Handling Accident

You cause a car accident and get sued. Now what? Part of having car insurance means your insurance company has to hire a lawyer to defend you in lawsuits. What happens if your insurance company thinks you didn’t have coverage for the acts alleged against you? Your insurance company can write a “reservation of rights” letter, saying that they will hire a lawyer to represent you. But if it turns out that you acted intentionally or did something else that is “excluded” under your policy, your insurance company will not have to pay any damages. This issue came up after a rowdy house party in Las Vegas. See State Farm Mutual Insurance Company v. Hansen, 131 Nev.Ad.Op. 74 (2015). In the Hansen case, Stephen Hansen went to a house party. When things got out of control, Stephen tried to leave. To keep Stephen and the fight going, some of the party guests tried to prevent Stephen from leaving the party. Eventually Stephen drove off. But, as luck would have it, the party was in a gated communi...

Sometimes after an accident, you don’t have the money to rent a replacement car while your car is getting repaired. Also, if your car is “total loss” and you are waiting weeks for the insurance company to pay for the loss of your car, you might have the funds to pay for a rental. In both scenarios, if you did not receive a rental car, you can ask for “loss of use” damages, for not being able to use your car. If your car was fixed, but sustained extensive damages, you can also ask for “diminished value” damages to your car.  The Nevada Supreme Court has said that a party is entitled to have the jury consider her “loss of use damages.” See Dugan v. Gotsopoulos, 117 Nev. 285, 289, 22 P.3d 205, 208 (2001).  In Dugan, our high court held, that the lower court’s refusal to permit a party to testify as to rental car costs and its refusal to permit the jury to consider loss of use damages, was reversible error. Id. Moreover, courts have permitted the party to testify about rental car ...

What do swarming bees and Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyer cases have to do with each other? Surprising, a lot. What happens if you rear end someone in a Las Vegas car accident and need a Lawyer, but you claim something else caused the accident? In an interesting case from the Las Vegas, Nevada High Court, a jury could find that you were not at fault for the accident, if circumstances beyond your control caused you to lose control of your car.  For the full case, see Frazier v. Drake, 131 Nev.Ad.Opp. 67 (Sept. 3, 2015). In the Frazier case, a concrete truck driver was driving down the road in North Las Vegas. While he was driving, he claimed a swarm of bees entered the cab of his truck and one landed on his eye. The driver argued that while trying to get a bee out of his eye, he was unable to stop for a red light. As a result of fending off the attacking bees, his concrete truck crashed into two unsuspecting victims, who were stopped at the approaching red light. The truck driver...

Health insurance may affect your personal injury case in ways that you may have not considered. Nowadays almost everyone has health insurance, since it is required by law. However, if your health insurance paid for some of your accident related medical treatment, it is entitled to get paid back for that advance payment. What does this mean? If you settle your personal injury claim, your health insurance gets paid off the top before anyone else gets paid, including you.   Not only is your personal injury attorney required to pay your health insurance for your accident related medical treatment, the health insurance company must be paid first, before anything else is paid. There are a few legal issues that come into play, which are set forth here: The “common fund” doctrine is an equitable doctrine that arises where a litigant or a lawyer who recovers a common fund for the benefit of persons other than himself or his client is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fee from the fund as ...

It may come as a surprise to many, but conversations that you have with your lawyer may not always be protected under the attorney-client privilege. When can this come up in your personal injury case? Two times. The first time is when you are giving your deposition. The second time is at the time of trial. Both times happen when you are providing testimony to the other side concerning your case. We are all familiar with a person getting on the witness stand at the time of trial. However, you may not be familiar with the deposition process. A deposition is simply a question and answer session concerning your case. The testimony you give during a deposition is similar to what you would do at the time of trial, in that you swear an oath to tell the truth. However, what you say at your deposition can be used against you at trial.  A deposition generally takes place in a more relaxed setting than a courtroom. A deposition is usually scheduled in the conference room of the opposing part...

Today is the four year anniversary of driverless cars being allowed on Nevada roadways. During the 2011 legislative session, the Nevada State Legislature enacted Chapter 482A, entitled “Autonomous Vehicles”, allowing for driverless vehicles to hit the roads in Nevada. These laws went into effect on March 1, 2012. Nevada was the first state to allow driverless cars to apply for their own drivers' licenses. However, the DMV currently only allows test cars on the road. So, autonomous vehicles are not currently available to consumers. To make sure safety comes first, Nevada requires two trained drivers to be in every car, one of them in the front seat prepared to take control of the car should an emergency arise. To get the green light to drive on Nevada roadways, companies also have prove that one or more of their automated cars have been driven for at least 10,000 miles.  How can you tell if you are driving next to an automated car? Driverless cars have a red Nevada license plate, wi...

With the passage of the Affordable Health Care Act, almost everyone can get health insurance now. However, if you have been in a car accident and have health insurance, there are some things to keep in mind. First, you should know that if you are taken to the hospital after an accident, there may three separate bills related to your accident treatment:     •    Ambulance bill;     •    Hospital Bill; and     •    Doctor at the Hospital (Doctors are usually not employees of hospitals. As a result, they send out a separate bill, over and above what the hospital charged you. This usually comes as a shock to most people.) In most cases, your health insurance company will pay for your emergency, car accident related, medical bills. However, your health insurance company may ask that you pay the health insurance company back. They will ask you to pay them back out of the settlement proceeds from your pe...

After being involved in a serious accident or injury event, many people continue to feel anxiety or fear. If you have been through a traumatic injury or witnessed a fatality in a car accident, these feelings are common. This is called post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD for short. If you are wondering if you could be suffering from PTSD after a serious accident or injury, here is some information to guide you:   PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD can present itself through continued feelings of Anxiety, Stress, or Fear, that simply will not go away. These symptoms are one of the most common reactions to a traumatic event. At the time of the event, you may have an overwhelming experience of fear-- of being physically injured or even of being killed. This can and oftentimes does carryover after the trauma has stopped. Common symptoms of PTSD include:     •    Being afraid to go anywhere where a similar event can take place.     ...

Southern Nevada is a wonderful place to live. Given our sunny days, it is home to many children and adults riding bicycles on our roadways. However, according to ThinkFirstNevada.org: • In the year 2000, 690 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles. • In that same year, 51,000 bicyclists were injured in traffic-related crashes. • More than 373,000 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries in the year 2000. Bicyclists are vulnerable to severe injuries when they are involved in accidents . Today’s discussion is on the rights and responsibilities of both car drivers and bicyclists. The rules governing bicyclists on our roadways, are set forth in Nevada Revised Statutes (“NRS”) 484B, entitled “Rules of the Road”.  The relevant sections of NRS 484B are set forth here:    NRS 484B.270  Vehicles, bicycles and electric bicycles: Driver’s duty of due care; additional penalty if driver is proximate cause of collision with person ridin...

What happens in a Court case, when the other side wants to introduce irrelevant evidence into a trial? Your accident attorney will file what is called a “Motion in Limine”. In a Motion in Limine, your attorney will outline every irrelevant fact or argument the other side may make at trial, and ask the Court to rule, before the trial starts, to not allow this irrelevant evidence into the trial. Examples could be prior unrelated accidents, criminal arrests and improper arguments to the jury.   The applicable Nevada state law on this issue is Nevada Revised Statute (“NRS”)48.035. NRS 48.035(2) states that “[a]lthough relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.” When preparing a Motion in Limine, NRS 48.035 is often cited.   Motions in Limine are designed to see...

In Las Vegas accident and injury cases, there are two types of settlement offers. One is generally used before a lawsuit is commenced. These are just regular offers to settle your personal injury case and are simple offers, where you can accept, reject or submit a counter settlement offer. However, after a lawsuit has been filed, a regular offer of settlement can be transformed into a more formal settlement offer. These formal offers of settlement are called “Offers of Judgment”.  Offers of Judgment must be submitted to the other side in writing and at least 10 days prior to trial. What makes an Offer of Judgment different from a regular offer, is the legal effect if the Offer of Judgment is rejected. There are legal penalties if Offer of Judgment is rejected and it turns out after a trial that it would have been a better financial decision to accept the Offer of Judgment. The trial court has discretion to award attorney’s fees and costs incurred by the party who submitted the Of...

When you are involved in a car accident in Las Vegas, you may have missed work and lost income due to the injuries you sustained in the accident.  Sometimes people think that they can just tell the at-fault party’s insurance company the amount of their lost wages. However, the insurance company will not accept this self-reporting of lost income. Instead, the insurance companies require written documentation of any lost wages sustained by an injured person. The best evidence of lost wages comes from your own human resources department. First, you need your employer’s human resources department to draft a letter on your employer’s letterhead regarding your lost wages. Secondly, this company letter should have your hourly rate of pay, together with the number of hours of work you lost, due to the accident. It is important that your doctor has given you an ‘off work’ slip, which you took to your employer, documenting that you were under doctor’s orders not to work, during the period of...

A little known fact in Nevada, is that when an injured party lives out of state, the at-fault party is allowed to make a demand for “security costs” in Las Vegas personal injury cases. There is no similar law for Nevada residents. The law allowing this is NRS 18.130 and provides in full: NRS 18.130  When plaintiff may be required to secure costs; affidavits of sureties; dismissal of action if undertaking not filed.       1.  When a plaintiff in an action resides out of the State, or is a foreign corporation, security for the costs and charges which may be awarded against such plaintiff may be required by the defendant, by the filing and service on plaintiff of a written demand therefor within the time limited for answering the complaint. When so required, all proceedings in the action shall be stayed until an undertaking, executed by two or more persons, be filed with the clerk, to the effect that they will pay such costs and charges as may be awarded against th...

We have all experienced taking a trip or doing an activity, where you are required to sign a waiver before participating in the activity. Normally, we sign the waivers because we do not think anything bad will actually happen. But, what happens if you are injured in an activity after you sign a waiver? Whether the waiver will bar you from making a claim will depending on the unique facts of your case. It will be up to the judge in your case, to determine if you can present your personal injury case to a jury.  Historically, in Nevada there first must have been voluntary exposure to the danger. Sierra Pacific v. Anderson, 77 Nev. 68, at 71-73, 358 P.2d 892, at 894 (1961). Second, there must have been actual knowledge of the risk assumed. The Nevada High Court previously stated that “A risk can be said to have been voluntarily assumed by a person only if it was known to him and he fully appreciated the danger.” Id. , quoting Papagni v. Purdue, 74 Nev. 32, 35, 321 P.2d 252, 253 (195...

Whether someone is here in the United States legally or not, is not admissible evidence in a Las Vegas personal injury action. So, whether someone is here on vacation from another county or has outstayed their visa, they both can recover if they were injured while in Las Vegas, through no fault of their own. For those wanting to look at specific cases, a New York court held that a plaintiff's immigration status was properly excluded in a case involving a construction worker who fell two stories through an improperly covered hole in the roof of the defendant's construction project. Angamarca v. New York City Partnership Housing, 2011 NY Slip Op. 5361, 2011 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5251 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. June 21, 2011).  However, if someone is from another country and they have sustained lost wages, then their immigration status may be relevant for the limited purpose of their wage loss claim. The reason for this is because the law states that a wage loss claim for a non-U.S. citizen ...

A common question your personal injury attorney gets asked, is what happens after a case is successfully exempted from Nevada’s arbitration program? Today’s blog sheds light on the start of the general litigation process and what clients can expect during this process.   Once a case is successfully taken out of Nevada’s mandatory arbitration program (which is designed for smaller personal injury cases), then the larger, non-arbitration cases, must comply with the strict requirements of the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure. The first thing that happens, is that your injury attorney and the attorney for the at-fault party, will schedule a meeting to discuss the case in person and develop a timetable for discovery (discovery = the exchange of documents and witness lists). This meeting is called the “Early Case Conference”.  After the Early Case Conference is held, the attorneys will prepare what is called a “Joint Case Conference Report.” This report outlines the attorney’s time...

The law governing how to file an exemption from the Nevada’s mandated arbitration program, is set forth in the Nevada Arbitration Rules (“NAR”), Rules 3 and 5. In personal injury cases, if your case has a case value of $50,000 or more, then your injury attorney will file a petition for exemption from arbitration (“petition”). This is done so your case is funneled into southern Nevada’s regular litigation channels and where there is no cap on the amount of damages that you can claim.  This petition must be prepared and filed within 20 days after the at-fault party files its answer to the complaint (aka your initial lawsuit paperwork). The petition will included a brief summary of the accident and your injuries, together with a quick synopsis of your medical treatment and the amount of your medical bills.   Your injury attorney will have to set forth in the petition that your case fits into one of the categories for exemption. Once the petition is signed and filed by your...

You were involved in a car accident . You called the police, but since you aren’t bleeding on the roadway, they won’t come to the accident scene. What should you do after the car accident, while you are still at the accident scene? If you were involved in an auto accident and the police have declined to respond to the accident scene, there are few steps you can take to document the accident.   Step 1 Exchange Information.  After an accident, ask the other driver for their insurance information. They are required by law to have it with them at all times while they are driving on the Las Vegas roadways.   Step 2 Witnesses.  Sometimes, the word of a disinterested witness can decide your case. If there were any witnesses to the car accident, get their names and contact information. Only you can get this information. Ask them for their cel phone number and email as well as their home address and where they work. People tend to move or change phone numbers. So, if you hav...

When your personal injury attorney files a lawsuit in Las Vegas, she has to file what is called a “Complaint”. A Complaint is the actual document that starts a lawsuit. If the insurance company will not settle your case for a reasonable amount, then your personal injury lawyer will file a Complaint on your behalf. It is important to note that Nevada is what is called a “Notice Pleading Jurisdiction”. A ‘pleading’ is any written court document. ‘Jurisdiction’ is what gives the court authority to hear the case. In personal injury cases, jurisdiction is generally determined by physical location (city, county, etc.) and what is in controversy (monetary amount). Although Las Vegas has many courts (please see previous postings for a discussion), most injury cases will be filed in District Court. Our District Court hears injury cases that are valued at over $10,000.00.  Las Vegas is located within Clark County, Nevada. As such, if you case is valued over $10,000.00, then your Complaint ...

Being involved in an accident presents a lot of challenges. But, if you are on Medicare then that is another issue that must be addressed after your accident. However, it is important to note that your personal injury lawyer will handle that aspect of your case for you. When you come in for your initial visit, your accident lawyer will have you sign a Medicare form, to determine whether you are currently on Medicare. If you are not on Medicare, you will simply sign the form, indicating that you are not on Medicare. But, if you are on Medicare, then you will be required to provide your Medicare number. The reason this is done, is due to the fact that the at-fault party’s insurance company will require this before any settlement funds can be distributed.   Your injury attorney will want to make sure the end of your case goes as smoothly as the beginning case. As such, your efficient accident lawyer will want you to sign this form at the start of your case. Your attorney will th...