Justice Court to Close Fridays

Justice Court is considering changing the hours of operation to four 10-hour days in February 2025.

Justice of the Peace Ben Trotter presented the idea to County Commissioners at their regular meeting last week, asking them to approve stand-by pay for a Justice Court clerk on weekends.

“When I first came to the court in 2019,” Trotter said, “we went to an 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule. I thought staying open during the lunch hour would be good for people to access the court.” 

With these four ten-hour days, he told commissioners that the court would be open from 7 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., giving the public more time to access the court before and after work.

There are thirty-six Justice Court jurisdictions in Nevada, fifteen of which are open for 4-day weeks. Trotter maintains that offering this schedule to employees makes the position more desirable to attract talented staff.

A clerk is already paid standby for Saturday and Sunday each weekend due to the weekend hearing requirements passed down from the Legislature and Nevada Supreme Court. Trotter told commissioners this request would modify the standby pay to twenty-four hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This will require the Clerk to be available locally for all demands, including warrants, protection orders, and hearings involving prisoners. 

“We attempt to make it just a one-day weekend for the District Attorney’s office, the public defenders, and for court services. We try to make it as convenient as possible, but we have to have a clerk available to create the case and manage the paperwork.

Standby is paid at a rate of $1.75/hour. The total annual standby pay would be $1.75 x 24 hours x 3 days x 52 weekends = $6,552 or $126 per weekend. Currently, standby costs are $3,003 per year, which would be a $3,549 increase each year to be closed on Fridays.

County Manager Jim Barbee asked if any thought had been given to splitting the staff and working Monday – Thursday shifts and Friday through Tuesday shifts. “That would give greater availability to the public to have access to the court, but would have no impact on standby pay,” Barbee said. He was concerned about losing Fridays as a day for trials.

But Trotter said after talking to staff, that option was not preferable. “There is a concern if one is out sick or on maternity leave. We have to cover with overtime, and then you’re down to one clerk.” He said they could schedule any hearings on Monday afternoons.

Since August 2, there have been nine Fridays with no hearings scheduled and seven with hearings scheduled. 

Several local attorneys were asked if this commission decision would impact their work schedules, and they all expressed concern but were unwilling to go on the record. One attorney offered insight but asked not to be named. “It is a small town, and we all have to appear in Justice Court,” he said. 

He provided some background information, saying that in a community like Fallon, all the courts have to work together when setting their schedules so they don’t overlap. For example, the District Court has a law and motion calendar on Tuesday mornings, the Justice Court’s law and motion calendar on Thursday mornings, and the Municipal Court holds a law and motion calendar on Thursday afternoons. The main reason is that local law offices don’t have enough attorneys to be in different courts simultaneously.

Attorneys maintain that the Justice Court upends the system by closing on Fridays. The Justice Court will now try to schedule preliminary hearings and trials on other days of the week. With the other court obligations, attorneys are concerned that they will not be able to schedule them in a timely manner.  

There is also concern that staff from other entities, including court services, public defenders, and the District Attorney’s office, would have to coordinate with the Justice Court staff using a compressed schedule because their staff won’t be available to answer emails or phone calls on Fridays.  

“The decision to close the office on Fridays imposes a cost on every other group that is affected by this: District Attorney, Public Defender, Alternate Public Defender, Sheriff’s Office, Churchill County, Citizen Taxpayers, and District Court,” said the local attorney. “Having the Justice Court closed on Friday creates both practical and legal problems for prosecutors, defense attorneys, and criminal defendants. The only benefit from this change is for Judge Trotter and his staff who get to spend their Fridays at home.” 

The attorney also said the decision was not discussed with other agencies involved. “Churchill County, as an organization, functions well because of the willingness to communicate between departments. Judge Trotter made a decision that benefits him, at the cost of other departments, without even discussing it beforehand with other departments,” the attorney said.

Commissioners approved the standby pay with no discussion.