Nevada Case Law Research Guide

If you have part of a case citation, like the names of the people involved or the volume and page number, you can find the case in books like the Nevada Reports or the Pacific Reporter. Look for the volume number on the book's spine and then find the page where the case starts. If you only have the names of the people, it might be hard to find the case, so you may need to ask the Nevada Supreme Court Law Library for help. You can also use special tables in books or online to find cases by name or year. Another way is to use books that show cases related to specific laws.

This method of case research assumes you know part of a citation—either the party names or information about the volume of the case reporter where the opinion is published.

When You Have a Reporter Volume and Page Information

Nevada Supreme Court opinions are published in:

• The official Nevada Reports, and
• Thomson Reuters/West’s Pacific Reporter (currently in its third series, P.3d).

Steps to Locate a Case:

1. Understand How to Read a Case Citation. Knowing how to identify the volume, reporter, and page number is critical.
2. Locate the volume number (on the spine of the book).
3. Flip to the page number provided, which usually corresponds to the first page of the case.

When You Only Have Party Names

Finding a case with only party names can be more complex. Here are your options:

1. Contact the Nevada Supreme Court Law Library

The library staff can assist with locating specific cases by party name.

2. Using Print Resources

• Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS):

  • The NRS is republished every two years to align with the legislative cycle.
  • One volume, such as Volume 59 of the 2023 NRS, includes an Alphabetical List of Nevada Supreme Court Cases.
  • This table provides citations to both the Nevada Reports and the Pacific Reporter.
  • Note: The list is only available in print and covers cases up to a few years before publication. For example, the 2023 NRS table includes cases through 2019.

• Nevada Reports:

  • If you know the year or general time frame of the case, you can use a volume of the Nevada Reports.
  • At the beginning of each volume, there is a table titled Cases Reported, which lists cases alphabetically along with their starting page number.
  • The caption for each case in the Nevada Reports also includes the corresponding Pacific Reporter citation.

Example: Volume 133 of the Nevada Reports (2017)

• The Cases Reported table provides an alphabetical list of cases in the volume and their starting page numbers.
• The Pacific Reporter citation is included in the case caption for reference.

Overview

Another way to conduct case law research is to start with a known statute and look for judicial opinions that have interpreted that specific statute. Nevada has three annotated statutory codes to assist with this type of research:

1. Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS)

   • Official publication from the Nevada Legislature.
   • While the official NRS is available online, the annotations are not.

2. Nevada Revised Statutes Annotated (Michie’s/LexisNexis)

   • Available online through the Nevada Supreme Court’s Digital Library.
   • For instructions on accessing the Digital Library, refer to this guide.

3. West’s Nevada Revised Statutes Annotated

   • Published by Thomson Reuters.

What Are Annotated Codes?

Annotated codes include not just the text of the statute but also additional helpful information, such as:

• Case annotations: Judicial opinions that interpret the statute.

The case annotations are labeled:

• Notes of Decisions (West’s)
• Notes to Decisions (Michie’s)

How to Use Annotated Codes

1. Retrieve the statute from any of the annotated codes.
2. Case annotations are provided immediately after the statute text.
3. Check the pocket part (an update at the end of the book) for new case citations added since the main volume was published.

Differences Between the Codes

• The official NRS organizes annotations by:

  1. Nevada cases first.
  2. Out-of-state and federal cases citing the statute.
  • Note: Annotations in the official NRS are only updated after each legislative session, so it may not be the most current resource.

• While there is substantial overlap in case coverage across the three annotated codes, editorial discretion determines which cases are included. As a result, some annotated codes may include cases that others do not.

Example: NRS 125.010 (Causes for Divorce)

Below are illustrations from the three annotated codes showing their respective case annotations for NRS 125.010.

Official NRS

Michie's NRS

West's NRS 

What is a digest? A digest organizes cases into major topics and narrower subtopics. They exist in books as well as online in fee-based services such as Westlaw and LexisNexis. While print digests are still published, they are not frequently used by legal researchers because such research is more efficiently performed online. As such, few libraries continue to purchase case law digests. If you happen to find yourself in a law library, please ask for assistance from a librarian on how to use case digests.