Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyers

When you get hurt in an accident driving down the street, in a casino, at a conference center, or in a store, you need legal help.  Getting the compensation you deserve can be complicated, and our lawyers help stand up to insurance companies and defendants to get our clients the damages they need.

Injury claims can often pay for medical bills, lost earnings, and pain and suffering, but getting insurance companies to settle for a fair value often takes overwhelming evidence and sharp negotiating.  If your case goes to court, we will need strong arguments to prove your case to the jury.

For a free review of your potential case, call our personal injury attorneys today at Mitchell Rogers Injury Law at (702) 702-2622.

Do I Need a Lawyer for a Personal Injury Claim in Las Vegas?

Technically, you can pursue a legal claim without a lawyer.  This is called proceeding “pro se.”  However, without a lawyer, you are expected to act as your own lawyer, meet deadlines, file briefs in the proper format, object and respond to objections professionally, etc., all while dealing with your injury.

When working with a lawyer, our experience and training works for you.  We know how to handle these cases, with extensive experience on both the insurance side and the victim’s side of these cases.  We have handled – and succeeded in – multi-million-dollar trials.

Plus, your focus should be on recovering, spending precious time with your family, and getting your life back together after a serious accident.  Allow us to handle the case for you, negotiate with insurance companies, collect evidence, assemble it into a usable form, and argue your case in court and in conferences.

Where Do I File My Injury Case if I Was Injured on a Trip to Las Vegas?

If you were hurt in an accident in Las Vegas or the surrounding towns, then you probably need to file your case in Las Vegas.  There are special legal rules dealing with “jurisdiction” and “venue,” both of which usually require the case to be heard in the court where the accident happened.

All of Las Vegas – whether Las Vegas proper, Paradise, or the surrounding cities – are all within Clark County, so most injury cases will be filed here.

If you were on a trip or vacation when you were hurt here, our lawyers can handle much of the filing and negotiations as your boots on the ground.  We can speak with you over the phone, send you documents, and work with you remotely to cut down on return trips, though you may need to come back if your case actually goes to trial.

In any case, you usually cannot use a lawyer from back home if you live in another state, as they are likely not barred in Nevada.  Instead, our personal injury attorneys can take your case.

Do I Have a Strong Case?

Knowing whether you have a strong injury case – or whether you have a case at all – often requires having a lawyer look into your case specifics.  It is hard to tell without examining the details and damages how strong your case is, but the following factors can help you figure this out:

Elements

An injury case is based on four elements that must be proven:

1. The defendant owed you a legal duty – this is often based on your relationship or a law/regulation in place to keep people safe
2. The defendant breached that duty – this violation does not need to be intentional
3. The breach caused your accident – if there was an alternative cause, maybe someone else is liable
4. You suffered damages – damages must be compensable or else you have no case.

If your case meets all four elements, you certainly have the building blocks of a case.  If it is obvious that each element is met, then your case is likely a lot stronger.

Evidence

An abundance of evidence means a stronger case.  If you have more evidence from varied, unrelated sources, your case is even stronger.

For example, if you and your spouse were injured in a car accident, it makes sense you would both have similar testimony about what happened.  However, if there were eyewitnesses outside the car who also agree – and security camera footage of the crash that also backs up your claims – that is stronger evidence.

Damages

Injury cases involving high-dollar damages are often stronger cases.  Juries are often sympathetic to seriously injured parties, and a more important case often gets more attention and focus from a jury.

However, this does not mean that a moderate injury case is weak.  Any case involving medical bills, lost earnings, and pain and suffering is generally taken seriously in court.

Is it Worth it to Call a Lawyer for My Las Vegas Injury Case?

If you suspect that you have an injury case, it is almost certainly worth calling a lawyer.  The alternative is dealing with the case yourself, where insurance companies will stonewall you.  They also often push people into low settlements when they are unrepresented, taking advantage of them.

An initial review of your case is free, so there is no risk in calling us just to find out more about your options.

Additionally, we usually take cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning that we do not get paid unless we win your case.  That means there is no use in telling you you have a case when you do not; we would be wasting your time and ours to lie to you.

The only way to truly know whether you have a case or not is to let our attorneys review the facts and evidence you have.

What Damages Are Available in My Injury Case?

Most injury cases have damages that can be divided into two major categories:

Economic Damages

Economic damages cover all of the expenses and monetary harm you faced from an accident.  This can include any of these costs:

• Ambulance rides
• Hospital stays
• Specialist appointments
• Medical scans and tests
• Follow-up appointments
• Rehabilitation/physical therapy
• Crutches, walkers, and wheelchairs
• Mental health therapy
• Psychiatric care
• Additional childcare costs during hospital stays
• Alternate transportation after a car crash
• Replacement services around the house during recovery
• Home care.

On top of these costs, you can also seek compensation for any wages or earnings you miss out on.  This includes income you lost while recovering as well as any income you missed if your accident left you disabled.

You can also claim future damages for medical bills, lost wages, and other economic damages you will face after a disabling injury.

Non-Economic Damages

Some of the money you get accounts for the non-economic harms you face.  These have many different names and categories, such as…

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Mental anguish.

Whatever you call them, these damages account for a wide range of experiences, challenges, and losses in your life.  Take, for example, a serious back injury that stops you from being able to ride a bike or pick up your children.  Grieving for this lost ability can be included in pain and suffering.

Your spouse can also receive “loss of consortium” damages for many injuries that leave you unable to be intimate, unable to assist around the house, or too depressed to provide previous levels of affection.

Although these damages have no receipts or bills showing their value, you can still claim them as monetary damages.  More severe injuries have higher non-economic damages.

How Much is My Las Vegas Injury Case Worth?

The value of your case is not a gamble; we can calculate damages and estimate the value of your case by looking at hard evidence.

Economic damages are usually based on the bills and receipts from the expenses you faced.  Lost wages are also calculated based on how much you made before the accident and how much you make now (if anything).

Non-economic damages have a few calculation methods we can use.  In many cases, this means applying a multiplier to your other damages based on how severe your injury was or assigning a per diem value to your pain and suffering.

Our personal injury lawyers can often provide an estimate early in your case to include in our initial court filings, adjusting as we discover more evidence.

What Evidence Do I Need to Collect for My Injury Case?

Our lawyers can handle most of the evidence collection in your case, though it is vital that you save any records you do have.  Anything you can collect at the scene of the accident is also vital.

What We Can Collect

We can usually seek copies of police reports, medical records, and financial statements on your behalf.  We can also get appraisals and estimates performed, especially when it comes to hiring financial experts to calculate future lost earnings and medical expenses.

We can also try to get copies of dashcam footage, security footage, and other videos or records of what happened.

What You Should Keep

If you receive any bills, receipts, or records, save them.  You should also save any communications you receive from the at-fault party or their insurance company, including letters and emails.

If you can keep a record of your recovery, such as a journal of your pain and other psychological and physical effects, this can also help prove non-economic damages.

What You Should Collect

Especially if you were involved in a car accident, there is a lot of evidence at the scene you can collect.  This can include…

• All driver and witness contact info, vehicle info, and insurance info
• Location, weather, lighting, and road condition information
• What injuries you sustained
• What traffic lights and signs were present

In these accidents and in slip and falls and other injuries where the location is important, photos of the scene can be very helpful.  With pictures and video, the jury can see for themselves what the accident scene looked like and how the accident happened.

How to Deal with Insurance Companies Following an Injury in Las Vegas

In general, insurance companies should communicate with your lawyer, not you.  As soon as you have representation, they should avoid trying to negotiate with you, getting statements from you, or sending you settlement offers without going through us.

This is important because many of the stereotypes about insurance companies are absolutely true.  They will try to twist your words and statements, deny coverage, and deny fault whenever they have reasonable grounds to.  Low-value settlements that end the case quickly – even if it means leaving out damages you need – are also industry favorites.

Instead of giving a statement, talking to an insurance adjuster, or providing evidence to them, let your lawyers handle the insurance companies instead.  If you are forced to make a statement, speak with your lawyers before to understand your rights and what you should and should not say.

In any case, never admit fault, downplay or exaggerate your injuries, or sign anything without checking with your lawyer first.

How Long Do I Have to File an Injury Case in Las Vegas?

Every injury case must follow the “statute of limitations.”  This law – NRS 11.190(4) – gives you 2 years to file most personal injury cases.

There are some exceptions for injuries to minors – where the clock does not start running until you turn 18 – and for some types of cases – such as sexual abuse claims.  However, most cases must be filed within 2 years.

If you wait too long to file, it might be impossible for our attorneys to assemble your case and file it on time.  There are also insurance claims we can file and negotiations that can take place before filing in some cases, meaning you should call us as soon as you can and give us as much time as possible to file.

If a case is filed too late, you usually lose immediately.  The defendant and the court itself can point to the statute of limitations as grounds to dismiss the case.

Call Our Personal Injury Lawyers in Las Vegas Today

Regardless of what type of accident you were involved in, call (702) 702-2622 for a free case evaluation with the personal injury lawyers at Mitchell Rogers Injury Law today.