Your Las Vegas PERSONAL INJURY Attorney
ACCIDENT INJURIES
Unexpected injury can come from many types of accidents including car accidents, slip and fall, or even a battery when someone intentionally strikes the victim. No matter the cause of the injury, if you are not at fault, there is a remedy to collect money damages to cover the costs associated with the injury. Injuries will create signification emotional, physical and financial problems. It is important to get someone by your side that can guide you through the complex problem solving to achieve the best results for your case.
Ravenholt and Associates has been helping our clients for over twenty years to maximize their recovery and receive compensation for their injuries. We work with our clients to understand how to get back on track with their lives after receiving injuries from an accident. Our firm has a reputation for fighting a hard legal battle to allow our clients to move on with compensation for their injuries. Our firm is meticulous in our case preparation, we think outside the box in our case strategies and have strong litigation skills to get the just results for you. Nothing will bring you back to the condition you were in before the accident but we make sure you are able to minimize the effects of the injury and move on with your life.
POTENTIAL DAMAGES AND LOSSES
The person who injures you can be found liable for damages and losses that include all losses stemming from the accident. You need an attorney who knows of all the areas available for compensation to assist you with settlement collections. If you do not ask for everything you are allowed to collect, the other side will not tell you about it. These include but are not limited to:
Hospital Bills
Doctor Bills including repayment of your deductible and office visit fees
Loss of Wages for being off work
Loss of earning capacity (future wages), and
Property loss (damage to your vehicle).
Personal property
General damages include those that do not have an easily-calculated dollar amount. General damages tend to be much more subjective, and include the following:
Emotional distress or trauma caused by the accident;
Pain and suffering;
The inability to have children due to accident-related injuries;
A disfigurement which causes you emotional pain;
The loss of an extremity, which can lead to psychological issues, and
Loss of consortium if the auto accident resulted in a strain on your relationship.
It is important to note that you must provide evidence of each of these areas of loss in order to collect from them. That is why an experienced attorney assisting you will pay for itself by the end of the case.
LIABILITY UNDER NEVADA LAW
For all injuries under Nevada law, making sure the responsible person pays for the damages is a complex process and needs attorney representation. Liability can be attributed to both parties or shared among more than one individual and/or business. Under the standard Negligence standard, for a person to be held responsible, that person must have had a duty to the injured person or under law, they must have breached that duty and were the actual and proximate cause of the injury. And finally, there must have been damages caused by this breach of duty. The substandard of care must be proven. This is clearly an area you need an attorney to help you with negotiations.
Nevada further uses the modified comparative negligence rule when it determines liability and damages under the law. In simple terms this means that both parties in an accident can be found to have some liability for the accident. If you are found partially at fault for your injury, the amount of compensation you are entitled to receive will be reduced by the percentage at fault you are found. If you are found to be more than 50% liable for your injuries, then you cannot collect any damages from the other side. Our firm works very hard against the representatives of the other side to insure they do not abuse this formula to get out of paying you any money. The other side almost always attempts to use this to reduce the amount of money they have to pay you. You need a great attorney to prevent this type of abuse and our firm can and will do this for you.
The other party’s insurance company may offer to pay a minimal amount of money as settlement for your case, or they will try to make you believe that you’re not entitled to any compensation and will deny your claim altogether. Talking to a personal injury attorney at the soonest possible time after an accident can ensure that your rights to compensation under Nevada Law are protected.
PREPARING FOR THE INITIAL CONSULTATION WITH ATTORNEY
Our law firm needs to know the entire story about the accident and has to gather all relevant information about your injuries in order to assess your case. During the initial consultation after the accident, start putting all your paperwork and bills into a single file. You should bring this file with you to your attorney visit. This information includes:
Medical Records
Medical Bills
Copy of the Police Report
Emergency Room Records
Emergency Room Bills
Information on the other person including driver’s name, address and telephone number
Insurance Information for both Parties
Name, Address and Telephone Number of any Witnesses
Pictures of Your Injuries
With this information, our attorneys will be able to evaluate your case and claim. We will be able to start the process of determining the best course of action to bring you the maximum settlement for your damages. We will be able to inform you on `how to proceed in your daily life that substantiates all the requirements that will be needed to prove your case. You will know how to go forward and will be confident that you have someone to assist you with all your questions and concerns.
FACTORS IN DETERMINING FAULT
When preparing a case the key is determining who was at fault for your injury. There are many factors involved in this determination including:
The nature of the injury and how it was caused. Where are the injuries, how they happened, how severe are they and what caused the force that made the injury occur.
The Police Report – This is an important piece of evidence that contains more information than you know. It is a vital piece of the puzzle in determining who was at fault for the accident and it comes from an independent third party that is not involved in the case. Police officers are trained to determine fault. They are able to sift through the conflicting stories that are told at the accident scene and using the physical evidence at the scene of the accident, determine who is at fault. Our experience is that insurance company representatives put a significant stock in the findings of the police report. How to use this information is best done by your attorney.
Evidence You Gather – After the accident it important for you to start keeping good records of everything related to the accident and injuries. We have our client keep a daily journal recording information such as pain you are feeling and where the pain is located. What activities you were forced to stop or miss because you were injured. What time you had to take off from work and the expenses you incurred. Keeping good records is important. Taking photographs of your injuries, the accident scene and the vehicle is vital to demonstrate the damages. This information will be lost if not preserved by you photographing it. You will be able to record witnesses and their addresses and phone numbers. By recording this information in a daily diary, we can use the diary to refresh your memory before future case hearings or depositions. Remember that the more severe the injuries and the higher the settlement amount asked for, the longer the other side will delay the settlement in order to not pay. Very severe injuries may take year before settling and this diary preserves the information you to use in the future. Keep a diary.
Who is at Fault – After an accident you should never make the determination that you were at fault and tell the other driver. There are so many other facts that you are unaware of just after the accident. Was the traffic light properly working, was the other driver on the telephone, was there another driver that did something that actually caused the accident that you did not see. For all these reasons, just provide your driver's license and insurance, render aid to someone who needs it but otherwise do not speak or write anything down that admits you are liable. That is why you need an attorney to assist you right after the accident, we will be best to present your side of the case to the insurance company to determine fault.
The NHTSA estimated in 2013 that driver distraction was responsible for a minimum of 10 percent of all fatal crashes and 18 percent of all crashes resulting in serious injury. Among drivers ages 15 to 19, at least 10 percent were reported as distracted at the time of their involvement in a fatal crash.
Many believe these statistics are very conservative and that there are many more crashes related to distracted driving. The U.S. Department of Transportation calls distracted driving a “dangerous epidemic on America’s roadways,” stating there were 3,129 people killed in distracted driving crashes in 2014.
Cell phone use may be the most dangerous distraction of all. Although Nevada motorists were prohibited from talking and texting on hand-held cell phones while driving, subsequent studies have shown that even hands-free technology can be a significant distraction.
Further, despite the fact talking and texting are against the law, a 2014 survey found that at least 75 percent of drivers admit to texting while driving, and even more talk on their cell phone. Some research points to the fact that talking on a cell phone while driving is equivalent to having a blood alcohol content of .08 percent (the legal limit).
Ravenholt and Associates will be an important partner in your personal injury case. We will act as your legal representative and guide through the difficult world of negotiations and settlement of your case. Our firm will provide you with legal competence and down to earth representation to help you get the money you deserve. Contact our firm at (702) 647-0110 to set up a free consultation to discuss your case.
Ravenholt & Associates
2013 Alta Dr.
Las Vegas, NV 89106
702-647-0110 office
702-647-6332 fax
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