Responding to a Nevada complaint: 21 days, or 45 for a public entity

Nevada rewrote its civil rules in 2019 to track the restyled federal rules closely, so the shape here is familiar: 21 days, a waiver-of-service bonus, and 14 days after a denied motion. The distinctively Nevadan part is the treatment of government defendants, who get 45 days measured from a date that may be later than the day they were served.

The deadline

NRCP 12(a)(1):

Unless another time is specified by Rule 4.2(c)(3)(E), this rule, or a statute, the time for serving a responsive pleading is as follows: (A) A defendant must serve an answer: (i) within 21 days after being served with the summons and complaint; or (ii) if the defendant has timely waived service under Rule 4.1, within 60 days after the request for a waiver was sent, or within 90 days after the request for a waiver was sent to the defendant outside of the United States. (B) A party must serve an answer to a counterclaim or crossclaim within 21 days after being served with the pleading that states the counterclaim or crossclaim. (C) A party must serve a reply to an answer within 21 days after being served with an order to reply, unless the order specifies a different time.

Three things.

The obligation is to serve, not to file.

Waiving service is worth 39 days. Sign and return the waiver and your period becomes 60 days from when the request was sent — not from when you returned it. That is a substantial extension in exchange for saving the plaintiff a process server, and it is usually the right trade for a defendant who intends to appear anyway.

Note what the 60 days runs from. The request being sent, not received and not returned. Time spent deciding whether to sign comes out of your own period.

Government defendants: 45 days

NRCP 12(a)(2):

Unless another time is specified by Rule 12(a)(3) or a statute, the following parties must serve an answer to a complaint, counterclaim, or crossclaim within 45 days after service on the party, or if required service on the Attorney General, whichever date of service is later: (A) the State and any public entity of the State; (B) any county, city, town or other political subdivision of the State, and any public entity of such a political subdivision.

Two features worth separating.

The list is broad. Not just the State — counties, cities, towns, other political subdivisions, and the public entities of each. School districts, water authorities and similar bodies generally fall inside it.

And the clock starts at the later of two dates. Where service on the Attorney General is required, the 45 days runs from whichever service came second. A plaintiff who serves the entity promptly and the Attorney General a month later has, in effect, given the defendant a month more.

For a plaintiff, that cuts the other way: serve everything at once, or you have extended your opponent's deadline for them.

Default

NRCP 55(a):

When a party against whom a judgment for affirmative relief is sought has failed to plead or otherwise defend, and that failure is shown by affidavit or otherwise, the clerk must enter the party's default.

Clerical, mandatory, and no notice required before entry.

NRCP 55(b)(1) — the clerk's judgment:

If the plaintiff's claim is for a sum certain or a sum that can be made certain by computation, the clerk—on the plaintiff's request, with an affidavit showing the amount due—must enter judgment for that amount and costs against a defendant who has been defaulted for not appearing and who is neither a minor nor an incapacitated person.

NRCP 55(b)(2) — everything else:

In all other cases, the party must apply to the court for a default judgment. A default judgment may be entered against a minor or incapacitated person only if represented by a general guardian, conservator, or other like fiduciary who has appeared. If the party against whom a default judgment is sought has appeared personally or by a representative, that party or its representative must be served with written notice of the application at least 7 days before the hearing.

The familiar lesson applies with full force in Nevada: appearing buys you notice. There is none before entry of default and none before a clerk's judgment on a sum certain. Seven days' written notice before a court's default judgment depends entirely on whether you appeared.

Answering, or moving

NRCP 12(b) carries the pre-answer defenses on the restyled federal model, and serving one alters the 21 days: 14 days after notice of an order denying the motion or postponing it to trial, and 14 days after service of a more definite statement.

Two points for the choice.

Consolidation and waiver track Rule 12(g) and (h). A defense available when you made your first motion and omitted from it is generally gone, except for the ones the rule preserves.

And conversion applies where matter outside the pleadings is presented on a failure-to-state-a-claim motion and the court does not exclude it. The motion becomes one for summary judgment under NRCP 56, with that rule's schedule.

How Nevada compares

A short checklist

1. Calendar 21 days from service, and note the obligation is to serve your answer.
2. If you were sent a request to waive service, do the arithmetic before you decide. Waiving gives you 60 days from the date the request was sent — usually the better deal.
3. If you are a public entity, county, city, town or political subdivision, you have 45 days, running from the later of service on you and any required service on the Attorney General.
4. A Rule 12 motion suspends the answer deadline, and a denial gives you 14 days from notice.
5. Raise your Rule 12 defenses together. Omitted ones that were available are generally foreclosed.
6. Appear. There is no notice before entry of default and none before a clerk's judgment on a sum certain. Seven days' notice before a court judgment depends on your appearance.
7. If a clerk entered judgment, check the affidavit — it has to show the amount due, and the claim has to be a sum certain or made certain by computation.

Where these rules live

• NRCP 4 — Summons and service
• NRCP 4.1 — Waiving service
• NRCP 5 — Serving and filing pleadings and other papers
• NRCP 6 — Computing and extending time; time for motion papers
• NRCP 8 — General rules of pleading
• NRCP 12 — Defenses and objections
• NRCP 15 — Amended and supplemental pleadings
• NRCP 55 — Default; default judgment
• NRCP 60 — Relief from a judgment or order

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and statutory notice requirements that apply before suing a Nevada public entity are outside what this page covers.