Negligence is the basis of personal injury cases. Duty-bound relationships under the law require entities and individuals tasked with a degree of duty of care to others to exercise said duty without failure. This expectation is measured against the reasonable principle, that is, “ What would a reasonable person do given the circumstances?”

Should an entity or individual fail to exercise a reasonable duty of care to another, they are said to be negligent. As a victim of their negligent action, you can file a lawsuit against them to recover damages for your losses or injury their negligent acts caused.

Legal Definition of Negligence Under Nevada Law

Negligence results after a party fails to exercise a duty of care for another’s safety, and in so doing, their actions harm another. In most cases, the defendant may not have intentionally caused the losses or injuries. It, therefore, may be argued that the case was an accident. However, in personal injury cases, intentions are irrelevant.

Of concern in personal injury suits are the existence of a duty-bound relationship and whether the losses or injuries suffered resulted from a breach of a duty of care. Therefore, for as long as a duty of care was breached and harm was caused as a result, the victim has grounds to file a negligence claim.    

Before proceeding further, it is best to understand the term accident and its variation in civil and criminal cases.

An accident is an unintentional action that results in injury or loss or the victim. In criminal proceedings, prosecutors aim at proving guilt, which is the intentional action by the defendant to cause harm to the victim. In this case,  a defendant can claim the actions were accidental, meaning they did not intentionally inflict injury or cause harm to the victim. This could be enough to exonerate the defendant from any responsibility for the loss or injury incurred by the victim.

For civil proceedings, however, as pointed out earlier, intent is irrelevant. Therefore, in the context of personal injury law, an accident points to the unfortunate event that caused injury or loss to the victim.

The following meet the definition of an accident and result in litigated claims in Nevada. In these claims, negligence is foundational.

  • Slip-and-falls
  • Automobile collisions
  • Medical malpractice
  • Construction accidents
  • Hotel accidents
  • Drownings
  • Dog bites
  • Food poisoning

Possible Defendants in Negligence Lawsuits

Potential defendants in personal injury lawsuits vary depending on the case. If a party is determined to have been responsible for a victim’s injuries, they are potential defendants in the suit. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise if a lawsuit has several defendants. With the help of a personal injury attorney, a victim can identify and sue all parties responsible for his/her injuries.

Here’s a look at some of the potential defendants in the following frequently litigated claims.

Slip-and-Falls

Slip-and-fall cases mostly happen in commercial and residential buildings. The cause of the slipping and falling incidents includes, but is not limited to, poor floor structure and the lack of proper signage, especially when there is a construction or cleaning in progress.

Property owners, tenants on the property, or occupants of the property could be held liable for the accident.

Automobile Collisions

Drivers are the immediate, responsible parties in car crashes. As a victim in a car crash, you can also sue:

  • The vehicle’s mechanic, if it is established a mechanical fault caused the crash
  • The city for poorly maintaining the roads, thus contributing to the collision
  • The at-fault driver’s employer if their actions contributed significantly to the crash
  • The vehicle’s manufacturer if their vehicle had a manufacturing defect that resulted or contributed to the accident.

Medical Malpractice

In medical malpractice cases, plaintiffs seek compensation for injuries that result from professional negligence. They can sue healthcare providers, including doctors, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, and hospitals.

Construction Accidents

In personal injury suits resulting from construction accidents, construction workers seek compensation for injuries sustained while on the job. In their pursuit, a construction worker can sue the property owner, architect, construction company, engineer, machine manufacturer, city/government agency, contractor, or subcontractor.

Hotel Accidents

Typical hotel accidents include slip-and-falls, drowning incidents, food poisoning, or hotel transport collisions. As a plaintiff, you can sue the hotel’s owners, management, staff, companies involved in the construction and maintenance of the hotel’s facilities, and food suppliers.

Drownings

In most drowning incidents, the victim is often blamed for the occurrence. However, this does not mean that other parties are not to blame. There is a need for safety around pool areas. Pool owners, building owners, and managers are expected to maintain safety around the pool area. In case of a drowning accident, they are then liable.

Dog  Bites

For dog bites, the dog owner bears the responsibility for injuries resulting from their dog’s bite.

Food Poisoning

In case you fall victim to food poisoning, you can seek compensation from the company that produced the food product, food handlers, and parties involved in the distribution and storage.

Proving Negligence

Once you file a personal injury suit, most defendants will be quick to settle the matter out of court. Based on the advice from your personal injury attorney, you can settle. The attorneys can also advise you to proceed to trial, a move aimed at seeking a significantly higher settlement if the courts rule in your favor. 

During the trial, you need to prove four elements.

  • The defendant owed you a legal duty of care
  • The defendant breached the duty of care
  • Your injuries resulted from the breach
  • Your injuries resulted in damages to which you are seeking compensation.

Unlike criminal cases, the burden of proof in negligence cases is lower. Prosecutors in criminal proceedings have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. In negligence cases, however, as a plaintiff, you have to prove negligence by a preponderance of the evidence. Meaning, the more evidence you present in the case, the more likely the defendant is liable.

Let us look at each element in detail.

  1. Legal Duty of Care

Legal duty of care creates an obligation where an individual or an entity must protect another individual’s safety. In negligence cases, the defendant owes a duty of care to the plaintiff.

The outcome of the case rests on proving that the defendant owed you a legal duty of care.

Every negligence case has its own set of circumstances. Your attorney will rely on these circumstances to prove the existence of a legal duty of care. For most suits, the duty is self-evident.

  1. Breach of the Duty of Care

Once the duty is established, you must prove that the defendant breached their duty of care.

Personal injury attorneys rely on the defendant’s actions to show how they failed to exercise reasonable care in fulfilling their duty. They achieve this objective by demonstrating that:

  • The defendant engaged in creating a risk that resulted in your injury
  • The defendant knew or should have known that his/her conduct would result in harm to you

The list is not exhaustive.

Your attorney could present surveillance video, maintenance records, or eyewitness testimony to prove your case.

  1. Causation

Establishing a breach in the duty of care is not enough to prove negligence. You must prove that the defendant’s actions were the actual cause of your injury(s). The principle relied upon under this section is the “but-for,” which means, but for the defendant’s actions, your injury would not have occurred.

You can prove the defendant’s liability through two avenues, actual and proximate cause. Under actual cause, there is a direct link of the defendant’s actions to your injury. It is also referred to as a cause in fact.

For example, a wrong surgical cut that results in a patient losing vision in one eye.

As for the proximate cause, your injuries resulted from the defendant’s actions, and that said actions were reasonably foreseeable, for example, a driver texting while driving and runs over a pedestrian at a crosswalk.

  1. Damages

Finally, you have to prove that you incurred financial losses or monetary damages because of your injuries. Monetary damages can be proven through tabling bills you have incurred following the accident. These include but are not limited to medical bills and repair invoices if you suffered property damage.

Bills and invoices address quantifiable losses based on expenses that you incurred. They are referred to as economic damages. These damages also include future financial losses on account of your injury. You can do so by demonstrating how your injury limited or caused the loss of your earning potential.

In a personal injury suit, you can also claim non-economic damages that should cater to the pain and suffering you endure. Pain and suffering include emotional distress, the anguish of coping with an injury, and physical disfigurement.

Compensatory Damages

Both economic and non-economic damages fall under compensatory damages. As the name suggests, the damages are sought to compensate the plaintiff for the economic and non-economic suffering they have endured and will potentially experience in the future because of the injury.

It is also important to note that there is no limit to the amount you can receive as compensatory damages. The amount awarded is what is deemed fair and reasonable.

However, one exemption exists in the case of non-economic damages in medical practices. In this case, the sum you can recover is capped at $350,000 regardless of the extent of pain and suffering or the economic damages.

Punitive Damages

Additionally, attorneys can seek punitive damages. These damages aim at punishing the defendant while deterring others from acting like the defendant. Punitive damages are often higher than compensatory damages.

Punitive damages are set forth under NRS 42.005. This law caps  the amount of punitive damages at:

  • $300,000, if the value of compensatory damages awarded to the plaintiff is no more than $100,000 or
  • Three times the value of compensatory damages awarded to the plaintiff if the value of the compensatory damages exceeds $00,000

However, there is no limit to the value of punitive damages a plaintiff can recover in the following situations. The case should involve:

  • Defamation
  • Manufactures, distributors, and retailers of defective products
  • Persons violating state and federal laws prohibiting discriminatory housing operations
  • Insurers acting in bad faith in relation to their contractual obligations in insurance coverage contracts
  • Injury or damages caused by disposal, spilling, or emission of toxic, hazardous, or radioactive waste
  • Car collisions caused by a driver who intentionally consumed alcohol or drugs

Fault Under Nevada Law

After presenting your case, the fault has to be established. It is through determining the degree of fault while apportioning it to the parties in the case that the court will decide the value of damages to award.

It is easy to assume that the defendants bear all fault. However, this is not always the case. In some scenarios, the plaintiff can be apportioned blame that contributed to the injury. Once the degree of fault is determined, it will be clear how much a defendant will pay per their degree of fault. The total value is equivalent to the damages awarded less the degree of fault apportioned to the plaintiff.

Negligence (fault) can either be contributory or comparative.

Contributory Negligence

Under the contributory negligence rule, if you contribute to your injury, you can’t hold another responsible. This means that even if you are found to be 1% at fault for your injuries, you cannot hold the defendant, who was 99% negligent, at fault for the injuries.

In states that allow for the contributory negligence rule, a defendant only needs to prove a plaintiff’s fault to avoid paying damages.

Comparative Negligence

On the other hand, comparative negligence awards damages to the plaintiff irrespective of their portion of negligence. Courts in comparative negligence jurisdictions start by apportioning the degree of negligence parties to the case contributed to the accident that caused the injury. Like in contributory negligence, the degree of fault is quantified as a percentage value.

Comparative negligence is further divided into two, pure and modified comparative negligence.

  1. Pure Comparative Negligence

    Under this rule, a plaintiff can recover damages even if he/she is 99% at fault for the accident. This means that the plaintiff can recover 1% of the damages assessed from a defendant. This rule comes in handy in situations involving multiple defendants, like in a multiple car crash.

  2. Modified Comparative Negligence

Under modified comparative negligence, plaintiffs do not receive compensation if their negligence exceeds a certain threshold. 

Nevada is a modified comparative negligence jurisdiction with a 50% threshold. Meaning, if the plaintiff is more than 50% liable for the accident, they will not recover damages. However, if the plaintiff’s fault does not exceed 50%, they will receive compensation. 

Consider the following example: If the plaintiff were 50% liable for the accident, he/she would receive a 50% payout, an equivalent of the defendant’s liability. If it is determined that the plaintiff was not liable in the case, then he/she receives 100% of the damages.

The following are examples of situations negligence victims contribute to their injury.

  • A victim taunting a dog before it bit them
  • A car crash victim was texting before realizing the at-fault driver, also engaged in distracted driving, was in his lane.
  • A food poisoning victim drank excess alcohol after consuming spoilt meat, thus exacerbating his condition.
  • A slip and all victims could have avoided a wet patch on the floor had she not been engaged on her phone.

The damages recovered by a plaintiff in negligence cases in Nevada is equivalent to the sum awarded in the case reduced by the plaintiff’s weighted blame.

Statute of Limitations For Negligence Cases in Nevada

Accident victims in Nevada have two years to file a negligence suit upon discovery of their injuries. In most cases, the injuries are apparent immediately after the accident. For others, the injuries may manifest later. You need a medical examination to ascertain the existence of the injuries. So it is advisable to see a doctor immediately after an accident.

When the Victim of a Negligence Case Dies

All the aspects detailed above are dealt with if the victim survives the accident.

What happens when the victim dies as a result of the accident?

If a loved one dies, the executors of the victim’s estate or surviving family members can claim damages in a wrongful death suit. The suit can recover:

  • Funeral and burial costs
  • Special damages, which includes medical expenses incurred before the victim’s demise
  • Compensatory and punitive damages the victim would have recovered had he/she not died.

It is also important to note that the statute of limitations in a wrongful death suit is two years. The clock starts running after a loved one’s demise.

Find a Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney Near Me

In negligence cases, time is of the essence. Contact any of our attorneys from Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney Law Firm for a review of your case. We will advise you on your legal options and the possible damages you can recover. Proving negligence is pivotal, and we can help you do that. Contact us at 702-996-1224.