What kind of cases do personal injury lawyers handle? Personal injury lawyers handle a variety of cases where an individual is hurt or killed due to the carelessness or fault of another party. Some of the most frequent cases that personal injury lawyers deal with include slip and fall accidents, car accidents, medical malpractice, workplace accidents, and product liability.
Navigating Personal Injury Laws in Nevada
Personal injury law is essential in safeguarding individuals who have been harmed due to someone else’s negligence. To pursue compensation, it is crucial to understand your legal rights and options in case of an accident or injury.
Understanding Personal Injury Law
Personal injury law covers a broad spectrum of cases. Its primary goal is to compensate individuals who have suffered physical, emotional, or financial harm due to someone else’s wrongful conduct.
Key Concepts
Negligence is a fundamental concept in personal injury law. It refers to the failure to exercise reasonable care, which results in harm. It is essential to understand negligence when determining liability in a personal injury case.
In personal injury cases, the aim is to compensate victims for their damages. These damages may include medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more.
The statute of limitations imposes time limits within which you can file a personal injury claim. The time limits vary depending on the type of case and jurisdiction. It is important to be aware of the statute of limitations as it can affect your ability to seek compensation for your injuries.
Types of Personal Injury Cases
There are common types of personal injury cases in Nevada, including Slip and Fall Accidents, Car Accidents, Medical Malpractice, Workplace Accidents, and Product Liability. Each type has its own considerations and requirements for a successful claim.
The Legal Process
To successfully file a personal injury claim, certain steps need to be followed in the legal process. Firstly, it’s crucial to consult with an attorney early on, find the right personal injury lawyer, and understand fee structures.
Next, your attorney will investigate the incident that caused your injuries, gather evidence including witness statements, and work to identify all liable parties.
Your lawyer will negotiate with the other side to obtain fair compensation on your behalf. If your claim settles outside of court, the at-fault party or their insurance will pay the agreed compensation in exchange for releasing them from liability.
If negotiations aren’t successful, your lawyer will bring your case to court and fight for your rights before the judge and jury.
When Should You Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?
It is advisable to hire a personal injury lawyer as soon as you sustain injuries. Your lawyer will explain your legal options, protect your rights, and guide you through the legal process. Hiring a lawyer sooner rather than later can ensure that you avoid common mistakes in a personal injury case and increase the chances of recovering maximum compensation.
Types of Personal Injury Cases
Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall cases arise when someone is injured on someone else’s property due to hazardous conditions. The property owner may be held responsible for the harm caused. Dangerous conditions that cause slip and fall injuries include torn carpeting, changes in flooring, poor lighting, narrow stairs, wet walkways, and broken public sidewalks. To seek compensation, the plaintiff must have sustained an injury, no matter how minor. The medical bills incurred due to the injury will serve as a basis for claiming economic damages.
Proving Fault
Determining legal responsibility for slip or trip injuries is not an exact science. Liability depends on whether the property owner acted carefully and whether the injured person was careless in avoiding the dangerous condition. However, some general rules help you decide if someone else was at fault for your injury.
To prove that someone else was responsible for your slip and fall injury, you must demonstrate that the cause of the accident was a dangerous condition. You must also show that the owner or possessor of the property knew about the dangerous condition.
A dangerous condition is one that presents an unreasonable risk to a person on the property. It should not have been anticipated by the injured person under the circumstances.
To establish that the property owner or possessor knew about a dangerous condition, you must show that one of the following existed when your injury occurred.
- The owner/possessor created the condition
- The owner/possessor knew about the condition but negligently failed to correct it
- The condition existed for such a long time that the owner/possessor should have discovered and corrected it before the slip and fall incident occurred
Car Accidents
If you’re involved in a car accident in Nevada due to someone else’s reckless behavior, you may be able to recover damages. This applies to drivers and passengers. Drivers are required to operate their vehicles safely and avoid causing injuries to other people. If they fail to do so, and someone gets injured or killed, they can be held liable for the victim’s losses.
Common causes of accidents in Nevada include distracted driving, speeding, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. You can prove fault with evidence such as official accident reports, medical records, and eyewitness testimony. Las Vegas personal injury attorneys can help you investigate the cause of the accident.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice refers to a situation when a healthcare professional fails to provide you with the proper standard of care. Malpractice can occur due to acts or omissions. For instance, if a healthcare provider fails to act in the way that a reasonably competent physician with similar training would have acted, the provider can be held accountable for the patient’s injuries. Similarly, if the care you receive falls below the level of care that would have been offered by a similarly trained professional, it is also malpractice.
Some medical errors are more common, such as misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, surgical malpractice, birth injuries, wrongful death, ER negligence, anesthesia errors, and amputation injuries.
Medical malpractice can be committed by any form of healthcare provider with whom you have a patient/provider relationship. This can include doctors, nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, radiologists, and others. If a professional healthcare worker provided you with services that were performed without the required skill level, he or she can be held accountable for the consequences.
You can file a claim against medical professionals who offer substandard treatment, such as doctors, dentists, nurses, and others. Hospitals and healthcare facilities can also be liable for their employees’ actions due to inadequate staffing, poor training, or faulty equipment.
Elements of a Medical Malpractice Claim
If you are a victim of malpractice, it is your responsibility to prove it. To successfully prove a malpractice claim and recover monetary damages, you must establish specific elements, such as:
- The medical professional owed a duty of care to you, meaning that there was a doctor-patient relationship.
- The medical provider breached the duty by failing to act in a way that a reasonably skilled provider with comparable training would have done.
- You suffered harm due to the medical professional’s failure to adequately treat you.
- You have damages resulting from the medical provider’s negligence, such as medical bills, income losses, pain and suffering, or others.
A doctor-patient relationship usually arises when a medical professional accepts you as a patient and offers treatment or medical advice.
Workplace Accidents
In Nevada, an employee injured while on the job is entitled to various benefits from Workers’ Compensation, with few exceptions. The employee doesn’t need to prove that the employer, work conditions, equipment, or another employee caused the injury. In many cases, even if the injury was caused by the employee’s negligence or incorrect actions, the employee is still entitled to Workers’ Compensation benefits.
If you suffered injuries at work, and you are an employee, you have the right to receive medical care for your work-related injuries, and workers’ comp insurance should pay for it. You also have the right to return to your job if your doctor clears you to do so. If you’re unable to return to work temporarily or permanently, you generally have the right to disability compensation. You also have the right to receive all workers’ compensation benefits you’re entitled to, and you can appeal a workers’ compensation claim denial.
Workers’ compensation laws do not usually cover Independent contractors. The tradeoff for employers providing workers’ compensation insurance to pay for employees’ injuries is that generally, employees are barred from suing their employer. However, there are two primary exceptions.
When Can You Sue Your Employer?
You might not covered by workers’ compensation due to an exception. Examples include farm workers, government workers, domestic workers, or workers in other exempted categories. In such a case, you can sue your employer for compensation in case of a workplace injury.
Furthermore, if you have filed a claim for workers’ compensation but it has been wrongfully denied, you have the right to sue your employer for compensation. Your employer has a duty to pay for your work-related injuries, which is usually done through their insurance. If your claim is valid and it is still denied, you can sue your employer to receive the compensation that should have been provided through your workers’ comp claim.
Accidents Not Covered by Workers’ Compensation
If a worker is injured by someone who is not an employer or coworker, the victim may be able to file a lawsuit against that person or entity. In case of an injury caused by faulty equipment, the manufacturer of the machine can be sued. The manufacturer can be held strictly liable and might also be held responsible for negligence and failure to warn.
Also, if a worker suffers injuries because of a toxic substance in the workplace, the victim can file a toxic tort lawsuit against the manufacturer of the toxic substance or the safety equipment that failed to protect him or her. These lawsuits can be brought to recover for immediate injuries like a chemical burn, as well as latent injuries like cancer and lung diseases such as mesothelioma.
Product Liability
Product liability refers to the legal responsibility that manufacturers and sellers have towards consumers who are harmed by a defective product.
When someone purchases or uses a product, the person has the right to expect that it will not cause harm when used as intended. If the person is injured due to a problem with the product, he or she can pursue legal action to recover damages.
Product liability laws govern these types of cases and determine whether the manufacturers, designers, or sellers should be held accountable and required to compensate the injured party.
To succeed in a product liability lawsuit, the plaintiff must prove that the:
- Item had some type of flaw or defect.
- Individual utilized the product according to its intended purpose.
- Defect in the product caused harm to the individual.
- Person suffered some type of injury or loss because of the defect.
Product liability cases follow the legal principle of “strict liability.” Plaintiffs need not prove that the defendant acted negligently or intentionally. Instead, they can win the case by showing that the problem with the product caused unexpected harm.
Reasons for filing a product liability claim include design defects, manufacturing defects, breach of warranty, and failure to warn. Liability can extend to anyone involved in the chain of distribution, including manufacturers, assemblers, installers, wholesalers, and merchants.
