Archive for year: 2024

Hello again everyone. The weather today got me thinking about how slick and dangerous the roads are today (July 18, 2024). There have probably been a lot of crashes today. This means the insurance companies will be busy trying to settle lots of claims on the cheap before you decide it is in your best interest to discuss your rights and options with an attorney.

This has been happening more and more over the past few years. Insurance companies are making very quick offers wherein the adjuster is offering a few thousand dollars and promising “we will also pay up to $5,000 in medical bills incurred in the next 60 day so long as the treatment is related to injuries from the crash.” At first blush this may sound tempting. But, rarely are things what the seem at first blush.

The truth is most people very likely will not know how injured you are in the first 60 days of your crash. Nobody knows how much in medical treatment is necessary or the severity of injuries and how those injuries will limit day to day activities, work activities, and enjoyment of life. This lack of knowledge can be devastating because it might be tempting to take the $2,500 that is offered plus the promise to $5,000 in medical treatment.

So, the settlement agreement is signed. A few weeks goes by and the realization sets in that the injuries are far worse than originally thought. That $5,000 in treatment isn’t even close to covering what you need. The “kicking of self” sets in for having believed the insurance company was trying to “do a solid” by settling this claim without consulting a pesky personal injury lawyer. If only there was something that could be done.

Fortunately, there is! Our legislature in 2019 enacted Nevada Revised Statute 10.185. This statute allows you settlement agreements to be set aside if certain conditions a met. If you are not represented by an attorney and the insurance company settles with you within 30 days of your crash, you have 60 days to undue the settlement. You need to sign a notice telling the insurance company that you are electing to void the release. This signed notice must be sent to the insurance company within 10 days of signing the notice. In addition, within that 10 days of signing the notice you must also send back any money the insurance company has paid to you (and likely your doctors). So, for example:

– Crash occurs on July 1;
– Insurance company offers you a settlement and your accept it at some point in time within 30 days of July 1 (for this example that is July 31)
– You are not represented by an attorney when you accept and sign the settlement agreement;
– You have until August 30 to sign a written disclosure voiding the settlement AND send back any money you received.
– Let’ say you sign the disclosure on August 10. You have until August 20 to send the written disclosure AND the money back (again, once you sign the disclosure you only have 10 days to send it and the money back).

Confusing- a bit. But, it does offer protection from an insurance company doing what they generally do best which is taking advantage of you (something our legislature must have been keenly aware of when passing this law).

I have had a couple of instances where this has happened- a potential client comes to me and tells me they already settled and ask if there is anything I can do. Based on the timing of when they get to me after the have been tricked into settling the answer is a resounding yes. This said, if you are seeking representation and have settled your claim let your attorney know so he or she can take the proper steps to get it set aside for you- assuming you are still in the time frame to do so.

Don’t let the insurance companies take advantage of you. If you are injured in a crash, consult a lawyer. Know your rights. Don’t be tricked into making what could be a life long and catastrophic mistake which deprives you of your ability to get help.

Until next time, stay safe.

Because I am probably still a teenager at heart, I admittedly giggled when I came up with the title of this blog post. But, it is most certainly appropriate given the gist of this post irrespective of my quasi juvenile nature.

The largest personal injury law firm in the country has taken root in Las Vegas. They are proud of their size, and that’s great! And, they are proud of their results as well they should be. The head of their litigation department is immensely talented and although I have never met him in person I have read his books and seen him lecture live.

The above said, as you know if you have visited my posts before I not infrequently take over cases from bigger (advertising) firms. Sometimes it is because they drop the case. It’s too much work. The fruit is not low hanging and that means work- more work than they want to put into that harvest. Sometimes it is because the client doesn’t want to feel like a number anymore. Their case isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Now, let me be transparent about this: Mistakes happen. Everyone makes them. Things slip through the cracks. But, how does a case that involves an impaired bus driver who hits a parked car sending all three occupants to the hospital get lost in the shuffle?

A little over a month ago three potential clients came into my office. They were being represented by another law firm (don’t ASK me who). A larger firm that advertises regularly. The three potential clients had been involved in a horrific crash- in fact in all of my years as a lawyer it is in the top five worst crashes I have seen.

All three went to the hospital. All three had over $100,000 in hospital bills alone. They were significantly injured. Now, it is not uncommon that cases like this can take time. Lots of time. But, this claim is against an entity that is a “political subdivision” of the state of Nevada. This means that the entity can only ever be liable (expect in rare circumstances that don’t apply here) for only $200,000 in damages. No matter how bad the injuries are, it is $200,000.

A claim where the injured person has over $100,000 in hospital bills, the driver that caused the crash was “allegedly” DUI, and the impact was so violent that there is no more back of my clients’ vehicle is worth $200,000 every time. It’s worth more. But, with a $200,000 cap there is no reason at all to delay getting the settlement demand out with the hospital records and bills alone.

Well, this larger firm didn’t seem to understand this. When my client called her then lawyer and asked why this was taking so long, the response was, well, let’s just say it showed a fundamental misunderstanding as to how a case like this should work. My clients were told it would take another three (3) to five (5) months before the case could start to be negotiated. I disagreed.

The clients decided they wanted us to handle the case. I had the settlement demands out the next day. I did (in no small part because my clients brough their hospital bills with them to our meeting). Thirty days later all three cases were settled each for the full $200,000 maximum allowed under the law.

So, why am I telling you this story? Is it to denigrate the firm the case came from? Not at all. Like I said we all mistakes, and we don’t know what we don’t know. Maybe this firm just didn’t know. Is it to belittle large firms? Nope. Not one bit. Large firms often to great work and have immense resources. The point of this post is this: Before immediately picking up the phone and calling someone whose name is on a Zamboni, or whose billboard photo is 10 years out of date, take some time to look around. Do your research. Maybe your best option is a smaller firm with fewer cases so that your case gets the attention it deserves. Maybe it is a larger firm because you just feel more comfortable with something, well, big. Either way, be an informed consumer and make a choice based on something a bit more substantive than size.

It shocks me as a I drive around town to see lawyers like myself advertise as “accident” attorneys. When I see (or hear) this I generally shake my head with a not so mild degree of disgust. Why, you ask? Good question. Because calling a crash or collision an accident demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding as to what our client or potential client has been involved in. It by no means was an “accident” when they got rear ended by an inattentive driver or smashed into by someone who ran a red light. Let me explain.

There is a reason why the reports filled out by Metro and NHP are called “Traffic CRASH Reports” and not “Traffic ACCIDENT Reports.” When another driver violates the safety rules of the road and hits you with his or her car, it is not an “accident.” An accident is an event which happens that is out of the control of the individuals involved.

Let’s say you are taking a nice Sunday drive up at Mt. Charleston. Out of nowhere a boulder falls off the mountain and hits your car. This is an accident. For those that prefer the water to the mountains, imagine you are cruising around Lake Mead. An unexpected and unforcasted storm front rushes in. You immediately start back to the marina and as you are heading to safety your boat gets struck by lightning. That is an accident. When someone rear ends you or runs a red light and you get t-boned, that is not an accident. Why? Because what happened is due to a choice made by the other driver. That driver, for whatever reason, chose to not pay attention to his or her driving. They chose to allow themselves to be distracted. They chose to try and “beat the light.” The chose to follow too closely. They chose to driver faster than the conditions safely allowed for. They had control of whether or not they followed the rules of the road and they made a conscious decision not to. That boulder or the lightening bolt didn’t.

The more accurate description of what happens when one driver hits another is crash or collision. Now, defense lawyers and insurance companies hate it when plaintiff attorneys use those words. The defense wants the jury to believe this was an “accident.” “Hey, accidents happen. My client didn’t mean to cause an accident.” This sounds a lot more innocent than “Hey, my client admits this crash happened because he chose to pay attention to the phone instead of paying attention to his driving” or “My client really needed that drink from his triple venti white mocha and instead of paying attention to traffic in front of him he drank that thing down like he had been stuck in the desert for a month. That is why he didn’t see the light change from green to red and caused this crash.”

The distracted driver made a conscious choice to not focus on the safety rules of the road (and consequently yours safety) and instead focus on something else. When that happens, a crash is the expected and natural consequences of that choice. Or, to put it another way, what the hell did you think was going to happen when you were watching the newest Tik Tok dance while heading down the 95 at 70 miles per hour? Well, the end result isn’t an “accident.” It’s a collision. It’s a crash. And it’s a shame.

If you are the victim of someone choosing to focus on that venti mocha or their phone instead of the rules of the road (and consequently your safety) choosing an attorney who thinks you have had an “accident” may be putting yourself on a collision course to have your claim crash and burn.

Until next time, stay safe.