FACTS ABOUT MOTOR VEHICLE COLLISIONS IN LAS VEGAS:
When Pedestrians are Hit by Vehicles:
There are two kinds of crosswalks in Las Vegas: Striped or marked crosswalks and statutory or unmarked crosswalks which are basically straight lines between opposite corners of the same street at an intersection. In the picture below there are four crosswalks, two striped crosswalks and two statutory or unmarked crosswalks. Even if there were no traffic lights and even if there were no sidewalks at this intersection there would still be four crosswalks at this intersection. If a person walking crosses at a marked or statutory crosswalk and is hit by a car, the police will usually consider the car driver at fault unless the pedestrian crossed against a pedestrian stoplight. But, if the pedestrian crosses anywhere else, the police will usually cite the pedestrian and it will be extremely hard to win the pedestrian’s case.
The statutes which can be used to argue the relative faults of the driver and the pedestrian include: N.R.S. 484A.065, which defines crosswalks; N.R.S. 484B.287 which gives the right of way to the driver in every case in which a pedestrian is not in a marked or unmarked crosswalk; N.R.S. 484B.280 which states that every driver shall use due care to avoid hitting a pedestrian; and N.R.S. 484.325(3) which states that whenever a vehicle is stopped at a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, “the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle until the driver has determined that the vehicle being overtaken was not stopped for the purpose of permitting a pedestrian to cross the highway.”
Having lived in Las Vegas since 1981, I don’t think car drivers give pedestrians any respect at these unmarked statutory crosswalks and it’s even risky assuming a car will stop at a marked crosswalk. I think you could even make a safety argument that carefully crossing in the middle of the street is safer since you don’t have to worry about getting hit by cars zipping around corners. But, as you can see from the above statutes, a pedestrian hit inside a marked or unmarked crosswalk has a much better chance of winning money damages than a pedestrian hit outside a crosswalk.
When Pedestrians are Hit outside of Crosswalks:
Occasionally, I have won a case for a pedestrian hit by a car outside a crosswalk. The biggest involved an elderly man who was crippled from childhood polio. He was given a ride to his home by a co-worker who let him off across the street from his house. He was hit by a car as he jaywalked across the street. Satellite photos showed that he would have had to have made an unusually long walk to get to the nearest crosswalk. The satellite photos also showed that the car driver had a long unobstructed view of the pedestrian. The car driver's insurance paid a large settlement.
However, in this case the police cited the victim for jaywalking. We first had to get the jaywalking charge dismissed. Otherwise, the insurance company could have argued that the jaywalking conviction was proof of negligence on the part of the victim.
Most attorneys would not have taken this case because the police cited the pedestrian victim not the car driver. Usually if the police cite you and not the other person the case will not work out. However, there are a few exceptions.
Intersection Collisions Between Vehicles:
Police generally assume that a vehicle which enters an intersection on a yellow light has the right of way in the intersection until it clears the intersection--even if it entered with insufficient time to clear the intersection before the light turns red. This is based on N.R.S. 384.315 which says the driver of a vehicle approaching an intersection shall yield to one already in the intersection and upon N.R.S.384.319(2) which states that a driver approaching an intersection shall also yield to vehicles which are approaching so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard during the time such driver is moving across or within the intersection.
So, if the traffic light facing you turns green as you approach an intersection and you hit the gas and head into the intersection, you may be at fault if you collide with a car already in the intersection.
Duty to Report Collisions:
If you are involved in a motor vehicle accident on public roads or property to which the public has access, you are required to promptly stop if there is a death or personal injury. You must render first aid if necessary to an injured party and notify the police. Failure to do so is a Class B Felony with a prison term of 2-15 years under N.R.S. 384.E010. This severe penalty is designed to discourage drunk drivers from leaving the scene while they sober up as well as to insure aid to injured people. Personal injury is not defined by this statute so it presumably includes minor personal injury such as small cuts or “whiplash.”
If you are involved in any car accident w/o death or personal injury but with any kind of property damage, N.R.S. 384.E020 and 384.E030 require you to make an immediate report to the police. Presumably this means a 911 call. It doesn't matter if the only property damage is your own car, or if the property damage is slight.
Over the years I've had two clients get smacked by these statutes or their predecessor statutes. In one case the driver was prosecuted for failing to report damage to his own car under circumstances in which the police suspected he was drunk and waited to sober up before reporting the accident. In the other case, a college professor driving to class hit an elementary school kid on a bike. The kid was not hurt. The kid was riding the wrong way on the street. Both the kid and the professor were on their way to class and didn't want to be late. The professor was driving a pick-up and the kid's bike was inoperable. So the professor offered to put the bike in his truck and meet the kid when he got out of class. When the professor returned at the agreed upon time and place a police officer was waiting for him. The kid's mom had freaked out and assumed the professor stole the bike and wouldn't show up. The police officer concluded that the accident was the kid's fault but wrote the professor a $630 ticket for failing to report the accident.
Another client hit a kid on a bike with her car. The kid said, "I'm fine and I'm not supposed to be riding in the street. My mom will kill me if she finds out. Let me just leave." But this adult immediately called 911; the police came, cited her for the accident and she got sued by the kid's mother who took him to a chiropractor for his "injuries." But, on the plus side, this client wasn't cited for anything more than a minor traffic violation.
Over the years I have had many clients who have been involved in a fender bender and then both drivers agree to exchange information and not wait for the police to investigate. In these days of cell phones I believe you are technically violating the law if you don’t at least call 911, explain the situation, and ask if you should wait for an investigating officer. While the police may agree that in a no-injury or minor injury situation it is not necessary to send an officer to investigate, if you are in the right, you may compromise your legal situation by missing the chance to have an independent person investigate the accident and assign fault. The other driver who verbally apologizes or admits fault may well deny being at fault later on. Usually if there is an accident on public roads, even without injury, the police will eventually come and investigate if requested.
Parking Lot Collisions:
Police usually refuse to investigate minor car accidents on private property such as parking lots. But this does not relieve you of the reporting duties described above.
How Fault Determines Whether you Can Get Paid for Injuries in an Auto Collision:
Usually the passenger of a motor vehicle is not at fault for any collision. Therefore, the passenger can collect for injuries regardless of which driver was at fault provided there is insurance as discussed below in the section, “What is ‘full insurance coverage’”?
Applying N.R.S. 41.141 to a two vehicle collision, one driver could collect personal injury damages from the other driver provided that the driver seeking damages is not more at fault than the other driver. The driver seeking damages will have their recovery reduced by the percentage the driver seeking damages is at fault. For example, a driver who is 50% at fault can collect 50% of the normal personal injury damages. A driver who is 20% at fault can collect 80% of the normal damages. A driver who is 51% or more at fault can not collect any damages. The only case in which both drivers can recover from each other if they are each 50% at fault in which case each will collect half of their damages.
Fault determinations are made either in negotiations or by a judge or jury. If one party has violated a statute relevant to the collision, for example, failure to yield, speeding, etc., a conviction for violating the statute—for example, paying the failure to yield ticket—can be used as evidence in any civil case. If the person who got a citation succeeds in having the citation dismissed, the citation will not be automatic evidence of negligence, but the other side can still argue the issue.
How are Money Damages for Physical Injury Determined?
Money damages for physical injury are awarded based on specific claims:
First, there should be an award for medical expenses. This award is usually based on the actual bill, provided that the medical services were reasonable and necessary and caused by the action sued upon. The fact that the plaintiff (person suing for injury) may have medical insurance is usually irrelevant. The defendant caused injury and must pay for the medical bills. This award will cover past medical bills and a provision for future medical bills if future medical care is more likely than not to be necessary because of the collision.
Second, there should be an award for pain and suffering. This is very subjective. This award can include both past and future pain and suffering.
Third, there may be an award for lost wages or income. Sometimes this is easy to calculate. For wage earners it may be straight forward to calculate how many days of work at a specific wage were missed due to a collision. A wage earner who has sick leave can still collect for missed work. But if the plaintiff had already been missing work because of other problems it could be more complicated. For self-employed people it is harder to calculate a wage loss since such people usually have variable income and don’t work regular hours. In all cases the insurance company paying the damages will try to prevent payment to claimants who illegally don’t pay taxes. The insurance company will demand copies of filed tax returns or an authorization to obtain filed tax returns. If the plaintiff hasn’t been paying taxes the plaintiff has to admit the felony of income tax evasion or abandon the wage loss claim.
Fourth, the injured person may in some cases be able to claim that they have been disabled from further work or from future work for a certain period of time.
Fifth, in some cases family members can make a claim for injury to one of their relatives. If a wage earner has been killed the spouse or children may sue for loss of support. In the case of serious injury a spouse may sue for “loss of consortium” which can cover both loss of sexual relations and compensation for other disruption to the marriage. A spouse or parent may sue for lost income from necessarily missing work to care for the injured person.
In all of these cases, if there is a substantial claim for future damages (lost income, pain and suffering, medical care) it may be necessary for your attorney to hire an economist to testify to the present value of these future claims.
What is “full insurance coverage?”:
If you are in a car accident there are 5 major types of coverage which may be important. For damage to your own car there is collision insurance. This is no-fault coverage which provides for the repair of your car no matter who was at fault. If your car is leased or financed you must have this coverage. Usually this insurance has a deductible such as $100 or $500, or even $1,000. Your own insurance company may suggest to you that you not claim against your own company and instead claim against the other driver’s insurance company. This is usually bad advice which can delay getting your property damage fixed. If the other driver was at fault and you claim against your own insurance company your own insurance company will collect what they pay from the other insurance company and even collect your deductible for you. Whether or not your insurance rates get raised will depend on who was at fault, not on whether you claimed against your own policy.
Comprehensive coverage, or comp, is also no-fault coverage to protect your car if the damage i due to something other than a collision. Comp coverage, for example, would pay for hail damage or theft or vandalism.
You are required to have liability coverage. This coverage protects other people if you cause injury to them or damage their vehicles in a collision at which you are at fault. Liability coverage also protects you because if you become financially obligated to someone else, the liability coverage takes over your obligation. However, the minimum amount of liability coverage you are required to have according to N.R.S. 485.185 is only $15,000 for injury or death to one person, $30,000 for injury or death to any number of people in one accident, and $10,000 for damage to property. As you can see this amount of coverage is inadequate. It is a good idea to buy much higher limits.
But if you are a good driver, you are more in danger of being the victim than the cause of personal injury. A driver who hits you might be uninsured or underinsured because the driver has only the low limits mentioned above. Therefore it is a good idea to buy uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. This insurance means that if another driver injures you and does not have sufficient liability coverage to compensate you, your own insurance company will compensate you up to the combined amount of your own uninsured/underinsured coverage plus whatever liability coverage the other driver may have. Your own insurance company must offer you according to N.R.S. 687B.145(2) uninsured/underinsured coverage in an amount equal to the liability limit you purchase. This coverage also protects you under N.R.S. 690B.020 in the event that you are hit by a hit and run driver or in the event that the other driver’s insurance company goes bankrupt and can’t pay you. In addition, most liability insurance only covers the insured driver and people using the vehicle with the permission of the insured driver. If someone uses an insured vehicle without the permission of the insured driver the liability coverage does not apply. This happens when the vehicle is stolen and sometimes happens when a friend or relative takes the vehicle without the owner’s permission. (When a friend or relative uses the vehicle without express permission there is often an issue as to whether permission was implied.) If you are in a collision which is not your fault and the other driver was using an insured vehicle without the owner’s permission uninsured motorist coverage will compensate you.
Finally, a great additional benefit of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is that it covers the insured driver when the insured driver is a passenger in someone else’s vehicle or a pedestrian. And this coverage also applies to most people in the insured driver’s house such as children.
Medical payments coverage (med pay) pays for your medical expense if you are involved in a car accident. If you are the victim of a car accident and the other driver is at fault you can legally and ethically collect twice for your medical bills if you have med pay, once from your own med pay and once from the other driver.
What Can A Lawyer Do For You if You've Been in a Car Accident?
If you have been involved in a car accident it is important to talk to an experienced lawyer as as soon as possible. A lawyer may realize things about your claim for personal injury that you would never think of on your own. Insurance companies often try to get unrepresented car accident victims to settle their case for far less than its really worth.
For example, one of our firm's lawyers helped settle a case involving a serious neck injury for $275,000. Before this client got a lawyer, the insurance company tried to convince him to settle for well under a $100,000. The attorney was also able to negotiate down this client's medical bills and health insurance reimbursement by tens of thousands of dollars.
Thus, even though this client paid a contingency fee, he still ended up with far more money than he would have if he had settled the case on his own. Of course, most cases are not worth six figures, and some cases are not worth anything. An experienced lawyer will be able to quickly analyze a case once all the relevant facts have been discovered and advise you accordingly.
At Reed & Mansfield, we usually represent car accident victims on what is called a "contingency fee" basis. This means that we do not charge any money to the client at the beginning of the case, and if it turns out that the case is not worth pursuing, we do not charge the client for our work. We only take a percentage of the gross recovery we obtain.
Although in some circumstances the client may be responsible for costs, and if the case went to court, possibly the other side's costs and fees. This is why it is important to talk to a lawyer as soon as possible and to give your lawyer all the facts, to make sure you don't end up incurring costs that could have been avoided.
If you have been in a car accident, please call us right away. We will be very happy to discuss your case with you during a FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION.
Don't wait to discuss your claim with our firm or another because there are statutes of limitations and other deadlines than could prevent you from ever recovering any money if you wait too long.
Contact Information:
Reed & Mansfield
6655 W. Sahara Ave., Suite B-200
Las Vegas, Nevada 89148
Phone: 702-343-0494
website: www.accidentawardslasvegas.com