Las Vegas Injury & Accident Attorney Blog

Despite the chilly temperatures — including rare snow here in Vegas — this winter has been a hot one for Nevada fire accidents. Several random blazes have confounded firefighters in Northern Nevada, while Southern Nevada residents worry about possible Clark County fire station closures.

And downtown in our city, a Las Vegas apartment fire has left two Nevadans without a roof over their head after a candle started a fire that consumed the residence. One woman suffered serious burn injuries to her hands and is receiving treatment. Several pet cats perished in the fire, and the total cost of the Las Vegas fire accident is estimated at $25,000.

In this case, initial investigations suggest that the fire was an accident and that damage was limited. However, incidents like this one can easily escalate into major disasters, with serious personal injury liability implications for those involved. If negligence or reckless behavior caused the fire, the person(s) responsible can be sued for civil damages including a lawsuit for Nevada wrongful death. And when a landlord or property manager fails to maintain updated safety equipment and protocols, s/he can face premises liability action.

If you or a loved one have been harmed in a Nevada fire or explosion accident and you need legal guidance, make an appointment with our experienced Nevada personal injury lawyers. We offer free consultations and have two offices to accommodate you. Experience is the Difference — call us today.

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A 47-year-old woman was arrested today in connection with a house fire that destroyed a home in north Las Vegas last week. The woman, who is believed to have been squatting in the abandoned home, was detained on charges of trespassing and nuisance. No criminal arson charges have been filed yet, but an investigation is ongoing.

With the highest foreclosure rate in the country, Nevada — and especially Clark County — has more than its share of abandoned homes and commercial properties. These buildings are common targets for pranksters, vandals, and transient individuals looking for a place to stay. Although abandoned, these edifices still belong to someone, whether a displaced homeowner, an absentee landlord, or a financial institution such as a bank. Whatever entity holds the deed to the property has a strong interest in seeing that it is maintained in good condition, and they certainly prefer not to see these buildings damaged by mischief or malice.

Depending on the circumstances, a Nevada fire accident in an abandoned residence could leave one or both parties liable for damages. If it is determined that the property owner or steward did not act with appropriate care and a person — sometimes even an unauthorized party — is hurt while inside the building, the owner could face Nevada property liability issues. On the other hand, if a property owner’s financial interests are harmed by a trespassing individual, the owner may be able to pursue a civil judgment against the intruder even in the absence of criminal charges.

If you or a loved one have been harmed in a Nevada fire or explosion accident, you need to seek experienced legal advice as soon as possible. If your family has escaped injury but you are dealing with issues of property liability or civil matters, our attorneys can also help you understand your rights and responsibilities. Contact us today for a free consultation in one of our two Clark County personal injury law offices.

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In recent months, the Ford motor company has watched — likely with a kind of perverse satisfaction — as its automobile rivals have made headlines in the worst of ways. Much of last year’s auto news was dominated by reports of the Toyota acceleration recall, which is implicated in nearly 100 deaths nationwide. Nevada drivers are anxiously awaiting the outcome of litigation in neighboring California to find out if they will receive compensation for direct and indirect damages due to the recalled vehicles.

We recently reported on an engine defect in Honda vehicles that can cause the car to stall suddenly and which has been addressed in a recall affecting some 40,000 cars. Ford is still living down the fallout from its infamous Firestone tire defect epidemic, and now it may have another major issue to deal with. At the urging of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ford has issued a recall of about 140,000 vehicles in the United States due to faulty wiring that can cause the airbags to deploy inadvertently. Although airbags are installed in automobiles as safety devices, they can deploy with powerful force. The Ford airbag deployment problem has affected at least 238 vehicles, and the NHTSA claims that it has been told of dozens of injuries; with airbags deploying unexpectedly, the potential for serious head trauma is alarmingly high.

The recall is voluntary at this point, but it only covers about ten percent of the automobiles the NHTSA wanted to have recalled. Some 1.3 million Ford F-150 pickup trucks are thought to have a wrongly installed wire controlling the airbag monitor. Analysts say that this issue is not yet resolved — Ford is waging a quiet battle with the NHTSA to limit the scope of the recall, but it may not prevail if reports of Nevada Ford airbag defects continue to come in. If you believe that you own or have been harmed by an affected F-150 pickup, contact our Las Vegas automobile defect lawyers today for a free consultation.

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From the reports of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to the sassy monologues of late-night comedians, Toyota’s vehicle recall headaches have been well documented. Most famously, Toyota is still struggling to move beyond a rash of “sudden unintended acceleration” problems in its vehicles, automobile defects that are implicated in nearly 100 deaths from Nevada to New Hampshire. Now, a large part of the automaker’s popular SUV fleet is making headlines with a different issue.

After nearly three dozen complaints nationwide, the NHTSA has issued a recall of more than 40,000 Toyota Highlander vehicles due to a flaw that can lead the engine to stall, sometimes while the vehicle is moving at high speed. So far there have been no automobile injuries linked to the defective vehicles, but this run of good luck may run out soon and in tragic fashion. Two-thirds of the reported vehicle problems occurred at speeds in excess of 40 MPH; it is not hard to imagine such a Nevada automobile defect revealing itself tragically amidst high-speed, close-following Las Vegas traffic. An even larger number of reports claim that the vehicle would not restart after the engine failed, stranding drivers not only with the inconvenience of an interrupted commute and a costly tow-truck bill but in some cases leaving them standing idle on dangerous freeways or busy intersections.

Although this latest blemish on Toyota’s historically strong reliability record is another benign setback with — so far — no harmful after-effects, orchestrating a 40,000-vehicle recall is harder than issuing it. We hope that the NHTSA is able to work with automobile dealers and the Toyota company to quickly and comprehensively contact all affected drivers so they may have their vehicles repaired in a timely fashion. However, we are here to help any Nevada driver injured by a defective automobile. We have been around for the Ford-Firestone tire recall, the first round of Toyota recalls, and we will be ready to help when the next waves of recalls inevitably occur. If you need an experienced Las Vegas personal injury attorney to take your Nevada recalled vehicle accident lawsuit, look no further.

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It is estimated that more than 1,000 miles of railroad track cross the state of Nevada, and hundreds of individuals are employed in passenger rail service, commercial/freight rail, and various jobs arising from the construction, dismantling, and maintenance of railroad tracks. For the Nevada railroad workers who have spent careers working on the physical infrastructure of railroad track, years and even decades of exposure to substances such as welding chemicals, the wood preservative treatment creosote, and even asbestos puts these individuals at increased risk of many railroad-related health problems. Despite this straightforward and well-documented exposure, the path to securing legal compensation for these issues can be long and arduous.

To clarify, most Nevada railroad workers who can show that their employment caused them to face exposure to harmful substances such as asbestos and creosote are able to gain legal compensation. With a diagnosis of asbestosis and an experienced Nevada asbestos illness attorney, a client who can link the disease to workplace exposure is on a strong path toward financial redress. In more serious cases, a Las Vegas asbestosis victim can show the condition’s growth into a virulent cancer such as mesothelioma, which is particularly painful and has historically been taken seriously by courts and juries. Where things get more complicated is when the health effects stop short of malignant cancer or other life-threatening illness yet pose a threat of worsening. Should a victim of moderate railroad chemical illness be compensated for the emotional turmoil of worrying that the condition may worsen?

The U.S. Supreme Court has answered this question, though only in a narrow and divided decision. In Norfolk & Western Railway Co. v. Ayers, the Court considered emotional damages in the light of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), which provides the basis for most litigation related to illness from chemical exposure affecting railroad workers. In a close decision, the Court held that a plaintiff can recover damages based on the fear of future cancer resulting from a present diagnosis of asbestosis or another second-tier chemical illness. However, the Court was careful to limit its ruling to situations in which the fear is “genuine and serious,” and some justices wanted to narrow the rulings scope even further to guarantee that the plaintiff is truly so concerned about possibly developing a more serious condition that it affects his or her daily life sufficiently to warrant emotional damages as we typically see in other Nevada personal injury lawsuits.

What does this mean for Nevada railroad workers who have a second-tier diagnosis but who fear that their condition could worsen after they conclude litigation with their employers for chemical exposure? The short answer is that they should consult with an experienced Nevada emotional damages lawyer. Our Nevada attorneys have vast experience working on cases with elements of emotional damages ranging from automobile accidents to Nevada wrongful death lawsuits. No two cases are the same, and the unsettled nature of this part of the law means that there are no fast, generalized answers. To find out what this relatively unexplored part of the legal landscape holds for you, you should consult with an experienced Nevada personal injury attorney. We offer free consultations and can help explain your options in light of decisions at the Supreme Court and in other federal courts.

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We devote a lot of energy on our Las Vegas accident and injury blog to discussing topics such as new sources of defective products lawsuits and the services that we provide to victims of Southern Nevada automobile accidents and other tragedies. A topic that deserves more attention than it often gets is the behind-the-scenes dimensions of these cases. A large part of what a successful Las Vegas personal injury lawyer does is work with clients to understand their cases, research unusual medical conditions and document injuries, interface with medical experts to develop convincing testimony, and leverage opposing counsel or influence a jury to gain the compensation a client needs and deserves. But a good attorney’s work does not end when the jury comes back with its award for the plaintiff.

When you choose a Southern Nevada personal injury attorney, you make the choice based on factors such as the lawyer’s experience, personal demeanor, and confidence in taking your case. But a lawyer has many duties beyond making you feel happy and helping you win your case. When you come to an attorney after you or a loved one have suffered a spinal cord or brain injury from an accident or have suffered some other form of serious injury, you are putting your trust in this person to be an advocate in a time of great vulnerability. Unfortunately, a handful of Nevada lawyers have abused this trust.

Public records available through the State Bar of Nevada lay out the details of abuses, oversights, and other shortcomings by lawyers licensed in our state. Last year, nearly $650,000 in losses were borne by a few dozen clients whose attorneys took advantage of their power. One attorney, now disbarred after bilking four or more clients, negotiated with insurance companies for injured clients but then held on to tens of thousands of dollars in compensation checks for himself and his staff, paying nothing to his injured clients or their medical service providers. Another Nevada wrongful death attorney abused his station by keeping more than $160,000 in settlement monies in addition to his own fees, leaving one client in the dark until she found out that she had thousands of dollars in medical liens against her home due to her lawyer’s nonpayment of her medical costs out of the winnings.

Many factors influence the decision of who to hire when you need experienced personal injury legal help. At Benson & Bingham, we can point to our strong ties to Nevada, our years of experience in dedicated advocacy, and our proven record of honest dealings when we encourage Nevada families to trust us in their most difficult moments. If you need legal advice from a Nevada personal injury lawyer, contact us today for a free consultation.

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Last year reports of sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles dominated headlines and plagued the generally respected automaker’s profits;  years prior, a widespread pattern of defective Firestone tires installed on Ford vehicles caused an uproar when tire tread separation in these products were linked to a rash of devastating accidents. Rival car companies have surely enjoyed the perverse attention being shined on their competitors, and as the economy has slumped the automobile market has taken on an even stronger zero-sum sensibility. Now, Japanese auto manufacturer Honda has recalled several thousand vehicles in the United States.

The Nevada automobile recall includes some 700,000 Honda vehicles across the world. The issue appears to be a wrongly installed spring in the engine box, which can fail and lead the engine to stall suddenly. The company is hoping to reach vehicle owners quickly to repair the problem, but automobile recalls can be difficult to execute because vehicles can change hands so rapidly and sometimes informally, without a paper trail to follow. If you have a late-model Honda City, Honda Fit, or Honda Freed, you should visit a Honda dealership to find out if your vehicle may be eligible for a repair under the recall.

Our hope is that Honda drivers will be able to obtain a fix for this recall before any problems arise. It does not take much imagination to think of possible devastating impacts of this Nevada automobile defect problem — Las Vegas drivers stalling suddenly on the busy freeway and being involved in rear-end collisions; a sudden loss of speed while trying to pass another vehicle on a two-lane road could result in a ghastly Southern Nevada automobile accident. And on and on. The Toyota vehicle recall has been blamed for as many as 100 deaths, and investigations and litigation on the matter continue. If you or a loved one have been involved in a Nevada car accident with any recalled vehicle, you may have legal rights to compensation. We offer free consultations — call us today.

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If you are like most Nevadans, your first worry about a non-fatal Las Vegas automobile accident is about the condition of your car. “As long as I’m not hemorrhaging,” thinks the steely Nevada driver, “I’m mostly concerned about the cost of repairing my vehicle.” The truth is, we’re a stoic bunch, we depend on our cars to get us from place to place in our spread-out communities, and we really like our cars. So if you are the victim of a Nevada rear-end accident, you might not be thinking about your own health as diligently as you ought to.

The reality is that a rear-end vehicle collision exposes the body to tremendous risk due to the physics of a crash. When you are seated in a vehicle, your lower back (also known as the trunk) and legs are resting against the seat, while the upper body, neck, and head tend to rest directly upon the spine. Being struck from behind causes a sudden forward acceleration on the vehicle, taking the trunk and legs along with it. Yet the neck and head often stay behind, resulting in strong forces placed directly on the back and spine as the body re-aligns itself. This is commonly known as “whiplash,” and it can result in serious Nevada back and spine injuries.

Further complicating matters, the pain usually subsists after about three days. Nevada motorists who experience severe discomfort after a Nevada rear-end accident often visit  a health professional, who may give a rushed overview of tissue inflammation and ruptured blood vessels before concluding that you shouldn’t worry because the pain will subside in a few days. And, often, it does. A few days later you feel only a little stiff, and over a month or so you feel that you make a full recovery.

The reality is that our bodies adjust quickly to discomfort, blinding us to underlying injuries that can grow in severity over time. It is important to work with a Clark County back injury specialist after a Las Vegas rear-end accident, both during the healing process and after the body has repaired itself. Many medical experts believe that a regimen that includes rehabilitative exercises and chiropractic medicine is the key to guiding the body through the final stages of healing in order to make a full recovery.

As you might guess, this kind of medical attention does not come cheap. If you have been injured in a Nevada automobile accident, you need legal guidance as seasoned and savvy as the doctors you seek out. We have a proven record of working with our clients to build the strongest case possible for a Las Vegas personal injury lawsuit, and we help our clients win Nevada jury awards and settlements that pay for damaged property, pain and suffering, and the top-tier medical care that you need to recover fully from a car accident. We offer free consultations and are here to talk to you if you or a loved one have been injured in a car wreck.

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Across the country, budget shortfalls and anemic growth in local economies are forcing local governments to make difficult decisions about the costs and benefits of public services, including social services and police and fire protection. When it comes to the latter, elected officials and citizens are asked to make difficult assessments of the marginal value of a ten-minute fire department response time as compared to a five- or fifteen-minute response. These analyses are not intuitive to begin with, and they are often entirely foreign to those asked to make them. However, for rural Clark County residents living in the Mount Charleston community, the cost of budget solvency might be even higher if it leads to the closure of a Clark County fire station.

West of the Summerlin area, Mount Charleston is an outdoor resort town that hosts an estimated two million visitors each year and whose small community of year-round residents help anchor an important source of Southern Nevada tourist dollars. The availability of mountain sports, hiking, camping, and other outdoor recreation helps Las Vegas appeal to visitors of all stripes rather than just to the typical casino crowd. But these activities also have their side effects — accidental and illegal fires, slip and fall accidents, and various other medical emergencies. In incidents like these, the first responders are often local firefighters. If the Fire Station #1 is closed to satisfy budget demands, residents worry that they may see response times increase drastically and possibly with harmful effects.

With a dry landscape and frequent desert gusts of wind, a Nevada fire accident can quickly grow from a small, contained burn into an uncontrolled wildfire. As the size and heat of the fire grow, so does the challenge of controlling it. Slower response times from Las Vegas fire personnel would increase the risk of fires spreading from rural areas to locations with higher population density, at a cost of greater property damage and individual lives disrupted. Additionally, the fact that fire personnel are frequently the first on the scene of a wildfire or other Las Vegas fire accident means that they are responsible not only for controlling the blaze but also for administering first aid and other medical services. Delays in these individuals’ abilities to respond increase the likelihood of serious Nevada burn injuries.

Clark County residents have called an emergency meeting for Thursday evening to address this issue. Sadly, the urgency of this situation may nonetheless fall prey to budget demands because state coffers and empty and reliance on new revenue sources is still a non-starter for the new governor in light of his no-tax pledge. If you would like to learn more about your legal rights in the wake of a Nevada fire or explosion accident, contact us today for a free consultation.

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Two breaking news stories highlight topics that we frequently discuss here on our Nevada accident and injury blog. From Northern Nevada, these events remind us of the importance of looking out for one another and acting vigilantly to prevent tragedy.

The first event is a shed fire north of Reno that seems to be limited so far to property damage. Nonetheless, the Nevada fire incident has seriously damaged a classic automobile valued for its age and pampered condition. Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the early-morning blaze, but if they find a party responsible for the fire either through malice or through an act of negligence, the owner of the affected vehicle may choose to pursue civil action for compensation.

Northern Nevada police are looking for an 82-year-old man who has gone missing. The man is believed to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease, a neurological condition that can scramble the abilities of elderly persons to think clearly and recall important details. Hopefully the man will be found in safe condition and this will only be a reminder to his caretakers of the importance of vigilant observation of individuals with special needs. Many families lack the resources to provide in-person care around the clock, so they rely on Nevada nursing homes to care for their loved ones. Taking this step is making a leap of faith, and too often Las Vegas seniors fall victim to nursing home facilities that permit Nevada nursing home neglect or worse. It is vital to choose a reputable facility for your loved one and to seek legal advice if you suspect any wrongdoing or inattention to your relative.

As these stories show, we can make our communities safer for people and property by keeping a watchful eye on the horizon and on each other. Where these efforts fall short and trouble or tragedy befall us, legal remedies can help us restore the loss. If you or a loved one have been impacted by fire, personal injury, or nursing home abuse in Nevada, contact us today for a free consultation.

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