Personal injury law can be confusing, especially if you didn’t spend years in school studying the legal rule. The law can vary just a little, depending on the type of accident. The steps you take in a car accident claim are a little different when it’s a product liability case.
If you make even a tiny mistake, it can easily derail your personal injury claim. If this isn’t enough to have you researching Nevada personal injury attorneys, here’s a look at some of the common reasons to hire a Las Vegas accident lawyer.
States have varying personal injury laws and this can be pretty confusing. If you’re filing a claim in Nevada, you’re dealing with both at-fault and comparative negligence laws. What do these laws mean for your injury claim?
At-fault insurance laws aren’t usually too hard to figure out. Your auto insurance is usually left out of the claim process. The at-fault driver’s insurance handles most or hopefully all of your expenses. Sounds fairly simple right?
Your claim can get confusing when you hit the at-fault driver’s policy cap. This is when you need to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver. Yep, this means filing your case in a Nevada civil court. You don’t want to go through a civil lawsuit without legal representation.
Now, on to comparative negligence rules. Comparative negligence allows more than one individual to assume blame for an accident. A judge or jury assigns everyone involved a percentage of blame. As long as you’re not more than 50% at fault, you can still file a compensation claim against the other involved party.
However, your settlement is reduced by your percentage of blame. An accident attorney can help ensure you’re not assigned more than your fair share of the blame.
You may initially believe you can calculate the value of your claim without assistance. After all, how difficult is it to tally up your economic damages? You grab your bills and receipts for damages caused by the accident. Their total is your claim’s value, right? You’re partially correct, except you're forgetting about your non-economic damages.
What are your non-economic damages? These are intangible things like pain and suffering stemming from the accident. Non-economic damages aren’t covered by PIP or auto insurance, even if you’re carrying full coverage. You must file a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance to receive compensation for your non-economic damages.
So, how do you calculate your non-economic damages? Your injury attorney can use either the per diem or multiplier method. Both methods use the total of your economic damages but have different formulas for calculating non-economic damages.
The per diem method counts the number of days you’re in pain and multiplies this by the total of your economic damages. The multiplier method assigns your pain a number and multiplies this number by the total of your economic damages.
Yes, you can do the calculations on your own, but it’s best to work with an attorney. You don’t want to forget to include anything in your claim. Once you sign a settlement agreement you can’t file another claim for the same accident. This applies even if you find out that you forgot to add in a medical bill.
Yes, accident lawyers can be expensive. The average hourly rate for an attorney is around $51, and it can go much higher depending on their experience and location. The complexity of the case can also affect attorney fees. So, how can you afford an attorney when you’re dealing with mounting medical bills and other expenses stemming from your accident?
Personal injury attorneys have the option of working on a contingency fee basis. A contingency fee payment structure allows you to retain legal counsel without paying any upfront or hourly costs. Instead, your attorney receives a percentage of your settlement if your injury claim is successful.
When the insurance company issues a settlement check, your attorney deducts their percentage and you get the rest. Even though a contingency fee agreement sounds great, you can run into a few potential surprises like high legal bills.
Contingency fees don’t always cover everything so check with your Las Vegas personal injury attorney to find out when you may be on the hook for covering. If the personal injury claim is unsuccessful, you’re not on the hook for attorney fees. For you, it’s a win-win situation.
Since Nevada is an at-fault state, you need to prove negligence if you’re filing a claim with the other party’s insurance company. While you may know the precise cause of the accident, your word isn’t enough for insurance adjusters. They will require proof.
Proving negligence can be a complicated process, especially if there are multiple parties involved in the accident. Your attorney has access to experts that can include accident scene reconstruction specialists. You may also need to call in medical experts to testify to the extent of your injuries.
Part of the claim process involves negotiating with the insurance adjuster. You submit the value of your claim and the insurance adjuster counters with a lower offer. This can go on for a while, it’s not uncommon to go through several rounds of negotiations. The insurance company’s objective is to wear you down until you accept their preferred offer. This is usually significantly less than the calculated value of your claim.
Your Nevada accident attorney is a skilled negotiator and familiar with the tactics insurance companies commonly use in personal injury claims. The attorney can handle the negotiations to help ensure your claim isn’t devalued.
Since your injury attorney is taking care of the claim process, you can focus on making a full recovery from your injuries. Hopefully, these reasons can help you decide what’s best for your injury claim. Chances are, you’ll realize it’s best to work with a Las Vegas personal injury attorney.
