Handling Accident

In a Las Vegas slip and fall case, a property owner is only liable for your injuries if there were on notice of the dangerous condition which caused your fall. Your Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney therefore has to prove that the owner was on “notice” of the dangerous condition. How is this done? The best way of showing this, is by finding evidence of prior similar falls. This evidence is required, because your Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyer has to show that the at fault party “knew or should have know” that what caused you to fall, was a known hazard. One would think that the property owner would simply turn this evidence over. However, in your Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney’s experience, the at fault parties fight tooth and nail before turning over any of this potentially damning evidence. What this means, is that your Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney has to fight in court, to get a copy of this evidence. The good news, is that your Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney has b...

There are three major decisions from the Nevada Supreme Court on the liability of rental car companies after a car crash. The story starts in 1998, in the case of Alamo v. State Farm, where the high court said the rental company has to provide statutory minimums of $15,000 per person/$30,000.00 per accident, in accident coverage. See Alamo v. State Farm, 114 Nev. 154, 953 P.2d 1074 (1998); See also NRS 482.295. Once the court is satisfied that the car rental company has the required insurance, the judge can dismiss the rental company from the lawsuit. See NRS 482.305. Your Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney will then continue the case against the at fault driver.  Less than two years after the Alamo case came out, the issue of car rental company liability was in front of the Nevada Supreme Court again in Salas v. Allstate Rent-A-Car . In Salas , the Court had to determine which insurance policy was first in line to pay for the injuries of an accident victim. The Court stated t...

Few things affect your Las Vegas Car Accident Attorney more than the automated cars. As you may recall from prior blogs, automated cars are now being tested on our Nevada roadways. Aside from minor accidents, there have been no real catastrophes involving automated cars. That all changed on May 7, 2016 for a driver in Florida. On May 7, 2016, Joshua Brown, a former Navy Seal, was driving his Tesla Model S in Florida, in the “semi-autonomous Autopilot system”, when he was killed in a fatal car crash. In piecing together the events leading up to the crash, investigators determined Mr. Brown wasn’t actually driving his car.  Moments before the crash, a big rig, made a left hand turn in front of Mr. Brown’s Tesla. The driver of the semi-truck, said when the accident happened, he could hear a movie playing. In an erie turn of events, even after Mr. Brown had died in the collision, the truck driver saw the Telsa drive down a quarter of mile before stopping due to hitting a light pole. I...

What is the best thing about the law? That it changes all the time. What is the worst thing about the law? That it changes all the time! If one thing can be said about the practice of law for your Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyer, is that she is always being challenged to keep up with the changes in the law. Today’s blog deals with the exciting new developments for personal injury cases in Las Vegas Justice Court.  In the past, Las Vegas Justice Court and it’s Small Claims counterpart, both had max awards limits of $10,000 per injured person. Starting on January 1, 2017, Las Vegas Justice Court will increase its jurisdictional limit from the present $10,000 to $15,000.   Small Claims Court will keep its trial award limits of $10,000. Your Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney will tell you that the benefit of Small Claims Court is that your case will go to trial generally within a few months of filing your lawsuit and trials generally last less than an hour. This is a quic...

When you hire a Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyer, your lawyer usually gets paid out of any settlement funds from your case. A recent case from the Nevada Supreme Court case came out with new guidelines for what your lawyer must do in certain cases to get paid. This happens when your medical bills are larger than your settlement amount and there is a dispute on how the settlement pie gets divided.  In the past, Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyers used to get paid first, before any medical providers, who may have treated you with a lien. However, since the law is constantly changing, this is not always the case anymore. Now, the law says a lawyer has to serve a “Notice” of their lien on the at fault party and their lawyers. As a client, you will sign and personally receive a copy of your lawyer’s lien. Then your lawyer must provide a copy of the lien to the at fault party, their insurance company and their lawyer.  Some people may ask, if someone has a lawyer, why serve the fault...

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...

A single social media post can ruin your personal injury case. Your credibility matters more than anything else when making a claim for personal injuries. In order to show your ongoing pain and suffering, there is usually not a continuing broken bone or bloody limb to which we can point. Instead, most of the time, people silently suffer with an aching back or chronic pain. So, your credibility is paramount in a personal injury case. It is the job of the insurance company’s attorney to attack your credibility. If you are claiming that as a result of the accident, you have daily back pain, yet you post a picture of yourself bowling with your friends and family, the defense attorney will argue that you are not in fact injured as you claim to be. Any social media post, taken out of context, can and will be used against you in your personal injury case. What the online bowling post doesn’t say, is that you paid dearly for the night of bowling and pizza with your family, with increased pain...

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 ...

A common question that comes up in my law practice is how a personal injury case is valued. There are many variables that go into a case valuation. Each of the main variables are discussed today. Medical Bills. Your medical bills make up the first part of how your case is valued. Any accident related treatment you have received would be considered past medical bills and figure into the analysis. Additionally, if you have any future medical costs that have been attested to by your doctor, then those future medical costs will be part of your case valuation.   Lost Income. The next part of the analysis is if you have sustained any lost wages or other monetary losses. So, if you were off work due to accident related surgery, then those losses would be considered part of your past monetary loses. There must be documentation of your past lost income, which may include a letter from your employer and your prior and current tax returns. In serious cases, if your ability to work has been al...

An Offer of Judgment is a special type settlement offer in a case where a lawsuit has been filed. What makes an Offer of Judgment different from a regular settlement offer will be discussed today. Offers of Judgment are governed by the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 68 and Nevada Revised Statute, Rule 17.115.  Both parties in a lawsuit can issue an Offer of Judgment. That means the injured party, as well as the at-fault party can issue an Offer of Judgment. In an Offer of Judgment, the party desiring to settle, issues a written settlement offer to the other side. If you are the injured party, you are basically saying to the other party, "this is how much I am willing to accept to resolve this lawsuit." If the at-fault party wants to settle, their Offer of Judgment says they will pay a certain amount to the injured party to resolve the lawsuit.   In both instances, if the party who writes an Offer of Judgment is able to obtain a more favorable award at trial, then they...

Clients sometimes ask what are the differences between mediation and arbitration. So, today we will discuss the similarities and contrasts between the two methods of alternative dispute resolution. Both are a means to resolve a civil legal dispute without the need to have a jury to decide your fate. Mediation is an informal process, where the parties meet with an independent third party, called the mediator. The mediator attempts to bring the parties together to resolve their disputes. By contrast, arbitration is a more formal process, akin to a mini trial, where the parties present evidence and an arbitrator renders a decision. Since arbitration is more formal, the arbitrator issues a formal written decision concerning his findings. In personal injury cases, such as car accidents and slip and falls, mediation and arbitration are regularly used by your personal injury attorney to resolve disputes. Since they are so common, each will be discussed more in depth. Mediation is something t...

No one wants to make a fuss after they have been injured in an accident, whether it is a car accident or a slip and fall accident. If you were in a slip and fall accident , you may have been embarrassed by falling in front of a group of strangers. In slip and fall cases, many times people’s legs slip out from under them, causing them to fall backwards. To make matters worse, they usually are falling on concrete or title, which is unforgiving to the head. Hitting your head in car accident cases also happens. Due to some impacts, your head may have been thrown to the side, causing you to hit your head on the car window. Also, in rollover car accidents, head trauma is known to happen. Well know examples of people having sustained head injuries, yet not seeking timely medical care, are Sonny Bono and Liam Neeson’s wife, Natasha Richardson. If you are injured in a car accident or related traumatic event, you need to seek immediate medical attention. The reason is twofold. First, if you are...

When you are in a serious car accident in Las Vegas, Nevada, you will likely need medical care even after your case settles. When you are in a car accident or a slip and fall , your immediate feeling usually is one of shock. Once the shock wears off, then your body starts to feel the effects of the accident. After an auto accident where you injured, your body will generally take about three months for its tissues to heal from the injuries you sustained. However, if you sustained more severe internal injuries to your spine or other parts of your body, you will require more treatment. In very serious accident cases, you may need future medical care for the foreseeable future. This does not mean that your case has to be open until you stop needing treatment. Instead, a highly skilled personal injury attorney will make sure that the necessary medical and other experts are hired to document your future medical care. When your case is submitted for settlement, the information will be provi...

When a person is injured a car accident or a slip and fall accident, shock is usually the first thing people feel. Your adrenaline is up and you are on alert.   It is similar to working out. You go to the gym and are feeling good. However, the next day, you cannot get out of bed! It has a formal name called “delayed onset muscle soreness”. Most people generally have the same reaction after a car accident . Immediately after the accident, they feel “okay”.   But, later that day or in the evening, when they are trying to sleep, they pain surfaces.   I cannot tell you how many times I have clients tell me that they are just a “little sore” immediately after an accident. Yet, days, weeks or months later, that soreness does not go away and becomes worse.     After an accident, if you are feeling sore, the best course of action is to seek conservative care.   Conservative care generally consists of seeing a primary care physician, chiropractor, physical ther...

In the state of Nevada, we have what are called District courts, where all matters with a value of $10,000.00 or more are heard. That means a lot of car accident cases that do not settle and require a lawsuit being filed, end up in district court. In Las Vegas, Nevada, we have 32 district court judges that hear personal injury matters. When making their decisions on cases, the judges look at the laws as written by the legislature and written opinions from our highest court in Nevada, the Nevada Supreme Court. As of this writing, there is presently no intermediate court of appeals in Nevada.   However, there has been a growing movement to have a court of appeals in Nevada. Without a court of appeals, the Nevada Supreme Court has to decide all appeals. Given the limited resources of the Nevada Supreme Court, the court is not able to make decisions on all cases that request an appeal. What happens when the legislature and the Nevada Supreme Court haven’t addre...

Car accidents are a reality of life when you live in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you have just bought the brand new car of your dreams and were just rear-ended in a car accident, you may be dealing with personal injuries, as well as the damage to your car.   If your brand new car is totaled, you may owe more on your car, than it is worth. When the other driver’s insurance company is trying to determine what to pay for your car, they do not look at what you owe on it.   Instead, the insurance company looks at what your car is actually worth.   Kelly Blue Values are a good place to start, to figure out what your car is actually worth.   The question your Las Vegas car accident Attorney gets asked, is what happens when the amount owed on the car is more than the value of their car.    The answer is GAP insurance.   GAP Insurance, is a shorthand name for Guaranteed Auto Protection. GAP insurance covers the difference between the value of your ca...

This is probably the oldest and most oft repeated question I get in my law office.   The answer is simple, the insurance companies care more about their bottom line, than you.   I often give the example of the insurance adjuster who is trained to deny every claim, no matter what the case is about. But, once a personal injury attorney is hired, the insurance company generally takes the case more seriously.   However, there are still many insurance companies and individual insurance adjusters, who still deny claims without any reasonable reason. In the Las Vegas personal injury arena, there are some insurance companies, as a whole, who categorically deny all claims that come before them.   It is unfortunate that some insurance companies behave in such a reckless manner, raking in premiums from unsuspecting honest people.   When you come into my office, I can tell you which insurance companies those are. Other insurance companies have made a fina...

One of the more common questions I get asked is who is going to pay the costs in a personal injury case.   The short answer is that von Magdenko & Associates, PLLC, always pays for the costs of the case.   However, not every law firm does this, so when choosing a personal injury lawyer, this should be one of your main questions. In the more common rear-end car accident , the insurance company of the at fault driver, settles the case relatively quickly after the client has finished treating., which is usually 3 to 6 months after the car accident takes place.   So, the only costs are those with getting the police report and ordering the medical records.   In those cases, almost all personal injury attorneys pay the costs of the case. However, in cases where the insurance company does not offer a reasonable settlement or no settlement at all, then the costs increase.   Insurance companies generally do not settle for a reasonable amount for a series of reasons,...

Interestingly enough, I was just looking at the “news” headlines for the day, right before I was “supposed” to be writing my blog for the week, on what to look for in a Personal Injury Attorney.   Since news is now 24 hours, instead of the one hour evening broadcast years back, what passes for news is debatable.   However, while I was reading the news, I came across an article on the Nine Beliefs of Remarkably Successful People.   Belief Number 4, was that “Experience is irrelevant. Accomplishments are everything.”    I believe there is some truth to this statement.   Just because someone has been doing something for 10 or 20 years, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are good at it.   Although in the personal injury field and lawyering in general, if you have been doing something long enough, you will of at least learned something along the way and be mediocre.    But, when choosing a personal injury attorney , a mediocre attorney isn’t exact...

Last time we talked about why it is a bad idea to get a cash advance on your car accident case. Today, we will talk about a related topic of quickly settling with the insurance company without a car accident attorney and why not to do it! With unemployment in Las Vegas, Nevada, still higher than the national average, you may be feeling pinched for cash. You are in a car accident, you are in pain and your car is damaged. You may not personally know an auto accident lawyer . Instead, the insurance company calls you and tells you that you can get your car fixed and $1,500 cash in your pocket right now! The insurance company tells you if you just sign a small piece of paper, you will get your cash and be on your way. You wonder what the right thing to do is. The “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is” saying applies to this situation. Your car accident attorney has seen this countless times before. You’re in a car accident, feeling a little sore, but you think...