CONTEMPTS

Nev. Rev. Stat. 22

in effect

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.010 Acts or omissions constituting contempts.

The following acts or omissions shall be deemed contempts: 1. Disorderly, contemptuous or insolent behavior toward the judge while the judge is holding court, or engaged in judicial duties at chambers, or toward masters or arbitrators while sitting on a reference or arbitration, or other judicial proceeding. 2. A breach of the peace, boisterous conduct or violent disturbance in the presence of the court, or in its immediate vicinity, tending to interrupt the due course of the trial or other judicial proceeding. 3. Disobedience or resistance to any lawful writ, order, rule or process issued by the court or judge at chambers. 4. Disobedience of a subpoena duly served, or refusing to be sworn or answer as a witness. 5. Rescuing any person or property in the custody of an officer by virtue of an order or process of such court or judge at chambers. 6. Disobedience of the order or direction of the court made pending the trial of an action, in speaking to or in the presence of a juror concerning an action in which the juror has been impaneled to determine, or in any manner approaching or interfering with such juror with the intent to influence the verdict. 7. Abusing the process or proceedings of the court or falsely pretending to act under the authority of an order or process of the court.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.020 Reentry on real property after ejectment by judgment or process.

Every person dispossessed of or ejected from any real property by the judgment or process of any court of competent jurisdiction, and who, not having a right so to do, reenters into or upon or takes possession of any such real property, or induces or procures any person not having a right so to do, or aids or abets the person therein, is guilty of a contempt of the court by which such judgment was rendered or from which such process issued, and shall be tried and punished therefor in the same manner and form as provided by law in cases of contempt not committed in the presence of the court or justice of the peace. Upon conviction for such contempt, the court or justice of the peace shall immediately issue an alias process directing the proper officer to restore possession to the party entitled to the property under the original judgment, decree or process.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.030 Summary punishment of contempt committed in immediate view and presence of court; affidavit or statement to be filed when contempt committed outside immediate view and presence of court; disqualification of judge.

1. If a contempt is committed in the immediate view and presence of the court or judge at chambers, the contempt may be punished summarily. If the court or judge summarily punishes a person for a contempt pursuant to this subsection, the court or judge shall enter an order that: (a) Recites the facts constituting the contempt in the immediate view and presence of the court or judge; (b) Finds the person guilty of the contempt; and (c) Prescribes the punishment for the contempt. 2. If a contempt is not committed in the immediate view and presence of the court or judge at chambers, an affidavit must be presented to the court or judge of the facts constituting the contempt, or a statement of the facts by the masters or arbitrators. 3. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, if a contempt is not committed in the immediate view and presence of the court, the judge of the court in whose contempt the person is alleged to be shall not preside at the trial of the contempt over the objection of the person. The provisions of this subsection do not apply in: (a) Any case where a final judgment or decree of the court is drawn in question and such judgment or decree was entered in such court by a predecessor judge thereof 10 years or more preceding the bringing of contempt proceedings for the violation of the judgment or decree. (b) Any proceeding described in subsection 1 of NRS 3.223 , whether or not a family court has been established in the judicial district.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.040 Issuance of warrants of attachment and commitment.

When the contempt is not committed in the immediate view and presence of the court or judge, a warrant of attachment may be issued to bring the person charged to answer, or, without a previous arrest, a warrant of commitment may, upon notice, or upon an order to show cause, be granted; and no warrant of commitment shall be issued without such previous attachment to answer, or such notice or order to show cause.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.050 Amount of bail may be fixed by endorsement on warrant of attachment.

Whenever a warrant of attachment is issued pursuant to this chapter, the court or judge shall direct, by an endorsement on such warrant, that the person charged may be let to bail for his or her appearance, in an amount to be specified in such endorsement.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.060 Duties of sheriff.

Upon executing the warrant of attachment, the sheriff shall keep the person in custody, bring the person before the court or judge, and detain the person until an order be made in the premises, unless the person arrested entitle himself or herself to be discharged, as provided in NRS 22.070.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.070 Discharge from arrest on furnishing bail; form and conditions of bond.

When a direction to let the person arrested to bail is contained in the warrant of attachment, or endorsed thereon, the person arrested shall be discharged from the arrest upon executing and delivering to the officer, at any time before the return day of the warrant, a written undertaking, with two sufficient sureties, to the effect that the person arrested will appear on the return of the warrant and abide the order of the court or judge thereupon, or they will pay as may be directed the sum specified in the warrant.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.080 Return of warrant and undertaking by officer.

The officer shall return the warrant of arrest and the undertaking, if any, received by the officer from the person arrested, by the return day specified therein.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.090 Trial; court to hear answer and witnesses; adjournment.

When the person arrested has been brought up or appeared, the court or judge shall proceed to investigate the charge, and shall hear any answer which the person arrested shall make to the same, and may examine witnesses for or against the person arrested, for which an adjournment may be had from time to time if necessary.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.100 Penalty for contempt.

1. Upon the answer and evidence taken, the court or judge or jury, as the case may be, shall determine whether the person proceeded against is guilty of the contempt charged. 2. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 22.110 , if a person is found guilty of contempt, a fine may be imposed on the person not exceeding $500 or the person may be imprisoned not exceeding 25 days, or both. 3. In addition to the penalties provided in subsection 2, if a person is found guilty of contempt pursuant to subsection 3 of NRS 22.010 , the court may require the person to pay to the party seeking to enforce the writ, order, rule or process the reasonable expenses, including, without limitation, attorneys fees, incurred by the party as a result of the contempt.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.110 Imprisonment until performance if contempt is omission to perform an act; penalty for failure or refusal to testify before grand jury.

1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, when the contempt consists in the omission to perform an act which is yet in the power of the person to perform, the person may be imprisoned until the person performs it. The required act must be specified in the warrant of commitment. 2. A person so imprisoned as a result of his or her failure or refusal to testify before a grand jury may be imprisoned in the county jail for a period not to exceed 6 months or until that grand jury is discharged, whichever is less.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.120 Indictment for contemptuous conduct.

Persons proceeded against according to the provisions of this chapter shall also be liable to indictment for the same misconduct, if it be an indictable offense, but the court before which a conviction is had on an indictment, in passing sentence, shall take into consideration the punishment before inflicted.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.130 Proceedings when defendant does not appear; measure of damages in action on undertaking.

When the warrant of arrest has been returned served, if the person arrested does not appear on the return day, the court or judge may issue another warrant of arrest, or may order the undertaking to be prosecuted, or both. If the undertaking be prosecuted, the measure of damages in the action shall be the extent of the loss or injury sustained by the aggrieved party by reason of the misconduct for which the warrant was issued, and the costs of the proceeding.

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 22.140 Excuses for not bringing arrested person before court; persons not to be unnecessarily restrained.

Whenever, by the provisions of this chapter, an officer is required to keep a person arrested on a warrant of attachment in custody, and to bring the person before a court or judge, the inability, from illness or otherwise, of the person to attend shall be a sufficient excuse for not bringing the person up; and the officer shall not confine a person arrested upon the warrant in a prison, or otherwise restrain him or her of personal liberty, except so far as may be necessary to secure his or her personal attendance.

Source: NV Statutes (Official Site)URL: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/NRS-022.htmlFetched: 10/4/2026