Under NRS 200.460, false imprisonment involves detaining another person without a legal cause. While police officers have a right to arrest and detain you, they must have probable cause. A probable cause, in this case, is reasonable suspicion that you are involved in a criminal act. Being held against your will, even by a police officer, can cause serious mental and sometimes physical anguish.

Even after pursuing a criminal case and having the person who committed the crime face punishment, you can file a civil lawsuit against them. Filing a personal injury lawsuit allows you to recover compensation for the injuries and losses you may have suffered during the detention period.

Before you can recover compensation in a false imprisonment lawsuit, you must prove that the defendant acted purposively with the intent to confine you. False imprisonment claims are difficult to navigate since most cases have law enforcement officers as defendants. Therefore, seeking expert legal guidance is key.

Filing a Claim of False Imprisonment in Nevada

Facing an arrest for a criminal charge is a frightening experience. While some arrests are anticipated, the situation can be confusing when there is probable cause or reasonable justification for your detention. Police officers can rightfully detain you if they suspect you have committed a crime. This could be through physical evidence and witness testimony.

Security personnel from shops can also detain you if you are caught shoplifting or engaging in a criminal act on their premises. Detention by a police officer or any other person against your will constitutes false imprisonment. Common examples of false imprisonment which form a basis for a lawsuit include:

  • The defendant locked you in a room without your knowledge or consent. If you knew or agreed to the act, you cannot pursue a criminal or civil case.
  • A law enforcement officer puts you in handcuffs in the streets, claiming you look suspicious.
  • A nurse ties patients to a bed for no reason and prevents them from meeting their relatives.
  • A terrorist organization takes you and other people hostage by threatening to kill you if you attempt to escape.

Like other intentional torts, false imprisonment can attract criminal and civil liability. A personal injury claim for false imprisonment can be directed toward the following parties:

  • Police officer. Law enforcement officers know your right against an arrest without probable cause. Therefore, if there is no evidence to prompt an arrest and the officer still detains you, you can sue them for violating your constitutional rights.
  • The Sherriff or police chief. Mostly, police officers do not arrest individuals randomly. If an officer arrests and detains you while following orders from the Sherriff or police chief, you can file a lawsuit against both parties. 
  • Store security. While store security officers can detain you for suspected shoplifting, they must not use force against you. Additionally, there are time limits within which you can remain in detention. Failure to follow these rules gives you the right to file a claim against the store.
  • Other individuals. False imprisonment will not only arise when police officers are involved. Any person who holds you without justification can be a defendant in your lawsuit.

Elements of a False Imprisonment Civil Claim

You are a victim of false imprisonment when another person intentionally restricts your movement through physical restraints or verbal threats. Often, this requires a higher mental state than necessary for personal injury claims based on negligence. A civil lawsuit for false imprisonment is based on an intentional act and not reckless behavior.

When police officer detains you without probable cause, they violate your rights and break the laws they are designed to uphold. For each personal injury claim, liability must be assigned before compensation. You can prove liability for your claim by establishing these elements:

  • Unlawful Detention

Proving that your detention was illegal is critical when pursuing a personal injury claim for false imprisonment. Even when the defendant is charged with a criminal case, it must be clear that there was no legal justification for their actions. In most cases, whether your arrest was unlawful is determined by the exact cause of the arrest.

Police officers can rightfully detain you for committing a crime. However, even when the arrest is lawful and justified, you should not be held after you have been proven not guilty of the alleged crime. If you are found guilty of a crime and sentenced, keeping you in custody longer than the sentence allows can be grounds for a false imprisonment civil suit.

Another case where detention could be lawful is when you are caught shoplifting from a store. The security at the store can detain you for a short time while the case is resolved or before they contact law enforcement. However, these individuals can be liable for false imprisonment if they do not have sufficient evidence to prove that they engaged in the shoplifting act.

The most common form of restraint is the use of physical force. However, you can still claim unlawful restraint if you are threatened with violence to keep you from leaving. For this reason, evidence of physical constraint is unnecessary to substantiate your claim. For example, if police officers arrest you without cause and place you in a locked cell or threaten to shoot you if you leave, you may have a valid claim under both circumstances.

  • Unwilling Detention

You can only claim compensation in a false imprisonment lawsuit if the defendant held you against your will. In deciding if the restraint was against your will, the court will consider a reasonable person’s standard and the specific circumstances of your situation. Victims are detained if placed in a confined area and not allowed to leave.

An area of confinement could range from a small chair where you are guarded to a large locked room with no way to leave without endangering your safety. You must understand being prevented from entering an area will not constitute unlawful confinement.

Your detention must involve physical force, deception, tricks, or threats of harm. If your false imprisonment is based on threats, the law does not require that these threats be based on bodily harm. A threat to property or your reputation is good enough to substantiate your false imprisonment claim. Additionally, the threats do not need to have immediate consequences.

If there was an easy way to eliminate yourself from the situation and you failed to take it, the defendant can avoid liability for false imprisonment. The court determines whether or not you had an opportunity by considering how a reasonable person would act under similar circumstances.

For example, if a police officer stops you on the streets and asks you about a crime that you may have witnessed, you have no obligation to stay with them or follow them to the station. If you fail to leave willfully, you cannot claim that you were falsely imprisoned.

  • Intention to Detain You

Creating conditions of confinement for a person negligently or accidentally is not sufficient to prove that false imprisonment occurred. You have the burden to confirm that the defendant intended to restrain you. For example, if a person locks a room without knowing of your presence in the room, it will not make them liable for the trauma and injuries you suffer from being locked up.

However, if a defendant restrains you while attempting to imprison another person falsely, they can still be charged with false imprisonment and face a civil lawsuit.

  • Lack of Legal Justification

There are several situations under which a police officer or someone else can legally restrain you besides consent. When you battle a civil lawsuit against another person for false imprisonment, you are responsible for showing that the defendant did not have legal grounds to restrain you.

Law enforcement officers will not easily accept liability for violating your rights and can use all legal avenues to argue that they were legally allowed to keep you detained. Therefore, seeking expert legal guidance throughout your claim is critical.

Justification from Defendants in your Claim

A successful lawsuit means the defendant will be liable for the losses you suffered from the imprisonment. No one wants to suffer the financial constraints of a civil lawsuit. Therefore, as you fight to prove the elements of your claim, the defendants will build a case to dispute your claim and avoid the civil consequences of your actions. For each element you try to prove, the defendants and their attorneys may give the following justifications:

Probable Cause

When you battle a civil claim against a law enforcement officer or police department, they will argue that the arrest and detention were lawful. A probable cause is formulated with the circumstances of a case and the evidence available to support the suspicions. If the imprisonment is justified, your civil claim will be thrown out.

Consent for Restraint

One of the elements of your lawsuit is that you were held against your will. An individual who consents to be restrained without force or coercion cannot file a successful claim for false imprisonment.

There Was Lawful Justification

In addition to the right that law enforcement officers arrest you and place you in a jail cell, other individuals can lawfully detain you. For example, security or store management can claim their right to detain you for engaging in illegal conduct at their premise. This defense to your claim will be substantiated under the following conditions:

  • You were restrained for a limited period for investigations
  • There was a justified reason to believe that you committed a crime like shoplifting
  • The amount of force used was only enough to keep you from leaving, and no harm was caused
  • The incident was communicated to law enforcement officers for further detention

Knowing the types of defenses the decadent can use to avoid liability for violating your rights helps you build a strong claim. Additionally, you can gather sufficient evidence to prove your right to compensation. 

You Were Free to Leave

Under Nevada law, you are falsely imprisoned when there is no way for you to leave confinement safely. Therefore, if you file a claim against a person for false imprisonment, they can avoid liability by providing evidence to show that you were free to leave but failed to do so.

Compensation Benefits in a False Imprisonment Lawsuit

If you can prove all the elements of false imprisonment, you have a right to be compensated for the damages you suffered from false imprisonment. Common benefits you can recover from your false imprisonment claim include:

Medical Bills

Confinement ranges from being guarded to avoid leaving to using extreme force and violence to keep someone from leaving. If you suffered an injury owing to unlawful confinement, you could recover compensation for your medical expense resulting from the injuries. When someone holds you illegally, you may try everything you can to escape confinement.

The attempts to escape can cause you serious injuries. You could suffer a wide range of injuries from a wrongful act like false imprisonment. Your attempt to run can cause scrapes and cuts, and sometimes you may suffer assault for resisting the detention. If you are a victim of false imprisonment, you must seek medical care. 

While receiving treatment, request your physician to document your injuries and give you a report. Presenting the doctor’s report to the court during your claim helps prove the extent of your injuries and the cost incurred to treat them.

Lost Wages

False imprisonment can range from a few hours at a department store to months or years in jail. If police officers arrest you and keep you in a jail cell for more time than necessary, you may be unable to return to work. Most employers do not understand when employees miss work because they are in jail. For this reason, it is easy to lose your job.

Sometimes, you suffer a serious injury like a gunshot during the incident and cannot return to work while in the hospital. In Nevada, lost wages are the money you lose when you miss work. Lost wages could be in a monthly salary, commission, or income from self-employment.

If your claim is successful, you will be compensated for the amount you lost in wages. Before recovering from this damage, the court will require evidence of your losses. You can do this by asking your employer for a lost wages letter. This letter will indicate your employment contract, the number of work hours you missed, and the amount you would have earned.

If you gain income from self-employment, you can use your past tax returns and pay stubs to prove your lost amount.

Pain and Suffering

You do not have to suffer a physical injury to recover compensation in a false imprisonment civil claim. Being detained can cause serious emotional trauma. Depending on your experience during detention, you can claim compensation for pain and suffering caused by the defendant. Although pain cannot be equated to money, the compensation you recover will help you lower your financial burden for the incident.

Additionally, you can use the money for psychological counseling to help you move past the incident. Determining the compensation for pain and suffering is complicated. However, evidence of severe physical injury can increase your chances of high compensation.

Punitive Damages

In Nevada, punitive damages are awarded in cases where a defendant’s conduct was malicious and fraudulent. Unlike in accident claims where the case is based on negligence, false imprisonment I an intentional act. If you can prove that the police officer or other defendants acted out of malice, you can recover the punitive damages. Malice, in this case, is any action intended to injure you or conduct that disregards your rights.

Unlike compensatory benefits, an award for punitive damages is not dependent on your injuries or losses. Instead, it is meant to punish the defendant for their actions and discourage others from acting similarly. You can recover the punitive damages in the following steps:

  • Win your case. Like other types of compensation, your punitive damages are awarded after a successful civil lawsuit.
  • Ask for this type of damage in your claim
  • Attend a subsequent proceeding to determine the extent of your award.

Find a Skilled Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyer

A person is guilty of false imprisonment when they intentionally detain you without a legal justification. A person can strip you of your freedom through physical restraint or threats of harm if you attempt to leave. One of the most common forms of false imprisonment is arrest and detention without probable cause. 

You can pursue criminal charges and a civil lawsuit if you are detained by a law enforcement officer or private citizen without a legitimate. If you can prove that your arrest or detention was unlawful, you can file a lawsuit based on violating your civil rights. In a successful claim or suit, the court can award monetary compensation for the physical and emotional effects of the ordeal. 

Pursuing a claim against law enforcement officers and police departments will be challenging. This is because they will have strong legal teams and protection from the government. Therefore, hiring and retaining a personal injury lawyer is crucial. At Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney Law Firm, we offer competent legal guidance to all our clients claiming compensation for false imprisonment in Las Vegas, NV. Call us at 702-996-1224.