Archive for the 'nevada supreme court' Category

Life In The “Which” Lane?

Van October 4th, 2010

As you get older, everything changes. You’ve heard, 60 is the new 40? Anyone really believe that? As one who is closer to 60 than 40, I don’t believe it.

When I was a young pup, I watched Disneyland on Sunday nights, and I recall one such show that was entitled “SUPERHIGHWAY USA”. In this show, Walt Disney himself, and his henchmen, layed out what was to become our nationwide Interstate highway system. This was, of course, before Cloverleaf Industries could act on their nefarious plan to close down the Red Line and replace it with highways. (oops sorry, getting Disney mixed up with Roger Rabbitt, please disregard from “Cloverleaf Industries” on.) Anyway, back to SuperHighway USA; everything was laid out there: the banked and crowned roadbeds, the acceleration lane and freeway approaches and exits, the gentle curves. Traffic always moved quickly as we watched the model cars moving on and off the demonstration model that was used to instruct us in this new driving method. This was, of course, before freeways turned into parking lots, and commutes turned into multi-hour outings. They didn’t tell us about that in SuperHighway USA. It wasn’t supposed to be like that! Did Walt Disney lie to me? And he was such a nice man…he and that little rodent.

One of the things that was talked about in Super Highway USA, is how all highways of the future, would have multiple lanes and how the right lane was for regular traffic, and the left lane, was for people who were passing or were otherwise moving faster than people in the right lane(s). This became ingrained in my brain through Super Highway USA, through driver’s education and training, and through music. The Eagles even wrote a song called “Life In The Fast Lane.” Were they singing about the lane that has the exit lanes coming off of it, and the approaches emptying into it? No, they were singing about that lane that is farthest away from safety, closest to the approach of opposing traffic at break neck speed, far away from the entries and exits, the dangerous fast lane. So my question is: what happened to the fast lane?

Interestingly, it appears that the fast lane of today, is more often than not, something other than the left lane. Have you noticed this? I guess everyone thinks that the left lane is theirs and that when they are there, that they can go whatever speed they want, even if it’s below the speed limit. WRONG! The left lane is for those of us who can survive out there with the other fast drivers. It is not for the faint of heart. It is certainly no place to be if you’re talking on your cell phone. For more on my cell phone rant, click HERE. The left lane is the place where the law of the jungle prevails, and the law of the Highway Patrol. But today, it is no longer the fast lane. In fact, in my driving, it seems as though the lane that is open most often, where you can pick up some speed and not have many drivers to contend with is now…the right lane. What happened?

So for the foreseeable future, I’m going to be traveling and passing all of you, in the right lane. Perhaps at some future time, the fad will die and it will be cool to be in the right lane again, in which case, I’ll be back where I’m supposed to be, the place Walt Disney told me about, and the Eagles sang to me about, the place of legend and intrigue, the famed real fast lane, the left lane.

Court Jargon Simplified

admin March 1st, 2010

After reading an article about a murder case that was taken from the Florida court to the Florida Supreme Court, and then back to the Florida Court, I thought about how confusing the article must be for a person who lacks a basic legal background.

 Footnotes or cliff notes would really come in handy for those who do not work in the legal field. Nowadays, Wikipedia is just a Google click away, but who has time for such rhetoric. Nevertheless, there are those who read our blogs..I will make this short and sweet.   

 We have a three-tiered Court System:

 District Court or Trial Court- a Judgment is reached. If you find error in the judgment reached in district or trial court, you can appeal to the Appellate Court.

 Appellate Court or Court of Appeals:  Is made up of a panel of three judges who hear arguments on both sides.

 The Appellate Court has three options: 

  • Change the judgment
  • Remand send the case back to the lower court to change the judgment
  • Send the case back to the lower court to keep the same judgment

 Supreme Court- All 50 states have their version of the Appeal to the Supreme Court.

 The Nevada Supreme Court is comprised of seven justices. There is no court higher than the Supreme Court- their decision is final.

 

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