Las Vegas Injury & Accident Attorney Blog

While the appliances in your kitchen have proven safe for years, there are a number of cooking appliances that can often be very dangerous and even turn deadly. For a  family in Paradise, NV, however, the use of a portable fryer injured five people, killed two dogs and caused over $40,000 to their home. Two children and two adults were rushed to University Hospital to treat their injuries. Both children are listed in critical condition while one adult has less serious injuries and one has been classified as having serious burns. If you or a family member have been injured due to a household accident in Las Vegas, Benson and Bingham can help you to recover financially.

Around twelve people were at the house on Reeder Avenue on an enclosed porch as people cooked in the deep fryer, which was heated by an open flame. Somehow, the deep fryer was knocked over, and the oil used for cooking soon ignited. The fire spread through the home and even reached the houses attic. The family is being assisted by the American Red Cross. Benson and Bingham can assist you when you have been injured in a Las Vegas personal injury accident.

Benson and Bingham is Las Vegas premiere personal injury law firm. We focus on a number of Southern Nevada injury case types including Southern Nevada personal injury, Las Vegas car accidents and even out of state casino accidents when the corporate parent is located in Nevada. We have been assisting people and their families injured in accidents since 2003. In 2010 and 2011, we secured over $24,000,000 in injury awards for our clients. These successes were made possible by the relationships we develop with our clients. Our clients are so important to us that after a completed case, should anyone be unhappy with their final bill, we work with them to develop an invoice that meets their approval.

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In 2007, the NBA held their All-Star Game in Las Vegas for the first time. The game was unique because it wasn’t being held in a city that currently had an NBA franchise, but instead was being held in America’s leisure capital. However, violence that weekend marred what could have been a signature event for the largest city in the Silver State. Two shootings occurred in the late hours of Sunday Evening/Monday morning. One occurred in the parking lot of the MGM grand, yet the injured man failed to press charges. The other shooting occurred at a Las Vegas strip club called Minxx. Three people were injured in the shooting, and one, former wrestler Tomas Urbanski had his spine severed, causing him to lose the use of his legs. If you have been involved in a Las Vegas spinal cord injury accident, Benson and Bingham can represent you in your personal injury case.

The shooting occurred when professional football running back Adam Pac Man Jones decided to make it rain in the club by throwing a significant amount of money in the air. After the money had fallen to the ground, dancers at the club began to pick up the money. Mr. Jones feared the dancers were intending to keep the money and allegedly grabbed the dancers hair. After slamming the dancer’s head on the stage, Mr. Jones was confronted by a club security guard and was asked to leave the premises. At the same time, Chris Mitchell, who worked for the club, left the premises with a trash bag full of approximately $81,000 and two expensive Beitling watches. As patrons were leaving the club after the incident, a person suspected of belonging to Mr. Jones entourage fired into the crowd, injuring three, including Mr. Urbanski. If you have suffered a significant back injury in Southern Nevada, Benson and Bingham can represent you in your Southern Nevada personal injury case.

This year, Mr. Urbanski was awarded $13 million in his personal injury lawsuit against Mr. Jones. Alleging his paralysis in the Clark County shooting was due to the NFL’s negligence in controlling Mr. Jones behavior, Mr. Urbanksi also filed suit against the National Football League. The case was originally thrown out of court in 2008 but an August 21^st appeal by Mr. Urbanski led the Nevada Supreme Court to appoint a mediator in the case on August 30^th.

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Despite the Las Vegas Metro Police department’s revised use of force policy, another Las Vegas policeman was involved in the shooting of a civilian last week. The shooting occurred when a 19-year old Vegas man attempted to rob a 7-11 convenience store on North Jones Boulevard. The officer, Steve Lehmann, 34, was in the parking lot of the convenience store when two customers exited excitedly, informing him the chain store was in the midst of an armed robbery. When Officer Lehmann entered the store, he saw 19 year old Lawrence Howard pointing a handgun at the store clerk. Seconds later, Mr. Howard turned towards Officer Lehmann, and in the process pointing his .38 caliber weapon at the Las Vegas Metro Police Officer. Officer Lehmann, fearing for his safety, immediately shot Mr. Howard several times. Mr. Howard was not killed by the shots and was transported immediately to University Hospital. It is unknown as to whether or not Officer Lehmann warned Mr. Howard before firing. If you or a relative has been involved in a Las Vegas personal injury shooting, Benson and Bingham can represent you to help you recover money for lost work, pain and suffering and medical bills.

Troubled by the large amount of officer involved shootings by members of the Las Vegas Police, te department recently revised its policy for the use of deadly force. Doug Gillespie, the Clark County Sherriff recently stated that the 3300 police officers of Las Vegas Metro and other departments have recently received training highlighting the value of human life. The training also included other tools for officers to use in violent situations. Part of the motivation for the new police directives has been to reduce local governments’ exposure to Las Vegas wrongful death and Clark County personal injury lawsuits.

Benson and Bingham is a Southern Nevada personal injury law firm that works to build strong relationships with our clients to best represent them. In 2010 and 2011, we secured injury awards of over $24,000,000 to help assuage our customers’ medical costs and pain and suffering.

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In February 2007, then NBA held their annual All-Star game at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Center. Usually a college venue would be deemed too small for such a large NBA event, however, the league wanted to test Las Vegas’ ability to hold a large event such as their All-Star Game. While many who travelled to Southern Nevada for the NBA mid-season classic enjoyed their trips, some significant incidents brought Sin City’s ability to hold such a large event into question.

One of the major incidents from that weekend was a shooting at Minxx Gentlemen’s Club on Winn Road in Las Vegas. Adam Pac Man Jones, then a cornerback for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, and hip-hop artist Nelly, in cooperation with management and a number of the club’s dancers began to “make it rain.” “Making it rain” is a visual effect where hundreds of one dollar bills are thrown into the air and the bills flutter as they fall to the ground. Management of the club then told the dancers to pick up the cash and that’s when Mr. Jones became enraged. The former West Virginia Mountaineer then assaulted one of the dancers and subsequently his entourage began to fight with the club’s security staff. Jones and his entourage left the club, but later, one individual, identified by the club’s manager, returned and began firing, striking two security guards, including former wrestler Tommy Urbanski. Mr. Urbanski was paralyzed from the shooting from the waist down. If you were the victim of a violent incident and would like to sue for Las Vegas personal injury, contact Benson and Bingham today for a free Las Vegas legal consultation.

This week, jurors returned an $11 million judgment against Pac-Man. Jones on behalf of the two security guards injured in the shooting, Mr. Urbanski and Aaron Cudworth. Mr. Urbanski is still paralyzed and in constant pain. If you have a Clark County personal injury case, Benson and Bingham can work with you and insurance companies to get you the money you deserve.

Benson and Bingham is a family focused law firm founded by cousins Ben Bingham and Joseph Benson to provide Southern Nevada personal injury representation. We represent clients in all types of personal injury cases, including casino slip and fall, automobile accidents and Clark County wrongful death.

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Southern Nevada police departments continue to be on the losing end of a number of lawsuits. Last month, over $300,000 was awarded to Adam Green, a man who was severely beaten by Henderson Police and Nevada Highway patrol during a highway traffic stop. The man, presumed to be driving while intoxicated, was instead in the throes of a diabetic shock episode. If you have suffered personal injury due to an incident with a Southern Nevada Law enforcement agency, contact Benson and Bingham for a free legal consultation today.

Earlier this week, the Las Vegas Metro Police announced an award to a former officer for discriminatory practices due to the department’s restrictive facial hair policy. Retired Las Vegas Metro Police Officer, Ira Carter sued the department in 2010 regarding the department’s no facial hair policy. Mr. Carter suffered from a skin condition that made shaving very dangerous. The condition, called pseudofolliculitis barbae, causes scarring, cystic nodules and severe rashes after shaving. Mr. Carter had a waiver on the shaving policy for 14 years but in February 2009 he was reprimanded. On the word of Mr. Carter’s supervisors, Lieutenant Robert Sebby and Captain Stavros Anthony, Mr. Carter was cited for insubordination and had an internal affairs investigation directed at him. He was awarded $40,000. If you have been injured by unfair work rules, contact Benson and Bingham today.

This is not the first time Las Vegas Metro Police faced discrimination charges due to their facial hair policy. Officer Steve Riback, an Orthodox Jew, sued the department because the facial hair policy prevented him from growing his beard.   He was eventually awarded $350,000 when he settled his discrimination case. If you have suffered a workplace injury and wish to recover for lost work, contact Benson and Bingham today.

If you are from Southern Nevada and have been injured in a workplace incident, contact Benson and Bingham for a free legal consultation today. Our team of Nevada licensed personal injury attorneys work to develop strong trusting relationships with those we represent. The success of this method is evident in the $24,000,000 we secured for our clients in 2010 and 2011.

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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.

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