11JDCR 4.6

(a) Jury instructions. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the following applies:

(1) The plaintiff must, not less than 21 days before the start of trial, file an electronic copy of its proposed jury instructions and verdict forms, and serve a copy on every other party. If the defendant desires to submit jury instructions, the defendant must, not less than 14 days before the start of trial, submit an electronic copy of its proposed jury instructions and verdict forms and serve a copy on every other party. Proposed instructions must include the legal authority for the instruction.

(2) Instructions that become necessary during the trial and that could not reasonably have been anticipated before trial must be filed and served, along with a copy that contains the legal authority for the instruction, and provided to the court in electronic form as soon as practicable.

(3) The court must give the parties an opportunity to object on the record out of the jury’s presence before the instructions and arguments are delivered. During the final settling of jury instructions, the parties must provide for the record any instruction the party has proposed and the court denied or modified.

(4) An original and one copy of each instruction requested by any party must be tendered to the court.

(A) All original proposed jury instructions shall be in clear, legible type on clean, white paper of standard quality, not less than 16-pound weight, 8.5 by 11 inches in size, with black border line and no less than 28 numbered lines.

(B) The designation “Instruction No. _____” shall be centered on line one of the first page of each original instruction.

(C) The original instructions shall not bear any markings identifying the submitting attorney and shall not contain any citations of authority. No portions thereof shall be in capital letters, underlined, or otherwise emphasized.

(D) The copies shall contain authority, if any, for the proposed instruction. The copies must also indicate who tendered them, with the designation “Plaintiff’s/Defendant’s Proposed Instruction No. ___” centered at the bottom of the page.

(E) The instructions given to the jury will be firmly bound together, and the judge shall write the word “Given” at the conclusion thereof and sign the last of the instructions to signify that all have been given.

(b) Jury fees. The party demanding a jury trial will, on the last day of trial, deposit with the judicial clerk the total amount of jury fees.

(c) Voir dire examination.

(1) The court shall conduct the voir dire examination of the jurors. Proposed voir dire questions by the parties or their attorneys must be submitted to the court and served on all counsel not less than 5 days before the first day of trial.

(2) The court may permit counsel to conduct a supplemental examination, the scope of which shall be within reasonable limits prescribed by the judge in his or her sound discretion. The following areas of inquiry are not properly within the scope of voir dire examination by counsel:

(A) Questions already asked by the court or counsel and answered;

(B) Questions touching upon anticipated instructions on the law;

(C) Questions touching upon the verdict a juror would return when based upon hypothetical facts; and

(D) Questions that are, in substance, arguments of the case.

(d) Settlement in jury trials. Any civil case settled after a jury has been summoned may be settled only if one or more of the parties involved reimburse the county for all expenses incurred up to the date of settlement in summoning and securing the attendance of all prospective jurors.

(e) Jury commissioner; jurors.

(1) Pursuant to NRS 6.045, the court hereby designates the court administrator or designee as jury commissioner. The judge may assign to the jury commissioner such administrative duties in connection with trial juries and jurors as the court finds desirable for efficient administration. The jury commissioner is directly responsible to the court.

(2) The jury commissioner shall, on or before January 15 of each year, estimate the number of trial jurors that will be required for attendance in the court and shall select that number from the qualified electors of the county not exempt by law from jury duty, whether or not registered as voters. The jurors may be selected by computer whenever procedures to assure random selection from computerized lists are established by the jury commissioner. The jury commissioner shall keep a record of the name, occupation, and address of each person selected.

(3) At least 14 days before the persons whose names are drawn are required to appear for jury service, the jury commissioner shall draw a regular panel of trial jurors for a designated case from the venire established by the selection process outlined in subsection (e)(2) of this rule. The jury commissioner shall make a list of the names obtained and retain that list in the jury commissioner’s office subject to inspection by any officer or attorney of the court, furnish a copy of the same to each attorney involved, and issue a venire and deliver the same to the sheriff. The sheriff shall make return of the venire to the jury commissioner at least 1 day prior to the day named for the prospective juror’s appearance. Such selection may be by computer whenever procedures to assure random selection from the panel of trial jurors are established by the jury commissioner.

(4) Each person summoned as a trial juror pursuant to law and this rule shall serve for a period of time set by the court.

(5) The names of prospective jurors who have been summoned for service and whose services subsequently are not required shall be returned by the jury commissioner to the master list of prospective jurors as selected pursuant to subsection (e)(2) of this rule.

(6) A person summoned for jury service may be excused by the jury commissioner because of sickness, physical disability, serious illness, death of the person’s immediate family member, undue hardship, extreme inconvenience, or public necessity.