Reno court is still conducting evictions, giving tenants more time to respond

An order signed by Chief Justice of the Peace Ryan Sullivan in Reno has suspended default evictions but did not halt all eviction proceedings.

Under the order, tenants won't be automatically evicted if they don't reply to an eviction notice. Instead, tenants will be able to participate in a remote hearing prior to an eviction. Sullivan has suspended normal deadlines for such hearings to occur.

"The Court has a duty to follow the law as written, and it cannot simply ignore statutes that have put into law by the Nevada Legislature," Sullivan said in a written statement.  

Earlier this week, the Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers — which includes Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, Nevada Legal Services, Southern Nevada Senior Law Program, Volunteer Attorneys of Rural Nevada and Washoe Legal Services — sent a letter to the governor’s office.

The letter urged the governor to issue an emergency moratorium on evictions — a move that many other states have already made.

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