Handling Accident

Las Vegas is an exciting and wonderful city. We live in city that also attracts a lot of visitors. These visitors often rent cars. Given the amount of visitors we regularly have in our city, we have perhaps more rental cars on the road than other average cities. But, what happens when one of these car rental drivers causes an accident to one of our residents?  What is the car rental company’s liability in this scenario? There are two main statutes and three cases that have come out of the Nevada Supreme Court, that tell us what the rights and responsibilities are for rental car companies in these situations.   The first statute is NRS §482.295 . This statute requires car rental companies to have insurance before their rental cars hit the road. In these cases, car rental companies are called “lessors”, while the driver’s who rent these cars (via a short term lease), are called the “lessees”: NRS §482.295. Registration by short-term lessor: Proof of financial ability to respon...

Sometimes people make mistakes. Sometimes these mistakes result in criminal convictions. If a person has a criminal conviction and they are making personal injury claim, that criminal conviction may be brought up by the at-fault party during trial. The law on this is set forth in NRS §50.095.  NRS §50.095 provides in full:   NRS 50.095 Impeachment by evidence of conviction of crime.        1.  For the purpose of attacking the credibility of a witness, evidence that the witness has been convicted of a crime is admissible, but only if the crime was punishable by death or imprisonment for more than 1 year under the law under which the witness was convicted.         2.  Evidence of a conviction is inadmissible under this section if a period of more than 10 years has elapsed since:       (a) The date of the release of the witness from confinement; or       (b) The expiration of...

In today’s blog we will be discussing what happens if you loan your car out to a friend and they cause a car accident . Whether you are liable for the resulting damages or injuries they cause is determined on a case by case basis. If you loaned your car out to a friend, who had a perfect driving record and gave you no other cause for concern, you will likely not be held liable for the damages they cause.   However, if you knew your friend had been in multiple car accidents or was intoxicated when you gave them your keys, you will likely be held financially responsible for their actions. This type of liability, is called “negligent entrustment”.  It essentially means that you were negligent in giving someone else permission to drive your car.   To make a successful claim of negligent entrustment, the injured party must allege four elements. Those elements are (1) the owner of the car owed a duty of care to the injured party; (2) the car owner breached that duty of care to ...

Las Vegas has one of the highest accident rates in the western states. If you are a parent and your teenager is preparing to get their driver’s license, you may have more to be concerned about besides their safety on our roads. If you buy your teenager a car and are the legal owner of that car, special responsibilities come with that arrangement. In Nevada, as a parent owning a car that their teenager is involved in a car accident , means the parent can be held liable for any property damage or personal injuries that their minor child causes. This is called the “Family Purpose Doctrine” and is set forth in NRS 41.440: LIABILITY OF OWNER OF MOTOR VEHICLE FOR NEGLIGENT OPERATION BY IMMEDIATE MEMBER OF FAMILY NRS §41.440. Imposition of liability. Any liability imposed upon a wife, husband, son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister or other immediate member of a family arising out of his or her driving and operating a motor vehicle with the permission, express or implied, of such own...