You filed an injury lawsuit in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Las Vegas. Then a notice arrived telling you the case now sits with an arbitrator. Nobody read you a contract clause. Nobody asked whether you wanted a jury. The case simply moved sideways into Nevada court annexed arbitration. So the trial date you were picturing is not on the calendar.
This is the Court Annexed Arbitration Program. It has run in Clark County since July of 1992. It is not private arbitration. Nor is it something you agreed to when you bought insurance or signed a rental form. Nevada court annexed arbitration is a mandatory, nonbinding step. The district courts apply it to a large slice of ordinary civil damage cases. Those include a great many car crash, slip and fall, and dog bite claims. The Alternative Dispute Resolution office at the Regional Justice Center reviews thousands of contested civil files every year. It then directs a large share of them into the program.
Why a Nevada Injury Case Gets Routed Into Arbitration
Two layers of authority put your case there. The statute, NRS 38.250, applies to civil actions for damages filed in district court when the cause of action arises in Nevada. Those actions must go to nonbinding arbitration when the amount in issue does not exceed $50,000 per plaintiff. That figure is exclusive of attorney fees, interest, and court costs. The court rules then build the actual machinery. Under Nevada Arbitration Rule 3, all civil cases commenced in the district courts fall within the program. The only exceptions are the cases that Rule 5 exempts. Our Las Vegas personal injury lawyers page collects the fundamentals that run through every Nevada injury claim.
The practical screening question the Eighth Judicial District Court asks is what a jury would probably award. Historically, the program has captured cases with a probable jury award value not in excess of $50,000 per plaintiff. The Nevada Supreme Court then raised that figure to $100,000 per plaintiff. The higher figure applies to all cases filed on or after January 1, 2026. As a result, a noticeably larger group of injury claims moved into the program. A Supreme Court order effective March 12, 2026, also amended the arbitration and short trial rules. The Nevada Judiciary rule amendments page publishes the running list of those orders.
Notice what the screen is measuring. It does not measure what you asked for in the complaint or what your medical bills happen to total. It is an estimate of probable verdict value made from the face of the file. That is why a claimant with a serious injury can still open the mail and find an arbitration notice.
Cases That Never Enter the Program at All
Rule 5(a) lists categories that are automatically exempt. A party claims the exemption by designating the category in the caption of the initial pleading. Those categories include class actions, appeals from courts of limited jurisdiction, probate actions, divorce and other domestic relations actions, actions seeking judicial review of administrative decisions, actions concerning title to real estate, declaratory relief actions, business court and construction defect cases, matters seeking equitable or extraordinary relief, cases with an incarcerated party, insurance bad faith actions seeking punitive damages, actions involving sexual assault or sexual battery, product liability actions, and medical or dental malpractice actions governed by NRS 41A.003 to 41A.120. If one party’s claim qualifies for exemption, every other party’s claim in the same case is exempt along with it.
So a Nevada medical malpractice case, and a Nevada product liability case, are out of the program by category. A rear end collision on the 215 is not.
Asking the Commissioner to Exempt Your Case
The permissive exemption under Rule 5(b) is the one most injury claimants care about. A case can come out of the program on leave of the arbitration commissioner or the arbitration judge. That happens when it presents significant issues of public policy, or when unusual circumstances constitute good cause for removal. Most commonly, though, it happens when the probable jury verdict in the plaintiff’s favor would exceed the program ceiling per plaintiff. That ceiling is exclusive of fees, costs, and interest.
The timing is tight and it is easy to lose. The requesting party must file the request for exemption with the clerk and serve it within 21 days. That clock starts when the first answering defendant files an answer. The requesting party has to certify that the case falls into one of the listed categories. It must also attach a summary of facts, including the evidentiary support needed to show it. In other words, the exemption request is a small evidentiary showing, not a paragraph of argument. Operative reports, imaging, a surgical recommendation, a life care plan, or wage documentation are what move a commissioner. Any opposition is due within 7 days of service of the request. The commissioner or arbitration judge then reviews the contentions and decides.
The commissioner or arbitration judge can still grant an untimely request for good cause. But the rule warns that filing late may expose the requesting party to sanctions. Your injuries may be the kind we discuss in our overview of catastrophic injury claims in Las Vegas. If so, the exemption request is usually the first real fight in the case. It happens within weeks of the answer rather than months later.
How the Arbitrator Is Selected
Suppose no exemption request comes in, or one comes in and fails. The commissioner then serves the two adverse appearing parties with identical lists of five arbitrators. Those five names come at random from the program panel. Clark County maintains a panel of more than 300 approved arbitrators.
Each side then has 14 days to return the selection list with no more than two names struck. A side may instead use that time to file a stipulation naming a private arbitrator. The commissioner appoints someone from the names left standing. If only one side responds, the appointment comes from the names that side did not strike. If neither side responds, the commissioner simply picks one of the five. Where there are more than two adverse parties, the list grows by two more arbitrators for each additional party. If an exemption request failed, the list goes out within 7 days. That clock starts once the time to object to that denial has run.
Attorney arbitrators on the panel hold Nevada law licenses and have practiced a minimum of eight years. Two strikes per side gives real but limited control. So the strike decision is worth actual thought rather than a reflex.
Discovery Shrinks and the Clock Starts
Within 30 days after the arbitrator’s appointment, the parties meet with the arbitrator for the early arbitration conference. They confer, exchange documents, and identify the witnesses who would otherwise require disclosure under NRCP 16.1. They also put together a discovery plan if the case needs one. The conference can happen by phone. The arbitrator issues a discovery scheduling order within 14 days afterward.
How much additional discovery you get is up to the arbitrator. The rules direct the arbitrator to keep it neither costly nor burdensome. Discovery must also stay within the proportionality standard of NRCP 26(b). The arbitrator hears every discovery dispute, not a discovery commissioner and not the district judge. While the case is in the program, ordinary motion practice in the district court largely shuts down. The narrow exceptions are dispositive motions and a few procedural ones.
The outer limits are firm. Under Rule 12, the hearing must take place no later than 6 months from the date of the arbitrator’s appointment. The arbitrator must also file the award by then. The arbitrator cannot continue the hearing past 9 months from appointment without written permission from the commissioner. Even so, every arbitration hearing has to occur within 1 year of appointment. That compression is the reason arbitration cases resolve so much faster than the ordinary district court track. It is also a useful thing to understand alongside our guide to how long a Nevada personal injury case takes.
What the Hearing Actually Looks Like
Forget the courtroom. The arbitrator has complete discretion over the timing, location, conduct, and scheduling of the hearing. That includes whether it happens by audio or video conference. In practice these hearings run for part of a day in a conference room at a law office. The arbitrator sits at the head of the table. There is no jury, no bailiff, and no court reporter unless a party pays for one. Any party may do so at their own expense.
At least 14 days before the hearing, each party gives the arbitrator and every other party a prehearing statement. That statement holds a final witness list, a description of what each witness will say, and a list of exhibits. Each party also makes those exhibits available for inspection and copying. Bring a witness or an exhibit you did not disclose, and the arbitrator can refuse to let it in. The only exception is unforeseen and unusual circumstances. Copies of relevant pleadings from the court file also go to the arbitrator 14 days out.
Evidence That Goes In on Paper
The rule that changes the texture of the hearing most is Rule 8. It authorizes the arbitrator to relax the applicable rules of evidence and procedure to reach a speedy and economical resolution. The arbitrator must do so without sacrificing a full and fair hearing on the merits. That authority is why an arbitration hearing looks so different from a trial.
Medical records and billing typically come in as a bound exhibit rather than through a records custodian. Treating physicians and experts often never appear, because their opinions come in through written reports and chart notes. Photographs, repair estimates, and wage documentation go in as documents. Live testimony frequently comes down to the plaintiff describing the crash, the treatment, and how the injury changed daily life. Cross examination then follows. The defense may put on the adjuster’s biomechanical or records review expert on paper as well.
That has consequences worth knowing in advance. When your treating doctor is a report rather than a person, the persuasive weight of your own testimony goes up. So does the quality of the records your attorney assembles.
The Award
The arbitrator decides every issue raised by the pleadings, including comparative negligence under NRS 41.141 and damages. The arbitrator writes and signs the award. It cannot exceed the program’s per plaintiff ceiling, exclusive of attorney fees, interest, and costs. The arbitrator files the award with the clerk within 7 days after the hearing concludes. The alternative deadline is 30 days after receiving the last authorized memoranda from counsel.
Applications for attorney fees, costs, or interest go to the arbitrator only after the filing of the award. The applicant must file and serve them within 7 days after service of the award on the applicant. The rule describes that deadline as a jurisdictional waiver, so missing it forfeits the request. A request to amend an award must come within 21 days of service of the original award. An amended award then restarts the clocks that follow.
Suppose no party requests a trial de novo within 30 days after service of the award. The prevailing party then submits a form of judgment through the commissioner to the assigned district judge. The court then enters and files it like any other district court judgment.
Requesting a Trial De Novo
A nonbinding award means either side can reject it. Under Rule 18, any party may file a written request for trial de novo. The party files it with the clerk and serves the others within 30 days after service of the award. The requesting party must certify that it has paid its share of the arbitrator’s fees and costs. Otherwise it must certify that it will pay within 30 days.
The 30 day window is jurisdictional. The district court will not consider an untimely request. If the court strikes, denies, or dismisses a request, it then enters final judgment on the arbitration award instead. Rule 22 covers a party who failed to prosecute or defend the case in good faith during the arbitration. It treats that party as having waived the right to a trial de novo altogether. So going through the hearing without real participation is not a free option.
Filing the request does not usually land the case back on the regular jury trial calendar. In Clark County the case enters the Short Trial Program automatically unless a party demands removal. A party must file and serve that demand within 14 days after service of the request for trial de novo. A short trial is still a jury trial, but a compressed one. It has a small jury and strict time limits on each side’s presentation. Its rules also encourage written expert reports in place of live expert testimony. Cases removed from the Short Trial Program get no calendar preference. The district court instead processes them in the ordinary course of its business.
The Cost Shifting Risk That Comes With Rejecting the Award
Rule 20 is the part that most often surprises claimants. Two things happen at once.
First, the arbitration award itself comes into evidence at the trial de novo. The arbitrator’s analysis and reasons, though, do not. All discovery taken during the arbitration is admissible. Any claim or defense not raised at the arbitration hearing is also waived at the trial de novo. Raising it means presenting it through expert opinion or other competent evidence there. You do not get to hold back a theory and unveil it later.
Second, there is a fee and cost consequence that runs separately from any offer of judgment analysis under NRCP 68. Suppose the arbitration award was $20,000 or less. The party who requested the trial de novo then needs a judgment that beats the award by at least 20 percent. If it falls short, the nonrequesting party may recover its attorney fees and costs for the proceedings after the request. Where the award was more than $20,000, the same rule applies at a 10 percent margin. It runs both directions. A defendant who asks for a trial de novo may then fail to reduce its exposure by the applicable percentage. In that case, it faces the plaintiff’s fees and costs. In making the comparison, the court leaves out costs, attorney fees, and interest.
So the decision to reject an arbitration award is a numbers decision. You make it with a calculator, not as a matter of principle. An award you are unhappy with may still be one you should accept.
Deadlines That Do Not Move
None of this changes the underlying filing deadline. You generally must file a personal injury action in Nevada within two years under NRS 11.190(4)(e). Arbitration happens after a lawsuit is on file. So it never extends the time to bring the claim in the first place. If the defendant is a government body, a separate set of rules applies. Those include the claim provisions of NRS 41.036 and the damages limit in NRS 41.035.
It is also worth knowing that arbitration is not the only path. Parties may agree to bypass the arbitration program. They can instead use the Court Annexed Mediation Program or enter the Short Trial Program directly. While a case is in arbitration, the parties may also stipulate to a settlement conference or a mediation. If that route interests you, our explanation of how mediation works can help. It covers what that process involves and how it differs from an arbitrator issuing a decision.
Talking to a Nevada Injury Lawyer About Nevada Court Annexed Arbitration
Maybe your Las Vegas injury case now sits in the Court Annexed Arbitration Program. Or maybe you just received a selection list and do not know what striking two names means. Either way, The Bourassa Law Group offers a free consultation to review where the case stands. That review also covers whether an exemption request is still available, and what the arbitration timetable will look like from here. There is no cost to talk it through, and no obligation.
This article is general information about Nevada law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts, so speak with a licensed Nevada attorney about your specific situation.
1-800-870-8910