Explosion, electricity accident in downtown Las Vegas shows need for experienced personal injury counsel
For most Las Vegas residents, the news that an electrical transformer exploded early Sunday morning was just a blip on the local news report. For the handful that witnessed it, it was a powerful and even entertaining display of the tremendous power of high-voltage electricity. For all of us, it should be a lesson that Nevada electricity accidents can be unforgettable tragedies.
It took fire crews about an hour to put out the blaze, which erupted shortly after midnight at a transformer station behind the facade of the Monte Carlo casino in downtown Las Vegas. When electricity is not being converted into energy to power our gadgets, run our lights, and do other work, electricity at high concentration has an immense ability to produce heat and even to create Las Vegas explosion accidents that can destroy property and leave personal injury victims with serious or deadly burn injuries.
Just as putting out a fire requires more than just a hose — it also demands planning and strategic thinking — so too must a family affected by a Clark County personal injury must approach its case carefully. One consideration is deciding which parties to hold responsible. Concentrating solely on the owner of the facility could ignore liability that resides with equipment managers, regulatory bodies, and first-responders. Failing to recognize these and other entities’ roles in the accident could permit one party to deflect blame onto another that is not represented.
A case from North Carolina illustrates another key lesson. There, a young man suffered electrocution injuries after a vehicle that he was in crashed into a power pole. He was unhurt by the crash but was electrocuted when he exited the vehicle to find help and to assist his fellow passengers. He sued the power company for negligently allowing some of its emergency-stop mechanisms to fail and thereby leave the power line “live,” but the company countered with a deceitful strategy. By dispatching agents with legal responsibilities to the power company during the initial response to the accident, the company was able to claim in court that the information from the scene was privileged and therefore did not have to be entered as evidence. Only because the victim’s attorneys were thinking ahead and acting with confidence was this strategy defeated and the case allowed to continue.
Being a great personal injury advocate means looking for the best way to win needed compensation for the victims that one represents and being able to adjust to changing circumstances and counter-strategies. If you or a loved one have been hurt in a Las Vegas electrocution accident, contact us today for a free consultation and experienced legal guidance.
