If you get involved in a severe car accident, your insurance company may declare your car a total loss or, in other words, “totaled.” Under Nevada law, if the cost of the repair a car damaged in a car accident is at least 65% of the car’s fair market value before it was damaged, the insurance company can declare the car a total loss.
In many car accidents that occur in Las Vegas, who is at fault is usually determined by an investigating officer at the scene. In some other cases, who is at fault is so obvious even if a police officer wasn’t called to the scene. In some other cases, the police officer can’t determine who is at fault; even if a police officer did, the insurance company for the at fault driver may still dispute what happened. In the latter two cases, gathering certain evidence is the key to proving who is at fault. Next is determining the applicable rules of the road.
The owner of a vehicle can be responsible in some cases if they permitted someone to driver their car and that person gets into a car accident. This concept is called negligent entrustment. In essence under this concept, if an owner permits a person they know is unfit to operate a vehicle and that person causes a crash, the owner is responsible.
Obtaining video of a car accident in Las Vegas used to be difficult. Although traffic cameras are visible throughout Las Vegas, they only assisted in traffic control management. The public could view traffic conditions live but could not obtain videos in the event of a crash. Until recently. Read more to find out how those traffic camera videos can be obtained.
A hit-and-run crash can leave injured victims with medical bills piling up and unable to earn income to pay those bills. Some people think they may have no options if they were injured in a hit and run car accident. That is not necessarily so. In our combined 50+ years of experience as car accident attorneys in Las Vegas, we have successfully recovered compensation for those who initially thought they had no options. We recently recovered six figures for one of our clients injured in a hit and run accident in Las Vegas.
Prior car accidents or other types of accidents may affect your car accident claim. First, insurance companies may blame prior accidents for a victim’s injuries. The more recent those accidents are, the more likely the insurance company will use those prior accidents against the victim. Second, auto insurers may use those prior accidents to test a victim’s credibility.
Whiplash From Car Accidents Whiplash is a non-medical term that refers to a neck or upper back injury from violent or forceful rapid back-and-forth movement of the neck. The whipping motion overstretches the joints, muscles and ligaments of the neck and back beyond their normal range of motion. The most common cause of whiplash injuries …
Unfortunately, people can be victims of multiple car accidents a short time apart. In our combined 50+ years of experience, we have seen people injured in multiple crashes in less than a year. There is a right way to handle personal injury claims from multiple car accidents. Learn more here on the proper way to handle such cases.
Many people have heard the term “punitive damages” and want to know how it applies to their personal injury or car accident claim in Las Vegas. “Punitive damages” is an amount that is awarded by a jury to punish a party in a civil lawsuit. This term is also sometimes called “exemplary damages,” as the award is intended to set an example. Punitive or exemplary damages is usually contrasted with compensatory damages, which are intended to make an accident victim whole again. Learn more on when punitive damages are awarded.
Clients may feel scared about telling their attorneys about things that they may not be proud of. Or a client may feel that a small bit of information is unimportant to the attorney. However, successful representation of clients, even in car accident cases, may depend on the client’s attorney knowing that information. Like good attorneys, the experienced Las Vegas personal injury attorneys at D.R. Patti & Associates know how to encourage clients to disclose information, regardless of how embarrassing. We let our clients know that, except in exceptional circumstances, the law protects communications between clients and attorneys.
