If you or someone you care about has been involved in a Nevada car accident, there are several issues that you are immediately forced to confront. First, physical and mental injuries require medical care, which can span over a long time period and become costly quickly. Likewise, the inability to return to work because of these injuries can result in significant loss of income.
Why Accident Claims are Denied
If another driver is responsible for your Nevada accident and injuries, they should be held accountable under applicable law. When you are first involved in an accident, you will have to file a claim with the other driver’s auto insurance company. While some accident victims are lucky and have their claims approved without issue and receive payment within a few weeks, many accident victims end up having to take their case to a Nevada court.
Many times insurance companies deny an accident claim for one, or more, of the following reasons:
- The auto insurance policy was not valid at the time of the crash;
- The auto insurance policy lapsed for non-payment and was not in effect at the time of the crash;
- The at-fault driver was not listed on the policy;
- The accident victim did not file a claim within the right time frame;
- The auto insurance company does not believe the victim was hurt;
- The auto insurance company thinks the victim caused the accident;
- The accident victim has a history of filing false insurance claims.
An accident attorney can appeal a denial of a claim for most of the reasons listed above. If your claim was denied because the auto insurance policy was invalid, and you don’t carry uninsured motorist coverage of your own, a lawyer will likely not be able to help your case because no insurance company will pay out a claim on a policy that is not valid. If your car accident attorney is unable to negotiate a settlement, the next step is to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver.
Nevada Accident Damages
Below is a simple description of the types of damages available to accident victims under Nevada law. There are three types of damages available to accident victims in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada — economic, non-economic, and punitive.
- Economic Damages: This refers to monetary compensation for objectively verified financial losses. This includes past and future medical bills, past and future lost wages, damage to or loss of property, among others.
- Non-Economic Damages: This refers to monetary compensation for losses that cannot be quantified. Such losses include pain and suffering, loss of companionship, loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement, and emotional distress, among others.
- Punitive Damages: Unlike economic and non-economic damages, which focus on making a victim “whole” again, punitive damages are intended to punish a bad actor and also deter others from the same behavior.
The injured victim bears the burden of proof that the other driver’s actions were the cause of the accident, the crash resulted in injuries, and those injuries resulted in damages. If the victim was partially at-fault for causing the crash, any monetary award will be reduced by the percentage the victim is found to be to blame.
Contact H&P Law
If you are injured in any type of accident in Las Vegas, Henderson, or anywhere in the greater Nevada area, contact the experienced and knowledgeable attorneys at H&P Law. Our attorneys know how to handle insurance companies’ tactics to avoid paying valid claims and will take your case before a judge and jury if the settlement offer is not reasonable. Contact us today for your initial case evaluation.
