Personal Injury Attorney for Slips and Falls in Las Vegas
Whether it be a wet floor or a defective stairwell, Las Vegas is filled with slip and fall hazards and we’ve all been on the losing end of them before. Usually, there is little harm done, but even a minor slip or fall has the potential to cause an injury that can negatively impact the rest of your life.
Regardless of severity, if you suffered injuries from an accident due to the negligence of a property owner in the Las Vegas area, you could be eligible for financial compensation. Whether you’re a Las Vegas native or happened to fall while you were visiting, our personal injury attorneys are here to help.
Bighorn Law has a history of success with slip and fall accidents, including a recent $1.5 Million victory.
How an Experienced Attorney Can Benefit You
Slip and fall claims can be tricky. While you may be convinced that the accident was no fault of your own, the property owner may claim that you held some responsibility. Even if you were partially at fault, you may still be eligible for compensation. With so many ins and outs, it is important to have an experienced attorney on your side to ensure that your claim is successful.
We can help with financial recovery for the cost of your injuries, but if your treatment caused you to miss work, we can also seek compensation for lost wages. Furthermore, we can assist with property damage compensation if your phone or other belongings broke as a result of the fall.
Slip and fall injuries can be a financial nightmare. Bighorn Law fights to earn the maximum benefit for you. We recently won a $1.5 Million victory for a slip and fall accident.
How Accidental Injury Laws Work in Nevada
While common, slips and falls are mostly preventable. To mitigate accidents and injuries, all Las Vegas homeowners, landlords and business owners are legally required to adequately maintain their properties and keep them safe for visitors.
For example, any accidental spills or trip hazards in a grocery store are required to be cleaned or addressed immediately with proper signage used to notify passersby that potential danger is present. If a homeowner notices a trip hazard in their sidewalk or driveway, it is their sole responsibility to have it fixed as soon as possible to avoid any potential accidents.
In the event that an accident occurs from a known danger that has not been fixed or that has not been clearly marked, the property owner may be at fault and may be required to pay damages.
What Evidence is Needed in a Slip and Fall Case?
For a property owner in Nevada to be held legally responsible for injuries and other damages due to accidental slips and falls, three things must be proved.
- The condition of the property was dangerous
- The property owner knew or should have known about the danger
- The property owner had a chance to repair the problem or provide notice of the danger
In addition, considerations may be made about the danger, including how long it was there, how often routine maintenance was being done to the property and more. As we mentioned, slip and fall cases can be complicated, and if you want to give yourself any chance of winning your case, it’s crucial to have a knowledgeable personal injury attorney to guide you through the process.
Common Locations for Accidents in Las Vegas
Las Vegas is a city filled with casinos and other historical landmarks, many of which are rife with people, steps and other hazards. Common areas that can pose dangers of accidental injuries include:
- Grocery stores
- Amusement parks
- Malls
- Restaurants
- Convenience stores
- Hotels
- Hospitals
Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents
It is important to be aware of your surroundings to ensure safety. Part of staying safe includes knowing what dangers to recognize. Many of the usual suspects of slip and fall cases include:
- Defective stairs
- Faulty railings
- Slippery floors
- Warped floors
- Loose tiles
- Inadequate lighting
- Stacked merchandise
- Potholes
- Collapsing curbs
- Debris
Injuries Related to Accidental Slips and Falls
In most cases, minor cuts and bruises are all that are sustained in the fall, but depending on the severity of the accident, it’s not uncommon to see much more serious injuries, including:
- Brain and head injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Broken bones
- Eye injuries
- Facial and dental injuries
- Death
Many of the more serious injuries can alter the course of your life, leaving you with crippling pain or issues with mobility that can also impact your ability to work. In those situations, it is especially important to understand the options available to you, and that is where we come in.
Slip and Fall Common Questions
What should I do if I am injured in an accident? If needed, start by seeking proper medical attention. If you plan to file a claim, note what caused the accident and keep the clothes you wore at the time to demonstrate that the fall was not related to your shoes or clothing. Be sure to seek out witnesses and video footage, both of which could play a key role in your case.
What happens when the accident occurs on another homeowner’s property? Damages may be more limited if someone is harmed in the home or on the property of another, in which case the amount is often capped at the amount of the homeowners’ insurance policy (if they have one).
How long do I have to file a slip and fall claim? You have two years from the time of the accident to file a claim for personal injury damage. For property damage, you have up to three years.
What is the average compensation for slip and fall cases? There are many factors to consider in an accidental injury case, and therefore, the compensation owed to you varies greatly. To learn more about what could be collected from your case, contact one of the Bighorn Law experts.
How Much is My Las Vegas Slip & Fall Accident Case Worth?
If you were injured in an accident caused by a property owner’s negligence in Las Vegas, you may be wondering how much your Las Vegas slip and fall case is worth. Understanding the value of your case can be tricky, but it is a lot easier when you have a knowledgeable and experienced Las Vegas personal injury lawyer assisting you.
A slip and fall case involving a soft tissue injury, such as a sprain, strain, or contusion is generally worth less than a case involving a hard injury like a broken bone or an injury that results in scarring, disfigurement, or the need for medical devices like braces, canes, and wheelchairs.
That said, even the most skilled attorney will be unable to accurately calculate the value of your slip and fall accident case until all your injuries and damages have been thoroughly evaluated.
What follows is a brief explanation of some of the most important factors that must be considered when evaluating the value of your Las Vegas slip and fall accident claim and, more importantly, how these factors can influence how much an insurance company will pay you.
Liability for Your Las Vegas Slip & Fall Accident
For insurance companies, it is all about risk—identifying risks and minimizing risks—so they can pay you as little as they possibly can. For the liable insurance company, risk begins with liability.
Liability refers to fault for the accident—what happened, who did what, and ultimately who is legally responsible for what happened to you. If you can establish that the property owner was negligent (and therefore liable for your injuries), then you have established and created risk for the insurance company. The clearer the liability, the stronger and the more risk there is for the insurance company.
Proving liability is about how careful, how thorough, and how soon after the accident an investigation is conducted. Furthermore, is there evidence, photographs, videos, or documents to support liability? Was an accident reconstruction done? The more evidence you have to support your claim, the stronger your liability case and the more risk there is for the insurance company.
Available Insurance to Cover Your Las Vegas Slip & Fall Accident
After you have established that the property owner is indeed liable for your slip and fall accident injuries, the next key to success is to determine whether there is insurance coverage to pay for your damages. Usually, insurance funds are the main (if not the only) source of money available to pay for your damages, i.e. your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
It is your attorney’s job to investigate and identify every possible source of financial recovery available to you. However, if the property owner was not insured at the time of your slip and fall accident (for whatever reason), and does not have any money or assets to cover your damages, the value of your slip and fall accident case is effectively zero.
Damages Resulting from Your Las Vegas Slip & Fall Accident
- What did the accident and your resulting injuries take away from you?
- What have you lost?
- How significant are your medical bills?
- Did you miss some time from work? If so, how much?
- What kind of treatment did you need?
- How long did you need to treat your injuries?
- Did you make a full recovery?
- Will you recover?
- How old are you?
- What does the rest of your life look like after the accident?
Some of these questions are easy to answer. If you lost $10,000 in wages because you could not work after your slip and fall accident, then you have $10,000 in damages. Likewise, if you lost $50,000 in medical bills, you have $50,000 in damages.
But then you are also entitled to damages for intangible losses, such as your pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and other losses that do not translate as well or as easily into dollars and cents. Damages for intangible losses must often be established based on the testimony of an economic damages expert.
The way insurance companies look at these “intangible losses” is they try to predict what a jury might award you. In other words, what would nine unbiased, total strangers say about what you have lost, what your injuries did to you, and how does that translate into dollars and cents?
The Possible Consequences For The Insurance Company
While adding up all your damages can give you a sense of the fair value of your case, it will not necessarily tell you what your case is worth. This is because insurance companies do not necessarily care about what is fair.
What insurance companies care about is managing risk and saving money. If the liable insurance company can get away with paying you one-half the value of your claim, or one-tenth, that is typically what they will do. That is where a good personal injury lawyer can help.
How a Skilled Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help
A skilled personal injury lawyer creates risk for the insurance company. When you are represented by the right personal injury lawyer, all the liable insurance company can think about is the possibility that if they make you a low settlement offer, the lawyer you have retained might advise you to reject that offer and take your case to court, where a jury might make them pay you even more than you initially asked.
Insurance companies know exactly which lawyers to fear. They know which lawyers know how to try a case in court. They know who has the stomach to take a case to trial and win. So, the better your attorney’s reputation for trying and winning cases, the riskier it is for that insurance company to do anything other than pay you the reasonable value of your claim before your case goes to trial.
This is why insurance companies typically pay a lot more money to claimants who are represented by reputable law firms, and even to claimants represented by firms who are not as reputable but have demonstrated that they are willing to take a case to court, if necessary, and fight to get what’s right.
Expert Slip and Fall Attorneys in Las Vegas
For personal injuries related to slips and falls, it is important that you understand the legal process to aid in your physical and financial recovery from the situation. At Bighorn Law, our trusted attorneys are available for a free consultation to listen to your story and provide no-cost information on the best course of action. When it comes to seeking compensation in Las Vegas for an accidental slip or fall, we are truly here to guide and support you — every step of the way.