be shown to
them by some person appointed by the court for that purpose. While the
jury are thus absent, no person, other than the person so appointed,
shall speak to them on any subject connected with the trial.
[1911 CPA § 269; RL § 5211; NCL § 8767]
1. The court shall reduce to writing the instructions to be given
to the jury, unless the parties agree otherwise, and shall read such
instructions to the jury. The court shall give instructions only as to
the law of the case. An original and one copy of each instruction
requested by any party shall be tendered to the court. The copies shall
be numbered and indicate who tendered them. Copies of instructions given
on the court’s own motion or modified by the court shall be so
identified. When requested instructions are refused, the judge shall
write on the margin of the original the word “refused” and initial or
sign the notation. The instructions given to the jury shall be firmly
bound together and the judge shall write the word “given” at the
conclusion thereof and sign the last of the instructions to signify that
all have been given. After the instructions are given, the judge shall
not clarify, modify or in any manner explain them to the jury except in
writing unless the parties agree to oral instructions.
2. After the jury has reached a verdict and been discharged, the
originals of all instructions, whether given, modified or refused, shall
be preserved by the clerk as part of the proceedings.
3. Conferences with counsel to settle instructions may be held in
chambers at the option of the court. In any event, conferences on
instructions must be out of the presence of the jury.
[1911 CPA § 270; RL § 5212; NCL § 8768]—(NRS A 1977, 302)
1. After hearing the charge, the jury shall retire for
deliberation until they agree upon their verdict or are discharged by the
court and must be kept together in a room provided for them, under charge
of one or more officers, unless at the discretion of the court they are
permitted to depart for home overnight. When the jury is kept together,
the officer in charge shall keep the jury separate from other persons. He
shall not permit any communication to them, or make any himself, unless
by order of the court, except to ask them if they have agreed upon their
verdict. The officer shall not, before the verdict is rendered,
communicate to any person the state of their deliberations or the verdict
agreed upon.
2. Each party to the action may appoint one or more persons, one
of whom on each side is entitled to remain with the officer in charge of
the jury, and to be present at all times when any communication is had
with any member of the jury except when they are permitted to depart for
home overnight, and no communication, either oral or written, may be made
to or received from any of the jurors while they are kept together,
except in the presence of and hearing of persons selected by the parties;
and in case of a written communication, it must not be delivered until
read by them.
3. At each adjournment of the court, whether the jurors are
permitted to depart for home overnight or are kept in charge of officers,
they must be admonished by the judge or another officer of the court that
it is their duty not to:
(a) Communicate among themselves or with any other person
concerning their deliberations or any other subject connected with the
trial; or
(b) Read, watch or listen to any report of or commentary on the
trial or any person connected with the trial by any medium of
information, including without limitation newspapers, television and
radio.
[1911 CPA § 271; RL § 5213; NCL § 8769]—(NRS A 1977, 302, 882;
1981, 317)
Upon retiring for deliberation the jury
may take with them all papers, except depositions, and all other items
and materials which have been received as evidence in the cause, or
copies of any such papers as ought not, in the opinion of the court, to
be taken from the person having them in possession; and they may also
take with them notes of the testimony, or other proceedings on the trial,
taken by themselves or any of them, but none taken by any other person.
[1911 CPA § 272; RL § 5214; NCL § 8770]—(NRS A 1963, 60)
After the jury has retired for deliberation, if there is a disagreement
among them as to any part of the testimony, or if they desire to be
informed of any point of law arising in the cause, they may require the
officer to conduct them into court. Upon their being brought into court,
the court may order the court reporter to read the portion of the
testimony which they request, or any part thereof, and the court may
provide any information requested on the law. This shall be in the
presence of or after notice to the parties or counsel.
[1911 CPA § 273; RL § 5215; NCL § 8771]—(NRS A 1977, 303)
In all cases where a jury are discharged,
or prevented from giving a verdict by reason of accident or other cause
during the progress of the trial, or after the cause is submitted to
them, the action may be again tried, immediately or at a future time, as
the court shall direct.
[1911 CPA § 274; RL § 5216; NCL § 8772]
While the jury are absent the court may adjourn from
time to time in respect to other business, but it shall, nevertheless, be
deemed open for every purpose connected with the cause submitted to the
jury until a verdict is rendered or the jury discharged. The court may
direct the jury to bring in a sealed verdict at the opening of the court,
in case of an agreement during a recess or adjournment for the day.
[1911 CPA § 275; RL § 5217; NCL § 8773]
When a jury has agreed upon its
verdict, the jurors shall be conducted into court by the officer having
them in charge; they shall be asked by the court, or clerk, whether they
have agreed upon their verdict; and if the foreman answers in the
affirmative, the verdict shall be delivered to the court who shall
examine it.
[1911 CPA § 276; RL § 5218; NCL § 8774]—(NRS A 1977, 303)
If the verdict be
informal or insufficient in not covering the whole issue or issues
submitted, the verdict may be corrected by the jury, under the advice of
the court, or the jury may again be sent out.
[1911 CPA § 277; RL § 5219; NCL § 8775]
When the verdict is given and is not informal or insufficient, the jury
foreman or the clerk shall read it aloud. If the verdict is general, any
party may request that the jury be polled. If a poll is requested, the
clerk shall call the names of the jurors and ask each “Is this your
verdict as read?” If more than one-fourth of the jurors disagree, the
jury shall be again sent out; but if no disagreement is expressed, the
clerk shall fully record the verdict in the minutes, the verdict is
complete and the jury shall be discharged from the case.
[1911 CPA § 278; RL § 5220; NCL § 8776]—(NRS A 1977, 303)
MASTERS
When there are three
masters all shall meet, but two of them may do any act which might be
done by all.
[Part 1911 CPA § 546; RL § 5488; NCL § 9035]
