Handling Accident

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...

What happens when you settle a case? A lot of people don’t know what the settlement process is like once a case settles. So, to take you through the process, we will be begin with your car accident lawyer negotiating the maximum settlement amount from the insurance company. Once a car accident case settles, there is still work to be done by your Las Vegas car accident lawyer . Once the settlement is reached, the insurance company will prepare a document, called a Release of All Claims, outlining the settlement terms. The settlement document is usually just referred to as the Release. Your attorney will review the settlement agreement before you sign it.   The Release will have your name, the date of the car accident and the other parties’ information as well. The Release basically states that by accepting the settlement, the case is over and you have resolved all of your claims against the person who hit you in the car accident and their insurance company. The i...

When your car accident case doesn’t settle and you end up in Court, which Court are you actually in? In Las Vegas, Nevada, there are three main Court levels for car accident cases. These Courts are called Small Claims Court, Justice Court, District Court. Each Court has a higher jurisdictional amount, meaning how much they can award. Small Claims Court hears cases, where the value of your car accident case is $7,500 or less. Small Claims Court is great for Las Vegas auto wreck cases, where your medical bills are in the $2,000 to $3,500 range. In Small Claims Court, everything is moved along at a relatively fast pace and your case gets resolved quickly.   As part of the Small Claims Court process, you and your Las Vegas personal injury attorney will meet with the insurance company’s attorney at mediation. At mediation, an impartial third person tries to get both sides to come to an agreement on settlement.   If no agreement can be reached, then on a separ...

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...

Is it possible to stop pictures of a car that has been in an accident from coming into evidence at trial?  The short answer is that it depends. The admissibility of photographs in Las Vegas car accident cases is highly fought over issue in litigated car accident cases . Although the   Nevada Supreme Court has not decided this issue, other Courts exclude photographs when no expert testimony is introduced linking the vehicles’ property damage to the injuries from the person hurt in the car accident.   So, in Nevada, it is left up to the individual judge deciding your case, whether they allow the jury to see photographs.   Why is this issue so important?   Because, when juries see only a scratched bumper, they tend to think a person could not have possibly been injured in the accident.   This is a false assumption. This hurts people who have been injured in minor property damage car accidents, preventing them from getting the compensation the...

One of the most basic issues that determines the value of your car accident case, is the amount of property damage to your vehicle.   Although there is actually no credible evidence that says minimal property damage = no personal injuries,   insurance companies and juries still come to that conclusion. There was a recent study conducted by the Trial Survey Group, which presented the same case to similar mock juries (a mock jury is just another word for a test group of potential jurors).    In each case they presented the same injured person with the same injuries.   However, the only thing they changed were the photos of the injured person’s car.   The juries changed the amount they awarded based upon the amount of property damage they saw in the photos.   When there was a scratched bumper, the jury gave just $6,000.   When the property damage to the car was minor, a small dent instead of just a scratch, the jury tripled its a...

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...