Rule 3E - Fast Track Child Custody Appeals(a)Applicability. This Rule applies to appeals and cross-appeals from district court orders primarily pertaining to child custody, guardianship of minors, parenting time, or visitation.(b)Responsibilities of Appellant. The appellant and cross-appellant are responsible for filing the notice of appeal, case appeal statement, docketing statement, a transcript request form, and a fast track opening brief for the case identifying the appellate issues that are raised. An appellant and/or cross-appellant who is proceeding without counsel need not prepare a case appeal statement, as the district court clerk will prepare this document in accordance with Rule 3(f)(2).(c)Transcripts.(1)Rough Draft Transcript; Format. For the purposes of this Rule, a rough draft transcript is a computer-generated transcript that can be expeditiously prepared, but is not proofread, corrected, or certified to be an accurate transcript. A rough draft transcript must:(A) be printed on paper 8 1/2 by 11 inches in size with the words "Rough Draft Transcript" printed on the bottom of each page;(B) include a concordance, indexing key words in the transcript; and(C) include an acknowledgment by the court reporter or recorder that the document submitted pursuant to this Rule is an original or accurate copy of the rough draft transcript.(2)Audio or Video Recorded Proceedings. Relevant portions of the district court proceedings that were audio recorded or video recorded must be submitted in typewritten form. The court will not accept audio or video recordings in lieu of a rough draft transcript.(3)Transcript Requests.(A)Filing and Service.(i) When a transcript is necessary for an appeal, the appellant must file the transcript or rough draft transcript request form with the district court and must serve a copy of the request form upon the court reporter or recorder and the opposing party.(ii) The appellant must file and serve the request form within 14 days of the date that the Supreme Court approves the settlement conference report indicating that the parties were unable to settle or, if the case was exempted or removed from the settlement program, within 14 days of the date that the case was exempted or removed from the settlement program.(iii) Within the same time period, the appellant must file with the clerk of the Supreme Court 1 file-stamped copy of the transcript or rough draft transcript request form and proof of service of the form upon the court reporter or recorder and the opposing party.(B)Form. The transcript request form must substantially comply with the Rough Draft Transcript Request Form or the Certified Transcript Request Form on the Nevada Supreme Court website.(C)Necessary Transcripts. The appellant must order transcripts of only those portions of the proceedings that the appellant reasonably and in good faith believes are necessary to determine the appellate issues.(D)No Transcripts. If no transcript is to be requested, the appellant must file with the clerk of the Supreme Court and serve the opposing party with a certificate to that effect within the same period that the transcript request form must be filed and served under Rule 3E(c)(3)(A)(ii). Such a certificate must substantially comply with the Certificate of No Transcript Request Form on the Nevada Supreme Court website.(4)Court Reporter or Recorder's Duty. The court reporter or recorder must: (A) submit an original certified transcript or rough draft transcript, as requested by the appellant, to the district court no more than 21 days after the date that the request is served;(B) deliver one copy of the transcript or rough draft transcript to the requesting attorney and one copy of the transcript or rough draft transcript to counsel for each party appearing separately no more than 21 days after the date when the request is served; and(C) within 7 days after delivering the copies of the transcript or rough draft transcript, file with the clerk a certificate of delivery that substantially complies with the Notice of Completion and Delivery of Transcript Form on the Nevada Supreme Court website and specifies the transcripts that have been delivered and the date that they were delivered to the requesting party.(5)Supplemental Request for Transcripts or Rough Draft Transcripts.(A) An opposing party may make a supplemental request for portions of the transcript or rough draft transcript that were not previously requested. The request must be made no more than 7 days after the appellant served the transcript request made pursuant to Rule 3E(c)(3).(B) In all other respects, the opposing party must comply with the provisions of this Rule governing a transcript or rough draft transcript request when making a supplemental transcript request.(6)Sufficiency of the Rough Draft Transcript. In the event that the appellant elects to use rough draft transcripts, the appellant is responsible for reviewing the sufficiency of the rough draft transcripts. If a substantial question arises regarding the sufficiency of a rough draft transcript, a party may file a motion and the court may order that a certified transcript be produced.(7)Transmission of Transcripts. Parties represented by counsel must include copies of all transcripts that are necessary to the review of the issues presented on appeal in the appendix as provided in Rule 30. Pro se parties who have not been granted in forma pauperis status must file a copy of each requested transcript with the clerk of the Supreme Court within 14 days of receipt of the transcript from the court reporter or court recorder.(d)Filing Fast Track Opening Brief, Appendix, and Fast Track Reply Brief.(1)Fast Track Opening Brief. Within 60 days after the Supreme Court approves the settlement conference report indicating that the parties were unable to settle the case or, if the appeal is removed or exempted from the settlement program, within 60 days after the appeal is removed or exempted, the appellant and cross-appellant must file and serve, pursuant to Rule 25, their fast track opening brief on the opposing party. The fast track opening brief must substantially comply with Rule 28(a), except that it need not include a table of contents or table of authorities if the brief is no more than 20 pages or 9,334 words or, if it uses a monospaced typeface, no more than 866 lines of text, and with Rules 28(e) and 32.(2)Appendix.(A)Joint Appendix. Counsel have a duty to confer and attempt to reach an agreement concerning a possible joint appendix to be filed with the fast track opening brief.(B)Appellant's Appendix. In the absence of an agreement respecting a joint appendix, the appellant must prepare and file a separate appendix with the fast track opening brief.(C)Form and Content. The form and contents of appendices must comply with Rules 30 and 32.(D)Pro Se Appellant; Appendix. A pro se appellant or cross-appellant may not file an appendix. If the court's review of the record is necessary in such a case, the court may direct that a partial or complete record be transmitted as provided in Rule 11(a)(2). Pro se parties are encouraged, but not required, to support assertions made in the fast track opening brief or answering brief regarding matters in the record by citing to the specific page number in the record that supports the assertions.(3)Fast Track Reply Brief. The appellant may file and serve, pursuant to Rule 25, a reply to the fast track answering brief within 14 days after the fast track answering brief is served. The reply must comply with Rule 28(c), except that it need not include a table of contents if the brief is no more than 10 pages or 4,667 words or, if it uses a monospaced typeface, no more than 433 lines of text, and with Rules 28(e) and 32.(e)Fast Track Answering Brief and Appendix.(1)Fast Track Answering Brief. Within 21 days from the date a fast track opening brief is served, the respondent and cross-respondent must file and serve their fast track answering brief on the opposing party pursuant to Rule 25. The fast track answering brief must substantially comply with Rule 28(b), except that it need not include a table of contents or table of authorities if the brief is no more than 20 pages or 9,334 words or, if it uses a monospaced typeface, no more than 866 lines of text, and with Rules 28(e) and 32.(2)Appendix.(A)Joint Appendix. Counsel have a duty to confer and attempt to reach an agreement concerning a possible joint appendix.(B)Respondent's Appendix. In the absence of an agreement respecting a joint appendix, the respondent must file and serve a respondent's appendix with the fast track answering brief unless the respondent is pro se.(C)Form and Contents. The form and contents of appendices must comply with Rules 30 and 32.(f)Expanded Fast Track Opening Brief, Answering Brief, or Reply Brief. When a case presents complex issues, a party may seek leave of the court to expand the length of the fast track opening brief, answering brief, or reply brief pursuant to Rule 32(a)(7)(D).(g)Extensions of Time.(1)Preparation of Transcripts or Rough Draft Transcripts.(A)Seven-Day Telephonic Extension. A court reporter or recorder may request, by telephone, a 7-day extension of time for the preparation of a transcript or rough draft transcript if such preparation requires more time than is allowed under this Rule. If good cause is shown, the clerk or a designated deputy may grant the request by telephone or by written order of the clerk.(B)Additional Extensions by Motion. Subsequent extensions of time for filing transcripts or rough draft transcripts will be granted only upon motion to the court. The motion must justify the requested extension in light of the time limits provided in this Rule, and must specify the exact length of the extension requested. Extensions of time for the filing of transcripts or rough draft transcripts will be granted only upon demonstration of good cause. Sanctions may be imposed if a motion is brought without reasonable grounds.(2)Case Appeal Statements; Docketing Statements; Fast Track Opening Briefs, Answering Briefs, or Reply Briefs.(A)Seven-Day Telephonic Extension. Either party may request, by telephone, a 7-day extension of time for filing a case appeal statement, docketing statement, fast track opening brief, answering brief, or reply brief and related documents. If good cause is shown, the clerk may grant the request by telephone or by written order of the clerk.(B) Extensions of Time Due to Transcript Unavailability. When an extension of time has been granted to a court reporter or recorder under this Rule, the court will extend the time for filing the brief to 21 days after the date set for the transcript to be filed.(C)Additional Extensions by Motion. Subsequent extensions of time for filing fast track briefs will be granted only upon motion to the court. The motion must justify the requested extension in light of the time limits provided in this Rule and must specify the exact length of the extension requested. Extensions of time under this provision will be granted only upon demonstration of extreme need or merit. Sanctions may be imposed if a motion is brought without reasonable grounds.(h)Amendments to Briefs. Leave to amend fast track briefs will be granted only upon motion to the court. A motion to amend must justify the absence of the offered arguments in the party's initial brief. The motion will be granted only upon demonstration of good cause.(i)Withdrawal of Appeal. If an appellant no longer desires to pursue an appeal after the notice of appeal is filed, the appellant must file with the clerk of the Supreme Court a notice of withdrawal of appeal.(j)Appeal Disposition or Calendaring.(1) Based solely upon review of the transcripts or rough draft transcripts, fast track opening brief, fast track answering brief, reply brief, and any other documents filed with the court, the court may resolve the matter.(2) A party may seek leave of the court to remove an appeal from the fast track program and extend deadlines. The motion must demonstrate that the specific issues raised in the appeal are complex and/or too numerous for resolution in the fast track program or that the orders pertaining to child custody, guardianship of minors, parenting time, or visitation are not a primary issue on appeal.(3) If the court removes an appeal from the fast track program, the parties are not required to file transcript request forms pursuant to Rule 9(a) unless otherwise ordered. If a party's brief cites to a transcript not previously filed in the court, that party must cause a supplemental transcript to be prepared and filed in the district court and the appellate court under Rule 9 within the time specified for filing the brief in the court's briefing order. If a represented party's brief cites to documents not previously filed in the court, that party must file and serve an appropriately documented supplemental appendix with the brief. In accordance with Rule 30(i), pro se parties must not file an appendix, but when the court's review of the record is necessary in a pro se appeal, the court may direct that the complete record be transmitted as provided in Rule 11(a)(2).(4) If the court does not remove an appeal from the fast track program, the court will attempt to dispose of all fast track child custody appeals within 90 days of the date the case is transferred to the Court of Appeals. If a fast track child custody appeal is retained by the Supreme Court, the court will attempt to dispose of it within 90 days of the date the case is submitted for a decision.(k)Court Reporter or Recorder Protection and Compensation.(1) Liability. Court reporters or recorders are not subject to civil, criminal, or administrative causes of action for inaccuracies in a rough draft transcript unless:(A) the court reporter or recorder willfully fails to take full and accurate stenographic notes of the proceeding for which the rough draft transcript is submitted, or willfully and improperly alters stenographic notes from the proceeding, or willfully transcribes audio or video recordings inaccurately; and(B) such willful conduct proximately causes injury or damage to a party, and that party demonstrates that appellate relief was likely granted or denied based upon the court reporter's or recorder's inaccuracies.(2)Compensation. Court reporters must be compensated as follows: (A) For preparing a transcript or rough draft transcript, the court reporter must receive 100 percent of the rate established by NRS 3.370 for each transcript page and for costs. A party ordering transcripts or copies must pay the court reporter's fee. No reporter may be required to perform any service in a civil case until the fees have been paid to the court reporter or deposited with the court clerk.(B) In the event that a certified transcript is ordered after the rough draft transcript is prepared, the court reporter must receive an additional fee as established by NRS 3.370.(l)Sanctions. Any party, attorney, court reporter, or court recorder who lacks due diligence in compliance with this Rule may be subject to sanctions by the court. Sanctionable actions include, but are not limited to, failure of the appellant to timely file a fast track opening brief or the respondent's failure to file a fast track answering brief.(m)Conflict. The provisions of this Rule must prevail over conflicting provisions of any other Rule.Added; effective 6/1/2006; as amended 10/1/2015; amended effective 3/1/2019; amended effective 1/22/2021; amended effective 8/15/2024.