Hurt on someone else's property in Las Vegas. And they are already blaming you.

What you need to know about premises liability & negligent security

You were hurt on someone else's property in Las Vegas. A broken stair in a parking garage. A dark walkway where someone attacked you. A pool gate that never latched. A hotel hallway with a hazard everyone on staff walked past. Now the property's insurer is asking what you were doing there, what you were drinking, and why you did not see it coming.

That is the script. Property owners and their carriers start blaming the injured guest before the incident report is dry.

We are D.R. Patti & Associates, a trial-focused Las Vegas personal injury firm, not a billboard settlement mill. We look at what the owner or operator knew, what they should have fixed, and who else had a hand in the danger. We fund the experts when life-care is on the table, and we tell you the truth when a fall or an injury is not a case. Free consultation. Contingency fees. Call (702) 500-7070.

Related: slip and fall · casino injuries · hotel & resort · injuries at the Sphere · negligent security · swimming pool accidents · catastrophic injury · why we fight

What is premises liability in Nevada? It is the area of law that covers injuries caused by unsafe conditions on property that someone else owns, operates, or controls. The owner or occupier does not guarantee your safety. They do owe reasonable care to keep the property safe and to fix or warn about hazards they knew about or should have found.

In plain terms, a premises case usually has to show five things:

Duty. The owner or operator owed you reasonable care as a guest, customer, or visitor; Hazard. There was a dangerous condition, not just an accident that could happen anywhere; Notice. The property created the hazard, knew about it, or should have known about it through reasonable inspection; Causation. That hazard, and not something else, caused your injury; Damages. You have real, documented harm: medical care, lost work, pain, and future needs.

Every one of those elements is a fight. Notice is usually the biggest. That is where a property's risk department spends most of its energy, and where early evidence matters most.

What kinds of Las Vegas properties do these cases involve? Casinos, hotels and resorts, retail stores, restaurants, apartment complexes, parking garages, event venues, and private homes. Southern Nevada has an unusual mix: huge tourist volume, round-the-clock operations, and properties that change layouts for conventions, shows, and renovations.

Constant foot traffic means temporary hazards: spilled drinks, tracked-in water, cords across a walkway, a staging area for an event. Late hours mean lighting and staffing decisions matter more. Renovations and pop-up setups mean contractors and vendors are often on site. Those facts shape who had control and who should have caught the danger.

If you slipped or tripped, start at slip and fall. That hub covers wet floors, spills, constructive notice, surveillance timing, and the casino and hotel playbook in depth. For specific venues, see casino injuries, hotel & resort injuries, and injuries at the Sphere. This page covers the wider premises picture so we do not repeat that work here.

What is negligent security? It is a premises claim where the injury came from a crime, usually an assault, robbery, or shooting, that reasonable security could have helped prevent. The attacker is responsible. The property can share responsibility when it ignored known risks.

These cases often turn on questions like: Were there prior incidents at this property or nearby? Was the lighting broken or inadequate? Were cameras working and monitored? Was security staffed for the crowd and the hour? Were gates, locks, and access controls maintained? Did staff respond when guests reported a threat?

Parking structures, apartment complexes, hotel corridors, and nightlife venues come up often. The analysis is fact-specific and evidence-heavy. Learn more under negligent security.

What about swimming pool injuries and drownings? Pools at hotels, apartment complexes, HOAs, and private homes can lead to drownings, near-drownings, diving injuries, and slip injuries on pool decks. The questions are about safeguards: fencing, self-closing and self-latching gates, depth markings, drain covers, lifeguard policies where they apply, and whether the deck surface and lighting were maintained.

Child drowning and near-drowning cases are among the most serious premises files we see, and they often involve life-care analysis or wrongful-death claims. Learn more under swimming pool accidents and catastrophic injury.

What is not a premises case? Being hurt on someone else's property does not automatically mean the owner was negligent. Honesty both ways is how we work.

Some injuries are accidents with no hazard behind them. Some hazards are open and obvious enough that the analysis gets hard, like a clearly marked step in good light. Some falls happen in places the owner had no reasonable chance to inspect, like a spill that hit the floor seconds earlier. A slick hotel shower with no defect, no prior complaints, and nothing unusual about it is usually not a case either.

We will tell you that on the first call instead of signing you up and letting the file sit. That honesty protects you from false hope and protects the clients whose cases we do take. Read are we right for you.

What should I do right after an injury on someone else's property? Get medical care, report it in writing, document the hazard, and do not give a recorded statement to the property's insurer before you talk to a lawyer.

Get checked out. Shock and adrenaline hide fractures, head injuries, and internal injuries.; Photograph the hazard, the lighting, missing warnings, broken fixtures, the gate, the stair, and the surrounding area. Hazards get fixed fast once someone is hurt.; Keep your shoes and clothing as they were. They can matter later.; Ask for an incident report and keep a copy, or write down the name of the employee who took it.; Get names and phone numbers of witnesses. Tourists and guests leave town.; Do not sign broad medical authorizations or recorded statements for the property's insurer on day one.; Call counsel early. Surveillance systems often record over themselves in days to weeks, depending on the property.

Our intake lead, Tim, treats that first conversation like family, not a script. If the evidence is time-sensitive, we move to preserve it. Call (702) 500-7070.

Who can be responsible besides the property owner? Sometimes more than one party. The name on the door is not always the only one that controlled the danger.

Large properties layer entities: an owner, an operating company, a management company, outside security contractors, cleaning and maintenance vendors, event producers, and renovation contractors. When the facts support it, each of those can share fault. A security company that understaffed a shift, a cleaning vendor that skipped inspections, or an event contractor that ran a cable across a walkway can all belong in the same case.

We do not stop at the first logo. That matters for coverage and for Nevada's comparative fault rules, because fault is compared against the combined defendants. See why we fight.

What injuries turn a premises case into a serious case? Hip and femur fractures, traumatic brain injury, spinal injury, complex fractures needing surgery, drowning and near-drowning injuries, and the physical and psychological harm from a violent assault.

When the harm is life-changing, this is a life-care case, not a small premises file. That means building the real future cost of care with medical specialists, life-care planners, and economists. When the injuries warrant it, those experts are on the firm's dime. See catastrophic injury and wrongful death.

What compensation can I pursue? Whatever the evidence and the law support. Medical costs past and future, lost income and earning capacity, pain, loss of enjoyment of life, and in death cases, wrongful-death damages for eligible family members.

There is no honest flat average for a Las Vegas premises case. Severity, notice proof, and coverage drive value. The firm's public results, including a $29 million hotel-casino premises verdict after four firms told the client she had no case, are on case results. We do not add facts to that story here. Past results do not guarantee your result. Every case is different.

What Nevada deadlines apply? Nevada generally gives you about two years from the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit under NRS 11.190(4)(e). Wrongful-death timing can run from the date of death, so do not assume the incident date.

If a city, county, state agency, or other public entity owns or runs the property, such as a public park, a government building, or a public pool, deadlines and notice rules may be much shorter than two years. Call immediately so a Nevada lawyer can check the rules that apply to your facts.

Even inside the two-year window, waiting is dangerous. Video gets overwritten. Hazards get repaired. Staff turn over. The property's investigation starts the day you get hurt, and yours should too.

How much do your premises liability lawyers charge? Contingency fee. You do not pay attorney fees until we recover money for you. Case costs, including experts, are advanced by the firm on cases we take. We explain the fee agreement plainly, in writing, before you sign.

When is D.R. Patti the right firm, and when are we not? We are right for real injury cases against properties that fight hard, especially when notice, video, security failures, and future care matter. We are not a fit for every bruise or every "I want what my coworker got" demand.

Documented injuries from a Nevada property hazard, assault, or pool incident; Fractures, TBI, spinal injury, surgery, or a death in the family; Properties with risk departments that blame the guest; Clients who want honesty and a long fight if needed.

Talk to Tim. Get Dean's team on the evidence before it disappears.

Call (702) 500-7070 · Free consultation · Contingency fees · Las Vegas, Summerlin, Henderson, and Reno offices

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