Las Vegas Motorcycle Accident Lawyer for Hurt Riders

Why does everyone blame the rider after a motorcycle crash?

Because the people deciding your claim often walk in believing that riding a motorcycle is a choice to take a risk. That bias is real, and the other side counts on it.

Think about how the first hours go. A driver turns left across your lane on a surface street in the valley and says the line every rider has heard, that you came out of nowhere. The officer writes down what the driver says, because the driver is standing up and you are on a gurney. By the time an adjuster calls you, the story in the file may already say you were speeding, or splitting lanes, or riding too hard for the road. Nobody has asked you anything yet.

We have watched that file get built, and some of the lawyers on our team used to defend insurance companies, so they know exactly how a rider's claim gets read on the other side. The answer is to build the real story early, with evidence that does not depend on anyone's memory. That means the scene, the bike, the other vehicle's data, the video, and your medical records, collected before they change or vanish.

Riders carry a heavier share of the danger than most people realize. Riders are a small share of the vehicles on Nevada's roads and a much larger share of the people killed on them. A rider has no bumper and no crumple zone. The injuries are usually bigger than the property damage looks, and a claim that treats a bike crash like a fender bender will undervalue it.

What should I do after a motorcycle crash in Las Vegas?

Get medical care first, protect the evidence second, and say as little as possible to any insurance company until you have talked to a lawyer.

What evidence disappears after a motorcycle crash?

More than you would think, and fast. This is the part of a rider's case that is lost most often, and it is almost always lost in the first few weeks.

The bike is evidence. Its damage shows the angle and speed of impact, and a mechanic or reconstruction expert can read it. If the bike is towed to a lot and then sold at a salvage auction, or repaired because you needed to ride again, that evidence goes with it. Your helmet is evidence too, because the scrape marks show how you hit the ground. Do not clean any of it, and do not hand it to an insurance company for an inspection until a lawyer has a plan.

The other vehicle matters as much. Many newer cars record speed, braking and steering in the seconds before a crash. Trucks and commercial vehicles often hold even more data. That information can be overwritten or lost when a car is repaired, sold or totaled. We send a preservation letter early so the other side is on notice that it is expected to keep it.

Video is the next thing to go. Gas stations, shops, apartment complexes and city traffic cameras are the usual sources, and many systems record over themselves in days or weeks. A dash camera in the other car only helps you if somebody asks for it before it is deleted. The 911 audio matters too, because it captures what people said before anyone had time to shape a story.

Then there is the road. Loose gravel at the edge of a lane, a pothole, a patch of oil. These things get swept, patched or repainted. If a road hazard played a part in your crash, someone has to photograph and measure it now. Dean has gone to scenes himself when the facts were about to disappear, and he will tell you the gap between a case that exists and one that does not can be a day or two.

Does Nevada's helmet law change my claim?

It can come up, but it usually matters less than the insurance company wants you to think. Nevada requires riders and passengers on a motorcycle to wear protective headgear, and it requires eye protection unless the bike has a windscreen that meets state standards. Those rules are in NRS 486.231.

If you were wearing a helmet, that fact helps you, and it should be photographed and kept. If you were not, or if the helmet may not meet state standards, expect the other side to say so loudly. The real question, though, is whether the missing or noncompliant helmet actually made your injuries worse. If you broke your leg and your shoulder, the helmet has nothing to do with it. If the injury is to your head, they will bring a medical expert to say it would have been less severe, and we will bring one to say what the evidence really shows.

The helmet does not decide who caused the crash. A driver who ran a red light caused it whether you had a helmet on or not. Fault for the collision and the size of your injuries are separate questions, and a good lawyer keeps them apart.

Is lane splitting legal in Nevada, and does it kill my case?

Lane splitting is not legal in Nevada, but it does not automatically end your claim. State law generally prohibits riding a motorcycle between moving or stationary vehicles in adjacent lanes. The statute is NRS 486.351. Two riders may share a single lane side by side with each other's consent, and that is a different thing.

Here is why it matters. Nevada follows a modified comparative fault rule. If a jury decides you were partly to blame, your recovery is reduced by your share. If they decide you were more at fault than the other side, you recover nothing. The practical effect is that an insurer who can prove you were splitting lanes will try to push your fault past the line.

So we look closely at what really happened. A rider creeping between stopped cars who is hit by a driver changing lanes without looking is in a very different position from a rider weaving at highway speed. Breaking a traffic law is not the same as causing the crash. Video, vehicle data and accident reconstruction usually decide that, and they are the reason we move fast.

What if I made a mistake or I am afraid to tell you the whole story?

Tell us anyway. Tim, who runs our office and often takes the first call, says that people sometimes soften the story because they think a bad fact will make a lawyer turn them away. It does the opposite. We cannot build a case around a fact we do not know about, and the other side will find it eventually.

Maybe you were a little over the limit, or your endorsement had lapsed, or you had a drink with dinner, or you skipped the helmet. Those facts can reduce a claim, but they rarely erase it, because the question is still what caused the crash. A driver who pulls out in front of a rider causes that crash whatever the rider did the night before. We want to know it all on day one so we can plan around it.

If you are partly at fault, the Nevada rule is that you can generally still recover as long as your share is 50 percent or less, and the award is reduced by your percentage. That rule is in NRS 41.141. Anyone who tells you that any fault on your part means no case is wrong.

Left turn crashes, and why the driver always says you came out of nowhere

The left turn is one of the most common ways a car and a motorcycle meet, and the driver's explanation is almost always the same. They looked, they did not see you, and then you were there. We have a whole page on left turn motorcycle crashes in Las Vegas, but here is the short version.

A motorcycle is narrow, and a driver can misjudge how far away a single headlight is and how fast it is closing. Drivers miss riders who are plainly visible, and failing to look carefully can be negligence. A driver turning left has a duty to yield to oncoming traffic, and that includes you.

What matters is proving speed and position. A rider who was going the limit and had the right of way is not at fault for being hit. We use the bike's damage, the car's data, the driver's phone records when they are relevant, and witnesses to rebuild the seconds before impact, so the claim does not turn into the driver's word against yours.

Lane changes, blind spots and the driver who never looked

A driver who drifts into your lane has often checked a mirror and not a shoulder, and a motorcycle hides in a blind spot more easily than a car. On I-15, US-95 and the 215, where traffic changes speed fast, a lane change is often the whole crash. The rider gets squeezed, goes down, and the car drives on or stops a hundred feet ahead acting surprised.

Drivers must make sure a lane change is safe before moving over. When they do not, that is the cause. How to prove it when the driver denies it and there is no contact on the car is covered on our page about lane change motorcycle crashes. If the driver left the scene, the rules for your own coverage are stricter, as we explain below.

What about gravel, potholes and other road hazards?

You may have a claim against whoever was responsible for the hazard, and a bike is far less forgiving of a bad road than a car. A patch of sand on a turn or a pothole that a car would barely feel can put a motorcycle on the ground.

The question is who owned or maintained that stretch of road, and what they knew. It might be a contractor who left loose gravel, a business whose driveway tracks debris onto the street, a truck that dropped a load, or an agency that let a reported defect sit. If a city, county, school district or other public agency may be involved, tell us right away, because special claim procedures apply and we will handle them. That alone is a reason to call early.

Local riding adds its own hazards. Desert roads toward Red Rock, Mount Charleston and Lake Mead collect sand on the curves, and wind gusts push a bike sideways. Evening sun on a long east and west street leaves drivers squinting while riders disappear in the glare. Those details help explain a crash, and sometimes they point at a driver who ignored them.

What happens to my bike and my gear?

Your bike, helmet, jacket and equipment are property you are entitled to be paid for, and the insurer's first number is rarely the real one. If the bike is totaled, the offer is usually based on a market value, and that figure often ignores the custom parts, accessories, paint, and aftermarket upgrades that you paid for. Gather receipts and photos, and do not accept a total loss offer before you know what you are giving up.

The same goes for gear. A quality helmet, armored jacket, gloves and boots are expensive, and a helmet that took a hit is no longer safe to use. Document each item. Keep the damaged pieces as evidence until we tell you otherwise.

Do not let the property damage claim drive the injury claim. The adjuster handling your bike may be a different person from the one who values your injuries, and settling one does not settle the other. Tim's office helps with the practical side too, such as the body shop and a rental, because a life in upheaval needs more than a lawsuit.

Can my passenger make a claim?

Yes. A hurt passenger has a separate claim. It runs against the driver who caused the crash, and in some situations against the rider too if the rider was also at fault. A passenger is not usually blamed for the crash.

This can get awkward when the passenger is a spouse, a partner or a friend. We explain the options to each person honestly before anyone signs anything.

What if the driver has no insurance, or not enough?

Many riders find out too late that the other driver's policy is thin. Nevada requires drivers to carry liability coverage, with minimums of $25,000 for one person, $50,000 per crash and $20,000 for property damage (NRS 485.185). A serious motorcycle injury can use that up in a week of hospital care.

This is where your own policy matters. Nevada insurers have to offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (NRS 687B.145), and a rider can turn it down only in writing on the insurer's form (NRS 690B.020). Check your declarations page, because a rider who bought that coverage may have a significant source of recovery when the other driver has nothing. The coverage can apply when the driver has no insurance or when the policy is too small. It may also apply when a driver hits you and leaves, but Nevada generally requires that the other vehicle actually touched you or your bike and that you report the crash to police within the time the law allows. If a driver forced you off the road without touching you, that is a harder claim, so call us before you assume either way. Our page on uninsured motorist claims explains how these claims work.

There are also other defendants. A defective tire, brake or part may point to the manufacturer. A road hazard may point to a contractor or an agency. An employer may be responsible if the driver was working. On serious cases Dean looks well past the first insurance policy, as we explain in beyond the other driver's insurance.

How do insurance companies value a rider's injuries?

They start with the medical bills, then discount them as hard as they can, and then try to make the rider share the blame. That is the formula.

A fair value comes from a longer list. It counts what you have paid in medical bills and what you will need later, such as surgeries, hardware removal, therapy and pain management. It counts your lost income now and your reduced ability to earn later. It counts the pain, the scarring, the nights you cannot sleep, and the things you cannot do anymore. And it turns on how clear the fault is, how much insurance there is, and how many parties may owe you money.

The other factor is whether the insurer thinks your lawyer will try the case. Dean's view is that insurance companies price a file differently when they know the firm will file suit and go to a jury. Our public results page lists a moped crash where the first offer was 40,000 dollars and the final result was 3 million dollars. Results depend on the facts, and no lawyer can promise a number, but it shows what happens when a case is prepared to be tried. You can see more on our results page.

We do not rush a case. A rider who settles before the doctors know whether the injury is permanent can lock in a number that will not cover the rest of their life.

Will I be able to ride or work again?

That is the question underneath all the others, and it deserves a straight answer. Nobody can tell you today. It depends on the injury, the surgeries, how your body heals, and what the doctors say a year or two from now. We will not pretend otherwise, and money cannot give you your health back.

What we can do is make sure that the claim covers the real cost of the answer, whatever it turns out to be. For a serious injury that means bringing in the right experts. A doctor who can explain what a fractured pelvis or a damaged spine means for the next twenty years. A life care planner who prices future surgeries, equipment, home changes and attendant care. A vocational expert who can say what work you can still do and what you have lost. Dean hires specialists from around the country when a case calls for it and pays for them up front. If the case does not work out, that money is our loss and not yours.

The injuries we see most often with riders are broken bones, road rash that needs skin grafts, and head injuries, even with a helmet. Some are catastrophic. If you are dealing with a traumatic brain injury, a spinal cord injury or an amputation, the claim has to be built for the whole of your future, not only the hospital stay.

It is also fair to say what the fear is really about. For many riders the bike is more than transportation. Losing it, or losing the ability to ride it, can feel like losing part of who you are. We hear that, and we count it. The loss of enjoyment of life is part of what a jury is asked to value.

What does it cost to hire a motorcycle accident lawyer?

You do not pay anything to start. We work on a contingency basis, which means our fee comes out of what we recover for you, and if there is no recovery there is no fee. Case costs, such as experts and records, are discussed with you at the start, and we explain them in plain words before you sign. The first conversation is a free case review.

What is it like to work with us?

You call, and a person answers. Often it is Tim, and he starts by asking how you are and what is going on at home, not by running down a checklist. If it sounds like something urgent that cannot wait for Monday, he knows when to pick up the phone and call Dean. You can read more about what happens when you call.

From there we gather your medical records, the police report, the photographs and the video, and we send the letters that keep evidence from disappearing. We deal with the adjusters so you do not have to. We tell you honestly when a case is weak, and we have turned people away when we believed the claim was not real. When a case is strong, we prepare it as if it is going in front of a jury, because that preparation is what changes the other side's offer.

You can read how we think about this work on why we fight. We handle cases for riders across the Las Vegas Valley, including Henderson, North Las Vegas and Summerlin.

What if I was visiting from out of state?

You can still bring a claim here. Tourists rent bikes, ride the Strip and head out to the desert, and some get hit by a driver who never saw them. If the crash happened in Clark County, Nevada law and Nevada courts will usually control the claim, even if you live somewhere else. You do not have to stay in Las Vegas while it runs. We can handle most of the work by phone and email. If you were on a rental, the rental agreement and its insurance terms matter, and we read them early.

How long do I have to file in Nevada?

Most injury claims must be filed within two years of the crash, under NRS 11.190. If a city, county or other public agency may be involved, tell us right away, because special claim procedures apply and we will handle them. A claim after a death has its own rules about who can file, so do not wait. Do not wait for the last month either, because evidence can be gone long before the deadline.

If you do one thing today

Get checked by a doctor, keep your bike and your gear untouched, and call us. You can reach us at (702) 500-7070. If you are in a hospital bed, ask someone you trust to make the call for you. We will answer your exact situation and tell you honestly whether we can help.