Examples of Personal Injuries in Law in Elko
Personal injury law encompasses different accidents and incidents. Common examples of personal injuries in Elko include car, truck, and motorcycle accidents, slip and fall incidents, medical malpractice, defective product injuries, wrongful death, and assault and battery. Personal injury law in Nevada allows you to recover compensation for your financial and non-financial losses after suffering an injury caused by another party’s negligence, recklessness, illegal misconduct, or intentional actions. Understanding the different personal injury cases can help you know when you may have grounds to file a personal injury claim.
If you’ve been injured by someone else’s actions in Elko, personal injury attorney Denise Bradshaw can help. Call 775-738-7444 to discuss your case today.
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What Are the Most Common Examples of Personal Injuries in Nevada?
There are many types of personal injury cases. However, some are more common than others. Here are the cases that Nevada personal injury lawyers commonly handle:
Car Accidents
Car accidents are the most common personal injury incidents in Nevada. According to the most recent Department of Transportation Annual Report, there were 22,336 injury crashes in Nevada in 2022. Nevada follows the at-fault system for car accident cases and other personal injuries. This means a car accident victim in Elko can file a claim against the at-fault party.
Car accidents in Nevada commonly occur from distracted driving, impaired driving, speeding, neglecting to yield the right of way, following other cars too closely, road hazards, and defective car parts. These lead to various types of car crashes, including rear-end collisions, head-on crashes, T-bone accidents, and sideswipe collisions.
Truck Accidents
Truck accidents often cause catastrophic injuries or death due to the massive size and weight of trucks that make them capable of crushing smaller vehicles. Despite numerous federal and state trucking laws that promote safety, truck drivers and companies still cause crashes. These crashes may be caused by:
- Drowsiness due to fatigue
- Speeding to meet tight deadlines
- Lack of proper training or supervision of drivers
- Impaired driving
- Distracted driving
- Poor truck maintenance
Truck accident claims often involve multiple at-fault parties, including companies with significant resources. Truck accident victims are strongly advised against suing only the driver or filing a claim against only one insurer, which could limit their compensation. Such mistakes can destroy your personal injury case. Truck drivers often share responsibilities for accidents with other parties like trucking companies, truck owners, and maintenance contractors.
Premises Liability
Premises liability cases include slip and fall incidents, assaults due to negligent security, and animal attacks. They arise when property owners, tenants, or occupants are negligent in fixing or warning against dangerous conditions, resulting in injuries on the premises. Common hazardous conditions include slippery floors, poor lighting, unleashed dogs, uneven flooring, defective escalators, and broken steps or handrails.
Motorcycle Accidents
Motorcycle accidents usually involve severe injuries and even fatalities to the motorcyclists involved due to the lack of a frame surrounding the riders’ bodies. In 2022, there were 88 motorcycle fatalities across Nevada. Riders are often the victims of recklessness or carelessness of other drivers, such as speeding, driving while distracted, unsafe lane changes, and ignoring traffic signals and signs.
Medical Malpractice
A Johns Hopkins study found medical errors to be behind 10% of all U.S. deaths. Medical malpractice occurs when healthcare providers cause injuries to patients after failing to provide them with the standard level of care. Examples include medication errors, surgical errors, birth injuries, anesthesia errors, failure to diagnose, failure to obtain informed consent, and inadequate follow-up care. Depending on circumstances, the parties that can be held responsible in these cases include physicians, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, hospitals, and other medical facilities. Winning these claims is challenging without the assistance of a personal injury attorney.
Product Liability
Product liability claims arise when dangerous or defective products cause injuries. Manufacturing defects, design defects, and marketing defects are the types of defects in products that can cause injuries. You can bring a product liability claim against the product’s manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, or retailer.
Wrongful Death
Wrongful death occurs when an accident caused by someone else’s negligent, reckless, or intentional actions leads to a victim’s death. The deceased’s surviving family members or estate can file a wrongful death claim against the responsible party. The claim allows the estate or family to recover compensation for the losses suffered due to the victim’s death.
Assault and Battery
Assault and battery are crimes as well as grounds for civil lawsuits. You can file a personal injury claim and criminal charges if someone deliberately injures you. Assault and battery civil cases result in financial compensation for damages that may be unavailable through the criminal system.
How Is Liability Determined After an Accident in Elko?
Liability refers to a person’s or entity’s legal obligation to compensate for the harm that their actions or failure to act responsibly causes. Determining liability is a critical step in personal injury accidents, as it affects your ability to recover compensation for your injuries and damages.
Nevada is an at-fault state that follows the modified comparative negligence system. As a result, liability for accidents in Elko usually goes to the party that’s found to be most at fault for causing the accident. For example, if you were involved in a car accident, the other driver will be liable for your damages if you can prove that he or she was responsible for the crash.
Most accident cases in Nevada are based on negligence. In such cases, you must prove that the other party was negligent and their negligence directly led to your injuries. Examples of negligence in motor vehicle accident cases include speeding, running a red light, texting while behind the wheel, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Evidence like police reports, witness statements, expert testimony, surveillance footage, and photos taken at the scene can help establish details of an accident, support claims of negligence, and establish liability among the parties involved.
A personal injury attorney can thoroughly investigate the circumstances of your accident and help you gather comprehensive evidence. An attorney will know how to handle a personal injury case from start to finish in such a way that proves the other side to be at fault and liable for your damages and protects you from unfair allegations of fault.
Vicarious Liability
In some cases, the party that caused your accident may not be the only one that can be held liable. Vicarious liability is a legal principle in which one party can be held liable for another’s actions. A common example is in employer-employee relationships. An employer can be held liable for an employee’s actions if an employee causes an accident while performing his or her job duties.
For example, if a restaurant leaves a hazard that causes a slip and fall accident, the restaurant could be vicariously liable for your injuries. An employer will share liability if its commercial driver causes an accident while making a delivery. Parents can be held liable for their children’s actions, and individuals can be held liable when they loan vehicles to unsafe drivers.
What Types of Damages Can Be Included in Your Personal Injury Claim?
Your personal injury claim in Nevada can include:
Economic Damages
Economic damages are those that have a monetary value. They include:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Lost earning capacity
- Property damage
- Out-of-pocket expenses
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are not direct financial losses. They’re subjective consequences of the at-fault party’s actions that are difficult to calculate and are, nevertheless, compensable, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and scarring and disfigurement. The law refers to economic and non-economic damages as compensatory damages.
Nevada doesn’t cap non-economic damages in most personal injury cases. However, non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases are capped at $510,000 for 2025. This damages cap increases each year.
Punitive Damages
If your personal injury case goes to trial, the court could award punitive damages if the defendant’s behavior was malicious or egregious. Punitive damages are intended to punish defendants for their behavior and deter others from engaging in similar conduct. Nevada caps punitive damages at $300,000 if your compensatory damages are less than $100,000. If your compensatory damages are more than $100,000, punitive damages are capped at three times the amount of your compensatory damages.
One of the dangers of not hiring a personal injury lawyer is receiving lower compensation than the amount you’re owed. A personal injury lawyer ensures nothing is overlooked when seeking compensation for your injuries. Your lawyer may partner with medical experts, economic experts, and other qualified professionals to establish the full scope of your losses, including the future expenses related to your injuries, and present them during settlement negotiations. Obtaining legal representation helps you maximize the compensation you receive for your damages.
Denise Bradshaw has decades of experience securing the maximum financial recovery available for clients in their personal injury cases in Elko. Contact us today to get your free consultation.
