- Nevada Supreme Court Law Library
- All Categories
- Room 102
- Room 103
- Room 107
The Nevada Reports is the official compilation of decisions issued by the Nevada Appellate Courts that have been designated by those courts for publication. These same cases are also available in the Pacific Reporter, a publication by West Publishing/Thomson Reuters. The Pacific Reporter is an unofficial publication for Nevada case law.
The Law Library's physical collections include all volumes of the Nevada Reports, Pacific Reporters, and advance opinions/sheets.
The following flow chart illustrates the publication process of Nevada Appellate Court opinions:
Unfortunately, there is not a comprehensive and free source on the Internet to research Nevada appellate case law. However, the following two free sites are a good place to start:
Not all orders/opinions issued by the Nevada Appellate Courts are "published."
(c) Form of Decision. The Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decide cases by either published or unpublished disposition.
(1) A published disposition is an opinion designated for publication in the Nevada Reports. The Supreme Court or Court of Appeals will decide a case by published opinion if it:
(A) Presents an issue of first impression;
(B) Alters, modifies, or significantly clarifies a rule of law previously announced by either the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals; or
(C) Involves an issue of public importance that has application beyond the parties.
(2) An unpublished disposition, while publicly available, does not establish mandatory precedent except in a subsequent stage of a case in which the unpublished disposition was entered, in a related case, or in any case for purposes of issue or claim preclusion or to establish law of the case.
Subsection (c)(3) sets forth the situations when and how a party may cite unpublished decisions:
(3) A party may cite for its persuasive value, if any, an unpublished disposition issued by the Supreme Court on or after January 1, 2016. When citing such an unpublished disposition, the party must cite an electronic database, if available, and the docket number and date filed in the Supreme Court (with the notation “unpublished disposition”). A party citing such an unpublished disposition must serve a copy of it on any party not represented by counsel. Except to establish issue or claim preclusion or law of the case as permitted by subsection (2), unpublished dispositions issued by the Court of Appeals may not be cited in any Nevada court for any purpose.