Spinal cord injuries are devastating physically, emotionally, and monetarily. People who injure their backs in automobile collisions, falls, or work accidents may require around-the-clock care for the rest of their lives.
Our Las Vegas spinal cord injury attorneys seek out all the parties who caused your accident and hold them financially accountable to the full extent of the law. We fight for all the damages possible to cover your past, present and future injury-related expenses.
1. Who is responsible for my spinal cord injuries?
If you injured your spinal cord in a Nevada car accident, you can bring a negligence lawsuit against the:
- At-fault driver(s) who caused the collision;
- The mechanics who last serviced the vehicle, if their mistakes caused it to malfunction; and/or
- The local government if the crash was caused or worsened by bad road maintenance or broken traffic signs
And if your vehicle malfunctions due to a design defect, you can also bring a products liability lawsuit against the car manufacturer.
If your spinal cord injury was from a slip and fall in a hotel, grocery store, or other person’s home, you may be able to sue the property owner for failing to cordon off the area or not warning you about the fall hazard.
And if a surgeon caused your spinal cord injury during a botched procedure, you can sue the provider and hospital for medical malpractice.
Note that if you were injured at work, you should be able to file for workers’ compensation. A personal injury attorney can help you determine if you have grounds to file a lawsuit against any third parties that may have contributed to your injury.1
Serious spinal cord injuries cause paraplegia, quadriplegia, and loss of sensation, bladder control, & sexual function.
2. What money can I get in a lawsuit?
Back injuries affect the rest of the body and gravely impair quality of life. Therefore, Las Vegas spinal cord injuries lawyers seek maximum financial compensation to cover:
- medical expenses, including for hospitalizations, operations, medications, long term medical care and physical therapy;
- lost wages during the time you are too injured to have a job;
- lost earning capacity from being too injured to work in the future; and/or
- pain and suffering, including emotional distress.
Note that if the spinal cord injury victim dies from the accident, the victim’s estate and family members can bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the at-fault parties. The personal injury lawyer would seek damages for loss of support, funeral expenses, medical bills before the death, and more.2
If your back injury was from a workplace accident, then your employers’ workers’ compensation insurance company could cover your:
- medical treatments;
- temporary disability or permanent disability payments; and/or
- vocational rehabilitation (if applicable).3
3. Can I still sue if I was partly at fault?
Yes. Under Nevada’s modified comparative negligence law, you can prevail on personal injury claims as long as you were no more than 50% at fault.4 So if you contributed to your injury (such as by forgetting to wear a seat belt or by not paying attention to where you were walking), you could still be eligible for substantial financial damages.
Common causes of spinal cord injuries are car accidents and motorcycle accidents.
4. What is the deadline for filing a lawsuit?
Nevada has a two-year statute of limitations to bring negligence or products liability lawsuits. The deadline to bring a medical malpractice case can be as short as one year after the injury. And in workers’ compensation cases, the process needs to begin within seven days of the injury.5
Therefore, do not wait to contact an attorney about bringing a spinal cord injury claim. It takes time for attorneys to work up a successful personal injury case. And the more time that goes by, the harder it is to preserve evidence and eyewitness accounts.
5. Is an attorney really necessary?
Victims recovering from back injuries – especially complete spinal cord injuries – are in no position to engage in the aggressive investigation, negotiation, and litigation necessary to achieve the maximum financial recovery. This is especially true since the defendants’ insurance companies will use every delay tactic in the book to avoid paying a cent.
By relying on an experienced Las Vegas spinal cord injury attorney, you can focus on rehabilitation while we fight for all the money available under Nevada law. And we know from experience how to pressure insurance companies into paying the most money as quickly as possible.
And since we work on a contingency fee basis, you do not pay us a cent unless we are victorious in your case. That way, filing a lawsuit is completely risk-free for you.
Types of spinal cord injuries depend on if damage occurs in the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, or sacral regions.
Have you or a loved one sustained a spine injury in a vehicle accident or other accident? You need legal representation. Contact our experienced spinal cord injury attorneys for legal advice on protecting your legal rights. Our Las Vegas spinal cord injury lawyers will fight for the maximum compensation available under Nevada personal injury law.
Our Nevada law firm’s legal team takes spinal cord injury cases throughout the state. We are available 24/7 to discuss your legal options.
Legal References
- See, for example: Butler v. Bayer (2007) ; Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft v. Roth (2011) 127 Nev. 122.
- NRS 41.085.
- NRS 616A – NRS 616C.
- NRS 41.141. See note 3.
- NRS 11.190. NRS 41A.097.