North Dakota Legal Overview: Fargo-Moorhead The Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area is defined by the Census Bureau as covering Cass County in North Dakota and Clay County in Minnesota. Cass County comes under the East Central Judicial District of North Dakota, which additionally serves Steele and Traill counties. Each of these three counties has a district court which acts as the main trial court with general jurisdiction. Municipal courts in the county seats and major cities have limited jurisdiction. Listed below are the main North Dakota cities and towns in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area.
Top North Dakota cities for Legal Issues: Fargo
1. The Cass County District Court located in the county courthouse in Fargo is the county’s main trial court. It has general jurisdiction over all criminal and civil cases filed in the county, including felony prosecutions, family law, juvenile cases, business disputes and personal injury lawsuits. The Fargo Municipal Court has limited jurisdiction over criminal and non-criminal city ordinance violations, including Class-B misdemeanors and traffic violations. The West Fargo Municipal Court similarly has limited jurisdiction over ordinance and traffic infractions that occur within city limits.
Trending Legal Topics: Appeals against trial court verdicts in North Dakota go straight to the North Dakota Supreme Court, located in the State Capitol in Bismarck, ND. Some cases are then assigned to a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals, which acts as an intermediate appellate court. Federal court cases for Cass County can be filed with the Fargo Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. Federal appeals coming from North Dakota are heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. |