Most guidance on filing a slip and fall lawsuit describes a path that ends at a courtroom: complaint, answer, discovery, trial. In Las Vegas that path is not the default, and a person who files expecting it will be surprised by what happens next.
Cases commenced in the Eighth Judicial District Court, which covers Clark County, are routed by rule into a mandatory arbitration programme before any conventional trial is available. If a party rejects the arbitrator’s award, the case does not simply go back into the ordinary trial queue. It enters a separate programme with a shortened format and a smaller jury.
That structure determines the shape of a Las Vegas premises case more than almost anything else, and it is rarely explained. This page sets out the track as the rules describe it.
Key Takeaways
- Filing a complaint does not put a case on a conventional trial track in Clark County.
- Nevada operates a mandatory, non-binding arbitration programme in judicial districts that include a county of 100,000 or more.
- All civil cases commenced in the district courts are subject to it unless exempted.
- Certain categories are automatically exempt, and a party may ask to be exempted where the probable jury verdict would exceed the rule’s threshold.
- A request for exemption must be filed within 21 days after the filing of an answer.
- A party dissatisfied with the award has 30 days from service of it to request a trial de novo.
- A case in which a trial de novo is requested enters the Short Trial Program, where each side presents in 3.5 hours.
Filing Is Not the Same as Getting a Trial Date
A premises claim in Las Vegas begins the way civil actions generally do, by filing a complaint in the district court. A deadline governs how long there is to do it, and the period that applies to a fall is set out in the Nevada slip and fall guide.
What happens after filing is where expectations and reality part company. The assumption most people bring is that the case now moves toward a jury trial, with settlement as the alternative. In Clark County a third thing sits between those two, it is compulsory, and it arrives early.
Clark County Cases Go Into a Mandatory Arbitration Programme
Nevada’s Rules Governing Alternative Dispute Resolution establish what NAR 1 describes as “a mandatory, nonbinding arbitration program,” applying to certain civil cases “commenced in judicial districts that include a county whose population is 100,000 or more.”
That population trigger is what brings Las Vegas within it. Clark County is well past the threshold, so the programme applies to cases filed in the Eighth Judicial District Court.
The scope is broad by default. NAR 3(a) provides that “all civil cases commenced in the district courts, unless otherwise exempted” by the exemption rule “are subject to the program.” The starting position is therefore inclusion, and getting out of the programme requires fitting an exemption rather than simply preferring a trial.
Two features of the programme are worth holding onto. It is mandatory, so it is not something the parties opt into. And it is non-binding, so an award is not the end of the case for a party willing to take the next step within the time allowed.
Which Cases Are Exempt
NAR 5 sets out two routes out, and they work differently.
The first is automatic. NAR 5(a)(1) provides that civil cases “in the following categories are exempt from arbitration” and then lists them, including class actions and “actions for product liability.” A case that falls into a listed category is out by operation of the rule.
Other automatic routes appear in the same subsection. Under NAR 5(a)(3), a matter may be “exempted from the program by mutual consent of the parties” for the Mediation or Short Trial Program. Under NAR 5(a)(4), a dispositive ruling that punitive damages may go to the trier of fact “shall automatically exempt the matter from arbitration.”
The second route is permissive and requires an application. NAR 5(b)(1) allows a case to be “exempted from the program upon leave of the commissioner,” on grounds including “any action presenting significant issues of public policy,” “any action presenting unusual circumstances that constitute good cause for removal,” and a case in which “the probable jury verdict would exceed $100,000 per plaintiff.”
That last ground is a procedural threshold about which track a case belongs on. It is not an indication of what any case is worth, and it does not operate automatically — it is a basis on which leave may be sought.
The timing is strict and easy to miss. NAR 5(b)(2) provides that “the request for exemption must be filed within 21 days after the filing of an answer.” A case that stays in the programme because nobody applied in time stays in it.
What the Arbitrator Can Award
The programme has a ceiling written into it. NAR 16(b) provides that “the maximum award that can be rendered by the arbitrator is $100,000 per plaintiff.”
That is a limit on what the arbitrator may award within the programme, not a limit on what a claim may be worth or on what a court may award afterwards. Its practical significance is that a case a party believes sits above that ceiling is one where the exemption route under NAR 5(b), or the path through a trial de novo afterwards, becomes the relevant question rather than the arbitration itself.
Rejecting the Award: the 30-Day Window
Because the programme is non-binding, an award can be rejected — but only on time and on terms.
NAR 18(a) gives the window: “within 30 days after the arbitration award is served upon the parties, any party may file” a request for trial de novo. NAR 18(b) states the consequence of missing it in plain terms: “an untimely request for trial de novo shall not be considered by the district court.”
There is a further condition that catches people out. Under NAR 18(c), a party whose arbitrator’s bill is unpaid “shall be deemed to have waived the right to a trial de novo.” The right can therefore be lost for a reason unconnected to the merits.
If a request is properly filed, NAR 18(d) provides that “any party to the action is entitled to the benefit of a timely filed request,” so one party’s request carries the case for everyone. If a request is struck or denied, NAR 18(f) directs the court to “enter a final judgment in accordance with the arbitration award.”
Where no request is filed at all, NAR 19(a) provides for judgment to be entered on the award once the 30 days pass. NAR 19(b) adds the detail that matters most: such a judgment “may not be appealed,” subject to limited exceptions. An award allowed to stand becomes a judgment that is effectively final.
Where a Rejected Award Goes
Requesting a trial de novo does not return a case to the conventional trial list. It moves it into a different programme.
NSTR 1(b) provides that “the Short Trial Program is mandatory in judicial districts subject to the mandatory Court Annexed Arbitration Program,” so the same population trigger that brings Las Vegas within the arbitration rules brings it within these. NSTR 4(a)(1) then provides that all cases subject to the arbitration programme “in which a party has filed a request for trial de novo” shall enter the Short Trial Program, with the requesting party paying the required juror fees and costs.
There are other ways in. Under NSTR 4(b)(1) the parties “may stipulate to enter the Short Trial Program in lieu of the Court Annexed Arbitration Program,” and under NSTR 4(a)(2) cases that went to mediation instead of arbitration and were not resolved there enter the programme as well.
What a Short Trial Looks Like
The format is compressed, and the numbers are the point.
On time, NSTR 21 provides that “plaintiff(s) and defendant(s) shall each be allowed 3.5 hours to present their respective cases,” unless “a different time frame is stipulated to and approved by the short trial judge.” Everything a side intends to do — opening, witnesses, cross-examination, exhibits, closing — happens inside that allowance.
On the jury, NSTR 22 provides that “the parties may stipulate to a jury of four or six members,” and that “for good cause shown to the short trial judge, a party may request a jury of eight members.” The default is the smallest: “should the parties fail to stipulate to a specific jury size, the jury shall be composed of four members.”
A case can therefore travel from a complaint to a decision by four people in an afternoon, with no step along the way having been chosen by the injured person. Understanding that at the outset changes how the case is prepared — what is worth developing, what has to be ready early, and what a party is actually choosing when it rejects an award.
Talk to a Las Vegas Slip and Fall Attorney
The decisions that shape a Las Vegas premises case are made early and on short clocks — whether to seek an exemption within 21 days of an answer, how to prepare a case that may be presented in three and a half hours, and whether to spend the 30 days after an award. None of those is improvised well.
Vaksman Khalfin, PC acts for injured people across Nevada from the firm’s Las Vegas office at 10161 Park Run Drive, Suite 150. The first consultation is free, and injury claims are handled on a contingency-fee basis: there is no upfront cost, attorney’s fees are owed only out of a recovery, and fees and case costs are separate items set out in the written agreement. Wider material sits in the Nevada personal injury guides.
Reviewed by Robert B. Vaksman, Partner, Vaksman Khalfin, PC (admitted in Nevada). Last reviewed: 10/30/2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Not directly. Cases commenced in district courts within a judicial district that includes a county of 100,000 or more are subject to a mandatory, non-binding arbitration programme under NAR 1, and NAR 3(a) makes all civil cases subject to it unless exempted.
Only by exemption. NAR 5(a)(1) exempts listed categories automatically, and NAR 5(b)(1) allows exemption "upon leave of the commissioner" on grounds including significant issues of public policy, unusual circumstances amounting to good cause, and a probable jury verdict above the rule's threshold.
NAR 5(b)(2) requires that "the request for exemption must be filed within 21 days after the filing of an answer."
NAR 16(b) sets the maximum at "$100,000 per plaintiff." That is a ceiling on an award within the programme, not a statement about the value of any claim.
Judgment is entered on it once the 30 days pass, and under NAR 19(b) such a judgment "may not be appealed," subject to limited exceptions.
NAR 18(a) allows any party to file a request for trial de novo "within 30 days after the arbitration award is served upon the parties," and NAR 18(b) provides that an untimely request "shall not be considered by the district court."
Yes. Under NAR 18(c) a party is "deemed to have waived the right to a trial de novo" where the arbitrator's bill remains unpaid.
Four, by default. NSTR 22 allows the parties to stipulate to four or six members and permits a request for eight for good cause, but provides that absent a stipulation "the jury shall be composed of four members."
