Henderson, NV Car Accident Lawyer
After a car accident, you and your family may be left with medical bills, lost income, and serious pain and suffering damages. Our job as your attorneys will be to maximize your recovery.
Through lawsuits and insurance claims, we can seek the total damages you experienced. The defendant’s insurance may ultimately be responsible for these costs, but whether we get your payment through insurance settlements or a lawsuit can affect the total compensation.
Call (702) 702-2622 for a free review of your case with the car accident lawyers of Mitchell Rogers Injury Law.
How Long Will a Car Accident Injury Case Take?
How long it takes to get damages for your injuries after a car accident will depend on a few factors:
Will You Settle?
If the other driver’s insurance is willing to pay for your damages, then you can potentially settle your case. Early settlement offers are usually made within a few weeks of submitting a claim, but they are often too low to cover your needs in full.
Insurance companies might offer to cover just medical bills and lost wages at first, which is insufficient if you faced pain and suffering. If you have future costs to cover, this is also far too low.
Our lawyers can negotiate for a better settlement, and if we can reach one before your case goes to trial, it might be possible to settle within a month or two.
Will You Go to Trial?
The alternative is taking the case to trial. If the insurance company refuses to accept that their driver was at fault or undervalues your case, we can sue in court instead.
This takes the decision away from the insurance company and gives it to the judge and jury. This can get all of your damages covered, but it takes longer.
The discovery stage – where depositions are taken and evidence is exchanged – can take a few months by itself. There must also be time for pretrial motions and conferences, taking up a few weeks or more.
Depending on scheduling, it could take over a year to get to trial – but trial itself usually takes 1-2 days unless your case is very complex.
From the jury’s decision date, payment is usually issued in 30 days.
Settling During Trial
Most claims do ultimately settle rather than going to trial, but they may do so during pretrial stages. If that happens, your case could take an estimated 6 months.
If your case settles during trial, it will still be faster than waiting for a jury decision.
Whose Insurance Pays for Car Accidents in Henderson?
If everyone is following the law, all drivers involved in a crash will have auto insurance. The basic state minimum insurance is “liability insurance,” which covers the damages that you cause in a crash rather than your own injuries. Under this system, the at-fault driver’s insurance pays for damages.
This means that if someone else was responsible for the crash, you file a claim against their insurance.
Your own insurance might have other benefits that can help in the meantime. This can include Medpay, which can cover some of your medical bills, and collision coverage, which can cover your vehicle repairs. This can defray some costs while our car accident attorneys negotiate your claim or fight at trial.
How Much is My Car Accident Case Worth?
Determining the value of your case is vital so you do not settle for a low value. However, our lawyers cannot say how much your individual case is worth without examining the specifics.
Usually, car accident injury claims should cover all expenses related to the crash, including repair costs, medical expenses, lost wages, and more.
On top of that, additional damages are paid for mental anguish, emotional distress, and “pain and suffering” under the category of “non-economic damages.”
In many cases, insurance companies will undercut this value in their initial offers. It is vital to have a lawyer examine your specific case so that you know how much to settle for and can reject any offers that are too low.
Proving Fault in a Henderson Car Crash
Fault in a car accident lies with whichever driver(s) did something wrong, legally speaking, to cause the crash. This holds true whether the crash involves 2 or 20 drivers: only drivers who did something wrong can be responsible.
Doing something “wrong” usually comes in two forms:
- Violating a traffic law, e.g., speeding, drunk driving, tailgating
- Violating the duty to drive as a reasonable driver of ordinary prudence, e.g., driving distracted or failing to look before changing lanes
Crashes are not always black and white, with one driver being 100% at fault. Courts can instead assign a percentage of fault to each driver, including you as the victim.
Comparative Negligence
As long as the victim’s fault is less than the defendant’s fault, NRS 41.141 still allows recovery. However, courts assign a percentage of fault to each driver and assign damages that way.
This means a victim’s own percentage of fault reduces their total damages by that amount.
How Fault is Assigned
Each driver’s actions determine their percentage of fault. This can be assigned based on how bad the violation was and how much it contributed to the crash.
For example, in a three-car crash involving a drunk driver, the drunk driver possibly takes all of the blame, or at least a majority of it. The other drivers might face smaller percentages of fault, e.g., something like 5% for slight speeding and 15% for tailgating.
Do I Have a Strong Case?
The strength of your case usually comes from the strength of your evidence. Your testimony will be good evidence, but the more evidence you have backing it up, the stronger your case.
Pictures, videos, and outside witness statements will corroborate your story and provide clear evidence of what happened. However, we can also point to vehicle repair records and medical records as proof of the accident and its effects, lining up those records with your testimony.
Call Our Henderson Car Accident Lawyers Today
If you were hurt in a crash, call Mitchell Rogers Injury Law’s car accident lawyers at (702) 702-2622.