Before you sign anything
What the work involves, walked through with you.
Real estate · Civil litigation
Before you sue, know what you’re starting.
If a dispute won’t resolve on its own, the questions are what a lawsuit would involve and how long you have to bring one.
The short answer
Civil litigation is the process of resolving a dispute between private parties through the courts. Ours grows out of the work we already do: contested wills and trusts, real estate contracts, title and boundary problems, co-owners, landlords and tenants, recorded covenants. Many disputes end before a lawsuit. The ones that don’t follow a set sequence, and the date that matters most is the deadline for filing.
Which court
Nevada sorts civil cases by what is at stake. Small claims and the justice courts hear the smaller disputes, under ceilings the Legislature adjusts over time, with simpler procedure. The district court hears everything larger, along with any dispute over title to real estate. In Washoe County that is the Reno and Sparks Justice Courts and the Second Judicial District Court.
The sequence
A letter
Nearly every dispute should begin with one. It sets out what happened, what is being asked, and what the law says, and it gives the other side a way to resolve the matter.
A complaint and an answer
If the letter does not resolve it, a complaint is filed and served, and the other side has a fixed period to answer.
Discovery
Each side learns what the other knows: documents exchanged, written questions answered under oath, depositions taken. It is the longest stage, and it is where each side learns what its case is worth.
Arbitration, mediation, settlement
Nevada’s district courts send many civil cases below a set value into a court-run arbitration program first, and judges in larger cases routinely expect the parties to try mediation. Many lawsuits settle somewhere along this stretch, once both sides have seen the same evidence.
Trial
Not many reach one.
Deadlines
Every kind of claim has a statute of limitations, and they differ: one period for a written contract, another for an oral one, another for damage to property, another for a contest over a will or a trust, some of them short. A strong claim filed after the deadline is lost. If something has gone wrong and you are unsure whether it is worth pursuing, the time to ask is now, even if the answer turns out to be that it is not.
Whether to fight
The questions to ask are practical. What is at stake, in money and otherwise? What would it cost to pursue? Could the other side pay a judgment if you won one? And what is the relationship worth, when the other side is a neighbor, a sibling, or a business you still depend on?
When a dispute does have to go forward, we represent you through it.
How we charge
Agreed before work begins
Nothing starts until you know how the work is priced and how payment works.
Before you call
How long do I have to bring a claim?
It depends on the kind of claim, and some periods are short.
Will my case go to trial?
Often not. Arbitration, mediation and settlement all come before it.
Which court would hear my case?
It depends on the amount and the subject. In Washoe County, smaller disputes go to the justice courts; larger ones and title disputes go to the Second Judicial District Court.
When you’re ready