where a LAWYER handles your case from start to settlement
Request Your Free Consultation Request Free ConsultationIf you were recently injured in a car accident in Henderson, Nevada or the surrounding area, you may be entitled to financial compensation. At Koch & Brim, LLP, our car accident lawyers can review your case, explain your rights and options, and help you get what you need to recover from a crash. We will guide you through what to do next and how to restore your life to normal as much as possible. Start with a free case consultation in Henderson. Contact us today.
In the aftermath of a car accident, you should be focusing on healing from your physical and emotional injuries, not dealing with a complicated legal claim or going up against an aggressive insurance company. Hiring a car accident lawyer allows you to concentrate more of your energy and attention on healing. A lawyer will work on your financial recovery while you take time for your personal recovery.
A car accident attorney in Henderson will have all of the resources and knowledge to handle your claim. Your lawyer can provide a comprehensive investigation of your car accident, use connections to private investigators and accident reconstructionists to understand what happened, preserve and collect key evidence to support your case, negotiate with a car insurance company on your behalf, and hire medical experts to provide trial testimony. Your attorney can do all of this quickly and efficiently so that you can get the case results that you deserve.
If you get involved in a car accident anywhere in Nevada, there are steps that you should take early on to protect your rights and build a strong injury claim. Here’s what to do:
Your goals after a car accident should be to protect your health and safety, collect evidence and information, and properly handle the car insurance claims process. The right attorney can assist you with all of these tasks and more.
A motor vehicle accident can inflict life-changing injuries on crash victims. The forces involved in a car accident are often too much for the human body to withstand. This can lead to injuries to virtually any part of the body – some of which are permanent or fatal. Common injuries suffered in motor vehicle accidents in Nevada include:
If you or a loved one suffered an injury in any type of car accident, including a passenger car, semi-truck, motorcycle, bicycle or pedestrian accident, discuss your right to recover with one of our attorneys. Our Henderson personal injury lawyers have helped victims with a wide variety of injuries, including catastrophic and permanent injuries, recover. We also represent families in wrongful death cases.
Most, if not all, car accidents in Nevada are preventable. They can almost always be avoided with a normal amount of care and attention by drivers. Unfortunately, driver error is common. If a person or party was negligent – meaning they failed to use the appropriate amount of care – that party can be held accountable for causing a car accident in Henderson. Common car accident causes associated with negligence are:
According to crash data from the most recent year available, the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety reported 267 fatal car accidents and 284 deaths in 2019. This is in addition to thousands of seriously injured accident victims that had to visit emergency rooms in 2019. Human error and negligence are behind the majority of these collisions each year. Identifying the cause of your car accident is one of the first steps toward achieving justice and compensation.
Nevada is a fault state. This is why you must determine who or what caused your crash before you can file a claim; your claim will be filed with the insurance provider of the at-fault person or party. In a no-fault car insurance state, on the other hand, you would file a claim with your own car insurance provider, even if you did not cause the crash.
The State of Nevada requires all motor vehicle operators to purchase and maintain minimum amounts of insurance: $25,000 in bodily injury insurance per person, $50,000 in bodily injury insurance per accident and $20,000 in property damage coverage. This insurance will pay for a victim’s medical bills, vehicle repairs and other losses after an at-fault car accident. It is up to you or your lawyer, however, to prove fault to be eligible for coverage.
Proving your car accident case requires a preponderance of the evidence. This is also known as the “more likely than not” standard, and it is the evidentiary requirement in all civil lawsuits. It means enough clear evidence to convince a judge or jury that the defendant is more likely than not responsible for the car accident (responsible with at least a 51 percent certainty). You or your car accident lawyer must provide evidence of four key elements:
These are the elements of negligence. They prove that a driver or another party fell short of the appropriate level of care and caused your car accident. A lawyer can help you collect evidence of these elements at the scene and beyond, including a copy of your police accident report, pictures and videos, medical records, cell phone records, eyewitness statements, and expert witness testimony. With a lawyer by your side, you can build the strongest possible claim against the defendant(s).
Nevada Revised Statutes Section 41.141 gives a comparative negligence rule for car accident cases and other types of personal injury claims in Nevada. This law states that if a plaintiff was negligent, he or she can still recover financial compensation as long as this negligence was not greater than the negligence of the parties against which the action is brought.
If you are found to share fault for the car accident with the defendant, you can still collect financial compensation as long as your percentage of fault is less than 51 percent. If you are attributed part of the blame for the crash, this will reduce your financial recovery award by a percentage equivalent to your degree of fault.
The damages, or types of financial compensation, that are available in a Henderson car accident case can cover both economic and noneconomic losses. As a crash victim, you could collect compensation for the intangible or general ways that the accident affected you, such as pain and suffering, as well as for tangible and specific losses, such as the precise value of your medical bills. Below is a list of damages that are typically recoverable in a Nevada car accident claim:
There is no such thing as an average car accident settlement. Every case is unique. The value of your Henderson car accident case depends on the extent and severity of your injuries and related losses. In general, a significant, catastrophic or permanent injury is worth more than a minor injury claim. However, you must discuss the value of your case with an attorney in detail to understand how much it is worth.
Do not accept the first settlement offer sent to you by a car insurance company. Unfortunately, you cannot trust an insurer to offer a fair or full amount for your car accident claim. Insurance companies are highly practiced at devaluing claims and saving their investors money by minimizing payouts.
An insurance company may try to take advantage of you to pay as little as possible on your car accident claim. Use these tips to successfully deal with the insurance claims adjuster, or the representative assigned to your case:
These tips are helpful even when dealing with your own car insurance company. You may have to file a first-party claim with your own insurer if you were injured in a hit-and-run accident or by a driver who is uninsured or underinsured. If you don’t want to risk communicating or negotiating with an insurance claims adjuster on your own, you can always hire a lawyer to take over these conversations for you.
If you wish to pursue a personal injury case for a car accident in Nevada, a law known as the statute of limitations gives you a maximum of two years from the date of your crash to file. This is the mandatory filing window for most injury lawsuits. If you are filing a claim for property damage only, however, you have three years from the date of the accident.
There are some exceptions to the general statute of limitations. The discovery rule, for example, pauses the clock until the date of injury discovery in cases involving delayed discovery. There is also an exception for cases involving minor children. If the injured party is a minor, he or she has two years from the date of his or her 18th birthday to file. If you don’t file within your deadline, you will most likely give up the right to recover compensation. Always contact an attorney as soon as possible.
The Henderson car accident attorneys at Koch & Brim, LLP care about your future. We will do what we can to give you everything you need to heal, recover and move forward after a traumatic car accident – including fair compensation for your injuries and losses. With our lawyers by your side, you can rest and relax while we fight for optimal case results on your behalf. Start with a free case consultation. Call (702) 451-3900 or contact us online anytime to speak to a car accident lawyer.
