You were hurt in Las Vegas, and now you are back home, in another state, maybe across the country. You have a potential claim in Nevada, and one very practical worry may be keeping you from doing anything about it: am I going to have to fly back here over and over?
The honest short answer, for most clients and for most of a case, is no. Your claim is governed by Nevada law and handled in the Nevada court system, but the day-to-day work of a personal injury case has largely moved to formats that do not require you to be physically present. Many out-of-state clients resolve their cases without ever returning.
That short answer deserves a real explanation, though, because “most of a case” is not “all of it,” and you should know exactly what to expect. Here is what a claim actually involves, stage by stage, and when, if ever, you might need to be in Nevada.
Hiring the Firm
You do not need to come back to hire a lawyer. Consultations happen by phone and video, and the paperwork that starts a case, the representation agreement and the authorizations that let your lawyers gather your records can be handled remotely.
We have represented out-of-state clients for years. Even before the pandemic, Benson & Bingham was signing clients up through video consultations, and we regularly meet with clients, local and out of state alike, over Zoom, Google Meet, or FaceTime. Out-of-state clients receive the same care and integrity as local ones, and every question you have will be answered during that consultation. If you choose to retain us, we can capture your signature electronically and even notarize documents over the web. This is fully integrated into our firm’s intake process.
The Investigation
This is the part that most benefits from a local firm, and it is entirely the firm’s work, not yours. Getting a preservation of evidence to the defendant before its footage is overwritten, inspecting the scene, obtaining the maintenance and incident records, identifying the right parties, and bringing in experts—all of it is done in Nevada by the firm while you are at home. You do not need to be present for any of it, and it is precisely the work an out-of-state firm cannot do on the timeline it requires.
Your Medical Treatment
Your treatment happens where you live. You see your own doctors at home, and those records become part of your claim. The fact that your treating physicians are outside Nevada does not prevent a Nevada case; it just has to be documented carefully, which the firm handles with you remotely.
Dealing With Insurers and the Other Side
You do not speak with the opposing parties; your lawyers do that on your behalf. Handling those communications is one of the main reasons to have a firm, and none of it requires your presence in Nevada.
Your Deposition
At some point in a contested case, the other side is entitled to ask you questions under oath in a deposition. This is the step people most often assume will force them to travel, and increasingly it does not. Depositions have moved substantially to video, which means many out-of-state clients are deposed from their own home or their lawyer’s local office by video link.
Most defense firms will accommodate a remote deposition taken by video, and more than 90% of our out-of-state clients’ depositions are handled that way. When it helps, an attorney from our office can physically be with you to facilitate the process. And in cases where a client cannot travel because of the nature of their injuries, we have arranged for the defense attorney and Benson & Bingham to come to the client instead.
Mediation and Settlement Negotiations
Most injury cases are resolved through negotiation or mediation rather than a trial. Mediations, too, have widely moved to video and telephone, so this stage also typically happens without travel.
Settlement negotiations run throughout the duration of a case and never require an in-person meeting unless you want one; an offer, a counteroffer, or a final number can all be handled over the phone. Mediation, too, is voluntary in most cases and that gives us leverage on the logistics. When we agree to mediate, we make our client’s ability to appear remotely by video a condition of participating, and a party that wants to resolve the case through mediation accepts that condition going in. Our firm has settled multimillion-dollar cases this way, several of them through mediations with the out-of-state client attending entirely by video. It has never been an obstacle; we have had real success using today’s technology to handle these remotely.
Settlement—Where Most Cases Actually End
The large majority of personal injury claims settle before they ever reach a courtroom. For those cases, which is most of them, the question of returning to Nevada for trial never arises at all. The matter is investigated, negotiated, and resolved, and you may never set foot back in the state.
Our article on what an out-of-state client should realistically expect from settlement timelines walks through how long that process tends to take.
Trial—the Honest Exception
Here is the part some firms gloss over, and you deserve the straight version: if your case does not settle and goes to trial, that is a different situation, and you may need to appear in Nevada for it. A trial is where your physical presence can genuinely matter.
Two things keep this in perspective. First, only a small fraction of cases actually reach trial, the rest resolve earlier. Second, if yours is heading that way, it is not a surprise sprung on you at the last minute; your lawyers will tell you well in advance when and why your presence is needed and help you plan for it. Anyone who promises you will never, under any circumstances, have to return to Nevada is overselling—and that is worth noticing about how a firm talks to you.
At Benson & Bingham, fewer than 2% of our cases end up in trial. That does not mean a claim is not litigated; it means that more than 98% of our cases resolve through settlement without a trial. We achieve that through diligence in discovery. We pride ourselves on thorough investigation: deposing witnesses, defendants, and corporate representatives, and digging into a company’s policies, procedures, and hiring practices to show where a corporate defendant failed to follow its own safety protocols. That kind of intense investigation breeds settlement; defendants do not want their indifference to public safety to become part of the public record through a trial.
Why the Case Is in Nevada at All
It is natural to wonder why a case has to be handled in Nevada when you live elsewhere. The short version: your injury happened in Nevada, so Nevada law governs what your claim is worth and how it works, and the case belongs in the Nevada court system where the property and the evidence are. That is also exactly why having Nevada counsel matters and why so little of the burden of that has to fall on you.
The Bottom Line
For most out-of-state clients, pursuing a Nevada injury claim means a video consultation, some paperwork you sign electronically, your own treatment at home, and periodic remote check-ins, not repeated flights back to Las Vegas. The exceptions are real but narrow, and you will see them coming. The distance is a logistics question, and it is one that has a manageable answer.
For the full picture of how a visitor’s claim works, start with our overview: Injured While Visiting Las Vegas: What Out-of-State Visitors Need to Know. And if you are weighing whether you can retain a firm without traveling, see can you hire a Las Vegas attorney without flying back.