2 running for open seat in Family Court Dept. T
Las Vegas attorneys Jason Stoffel and Nadin Cutter are going head-to-head for the Family Court Department T seat.
In June, Stoffel won the primary with 46.20 percent of the vote to Cutter’s 32.37 percent.
In a debate hosted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Stoffel and Cutter made sure to try to one-up each other.
Although Stoffel has three more years on the job than Cutter, she says she has handled 26 percent more cases in her career than him.
Both attorneys have courted controversy in the past, however.
In 2014, Stoffel threatened to sue the Las Vegas Review-Journal after a columnist criticized one of his friends in an organization called Veterans In Politics.
He responded by saying he is no longer friends with that person and that it was a mistake influenced by the people he was around at the time.
“There’s things we’ve done in life that we regret, and that’s one of my regrets,” he said.
The State Bar of Nevada publicly reprimanded Cutter in 2017, for failing to adequately review a court docket and not being familiar with rules, and for failing to send monthly billing statements to a client which resulted in financial hardship.
“I think one of the most important things for being a judge is having humility,” she said. “I think learning and experiencing something difficult like that actually makes me a better judicial candidate, because it makes me take those rules more seriously, makes me understand them better… I own my mistake.”
Stoffel who previously ran for Family Court Judge in 2014, said he has learned more, handled more cases and “doubled” his experience.
Cutter said if she’s elected she will work on pre-trial problem solving, stating that “the more that can be accomplished before going to trial, the happier those people are.”
Stoffel said he would work on the family court’s efficiency if elected. He has a case that started on April 26, 2018, was in trial for 18 days and has waited 2.5 years for a final decision. “It’s ridiculous” he says.
Cutter said she would keep an open mind at hearings and listen to oral arguments.
“My mind will be open, I will be listening,” she said. “I will be waiting to hear what I’m looking for in each of the parties, and most importantly I want to give everybody an opportunity to have a voice.”
On the other hand, Stoffel said he would have a view of the case primarily shaped by written arguments. He said believes in the quote, “I’ve read it, anything else?” uttered by Las Vegas judge Gerald Hardcastle.
Contact Jannelle Calderon at jcalderon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @NewsyJan on Twitter.