Las Vegas, Nevada Personal Injury Blog

Unfortunately, two iconic symbols of American culture are ignored by the drivers who share the roads with them, resulting in unnecessary accidents, injuries and deaths. Even though the bright yellow school buses that transport America's children to and from their classrooms every week are highly visible, sometimes motorists forget to drive attentively around them. And motorcycles, which tend to evoke images of American rebelliousness and the freedom of the open road, often become invisible to drivers rushing to and from their destinations.

In 2008, the number of school bus-related crash fatalities in the U.S. reported by the NHTSA was approximately 150, which stands in stark contrast against the almost 5,000 fatalities involving motorcyclists experienced during the same year.

One recent accident in Nevada involving both a school bus and a motorcycle serves as notice for drivers to realize that they share the roads with buses transporting kids.

A school bus and a motorcycle approached a Las Vegas intersection from opposite directions, each with a traffic signal showing green. When the school bus driver decided to make a left turn directly in front of the motorcycle's path, the male motorcyclist tried to stop, but his brakes locked and threw his bike on its side. Both the motorcycle and its driver slid into the side of the school bus and were run over as the driver completed the turn. There were no children on the bus at the time of the accident and the driver was uninjured, but the motorcyclist was killed.

While certain decisions contributed to the above accident, there are some obvious differences between school buses and motorcycles.

School buses are yellow and more conspicuous. They are a safer form of travel and involved in fewer accidents than other vehicles. According to the Nevada Department of Public Safety, school buses are bigger, heavier and move slower than passenger or other vehicles. They also make frequent stops, as indicated by their flashing signal lights, and they require more braking time than cars. During certain times of the day or school year and in areas around school buildings, there may also be more buses on the roads. In these scenarios, drivers need to be more aware of and patient with school buses and their drivers.

Motorcycles are on the other end of the spectrum from school buses. As the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicates, the motorcycle's smaller profile makes them more difficult to see, especially if they are in a vehicle's blind spot, and for drivers to judge how fast and far away an approaching bike may be. While motorcycles can stop faster than cars in dry conditions, motorcyclists need considerably more distance all around them to avoid obstacles and to prevent accidents or injuries.

Drivers in Nevada and across America must remember to be more aware and share the roads with buses and bikes. Recognizing that motorcyclists are more vulnerable in some situations and that the passengers on school buses are young children is a good start. If you or a loved one is involved in any type of motor vehicle accident, contact an experienced Nevada personal injury attorney immediately to discuss your rights.

While Las Vegas police search for the driver of a recent hit-and-run car accident who injured two pedestrians crossing Charleston Boulevard early one morning, onlookers should ask an important question: What are the rights of people struck and injured by a driver who leaves the scene?

Anytime the driver of one vehicle is involved in a collision with another vehicle (or a person or property) and intentionally leaves an accident without providing his or her name, vehicle and insurance information to someone at the scene as required by state law, that driver has committed a hit-and-run crime.

At the very least, most states require an exchange of basic contact and insurance information, even if no people are present and the driver must leave a note. Though Nevada is an at-fault state, the requirement that drivers share their personal and vehicle insurance information is considered part of accident reporting rather than an admission of guilt, so it does not violate the right against self-incrimination.

In fact, it helps those victims injured in car accidents to recover and pay for their related medical costs, because drivers in Nevada are required to carry at least $15,000 in liability insurance for bodily injury to themselves, $30,000 for other bodily damage or destruction of property, and $10,000 for others who suffer harm or loss of property during an accident.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and other governmental agencies that track car crashes, hit-and-runs account for approximately 11 percent of all national motor vehicle accidents. This amounts to nearly 700,000 reported cases of hit-and-run collisions over the span of a year.

Another unfortunate reality is that the rate of hit-and-run accidents in the U.S. has steadily increased by 15 percent since the late 1990s; both drivers and pedestrians need to be more aware of these incidents.

For victims of hit-and-runs, there are steps that should be followed, below:

• Before an accident occurs, verify if an existing auto insurer's policy covers hit-and-run accidents or purchase coverage for these types of scenarios
• Immediately after an accident, first assess the extent of injuries or damages
• Write down the license plate or other identifying information of the vehicle or driver
• Locate and obtain witness statements
• Contact and file accident reports with local police and any of the victims' medical or vehicle insurers

Most importantly, know that as a victim of a hit-and-run accident, you have the right to hire an attorney to ensure that the medical costs for your injuries and expenses to repair property damage are covered.

No one, especially pedestrians, who find themselves injured victims of hit-and-run accidents in Las Vegas should be unlucky, at least with regard to legal help. One final step to take after a hit-and-run is to call an experienced personal injury attorney to discuss your rights and options to recover from such an unanticipated event.

Deshawn Thomas was recently convicted of attacking and robbing professional football player Javon Walker in June 2008. An admittedly drunken Walker was "barhopping" on the Las Vegas Strip at the time, and testified that he assumed that Thomas and co-defendant Arfat Fadel were simply fans who were going to drive him to another casino. Instead, they assaulted him leaving him severely injured and still suffering the after-effects of the crime and stole more than $100,000 in cash, jewelry and casino chips.

Unfortunately, Javon Walker's situation is not unique. A simple Internet search reveals hundreds of incidents happening to some of the nearly 40 million people who visit the Las Vegas area each year. Tourists, in awe of the spectacle of the casinos and attractions on the Strip and in the Fairmont Street area, may unwittingly place themselves in the path of harm from criminals, negligently maintained premises, aggressive drivers and darkened casino floors. Reported cases include a wide range of injuries on the Strip including:

• Being struck by vehicles while crossing the Strip
• Slips and falls in or outside casinos and bars
• Inadequate security or lighting (resulting in injury from criminal activity ranging from bar fights to sexual assaults and stabbings to robberies)
• Negligent maintenance of premises (including broken floor tiles or ripped carpeting that can cause falls, unsecured casino games that can tip and result in crush injuries)

If you or a loved one has been the victim of a personal injury (whether it was caused by criminal activity or negligence) anywhere in the Las Vegas area, seeking the advice of a Las Vegas personal injury attorney with experience handling these types of cases can be an invaluable step toward protecting your rights.

Laws change quickly and constantly. Each day, state legislatures and judges make hundreds of decisions that impact our lives. At Hofland Beasley & Associates we know that staying current with legal issues is essential to providing effective legal representation. We follow the decisions that will have an impact on the strategies we use to protect your rights.

We also know that you will be able to make better decisions about your own case if you are informed about important legal developments. We are therefore committed to keeping this Blog page updated in order to provide you with current legal information. It will also serve as a forum for discussing case law and relevant court decisions in our many legal practice areas, including family law, personal injury law and business law. Periodically, we will update the information and Blog topics, so please return often to see our most current post and comments.

We have always placed an emphasis on personalized attention and responsiveness to our clients' concerns and value your comments and queries. We invite your feedback about this and future Blog posts on this page.  Thank you for visiting. Call us at 702-487-9691 or 877-825-1554 or contact us by e-mail to discuss your specific legal need today.

There is no doubt that the bigger they are, they more damage they cause when involved in a crash.

It doesn't seem to make any difference how wide the highways are these days to allow for more traffic and larger vehicles. The problems are still the same old ones that existed when the highways were only four lanes instead of six or eight. Smaller cars and other vehicles are at a supreme disadvantage when it comes to sharing the roads with big rigs.

The larger trucks can weigh as much as 80 thousand pounds (40 tons) fully loaded and depending on what they are carrying. That is a lot of truck and it definitely does not stop on a dime. The facts are that it takes the entire length of a football field for a large truck to come to a full stop.

There are actually a wide variety of large trucks on the roads these days including 18-wheelers, tractor-trailers, tanker trucks, garbage trucks, dump trucks and tow trucks, and armored security vehicles. Put one of these behemoths beside a car and the car is dwarfed. If an accident does happen, not only is the driver of the truck considered to be liable, but so is the owner of the truck if they happen to be different.

Car drivers have to realize that piloting a large truck is a whole different proposition than driving a car. Thanks to its oversize proportions, truck drivers automatically have a greater responsibility to drive safely and be alert and aware of what is going on around them at all times. Did you know that regulations require truckers to have a Class A license and be prepared to submit to random drug and alcohol tests plus background checks? Contrary to popular belief, trucking companies really don't just stick anyone behind the wheel of a huge truck and turn them loose on American highways.

Unfortunately, truck crashes are often fatal and if the statistics are any indication, the numbers of deaths due to large truck crashes are growing every year. In 2008 alone, fatal crashes on the highways that involved a big rig totaled over 34,000. The wide range of causes for the deaths included speeding to meet deadlines, inattention, fatigue, mechanical problems, prescription drugs, and poor weather and road conditions. Just because trucking is a vital industry and the country depends on the prompt delivery of various items on time does not excuse a speeding truck driver, trying to meet an unrealistic deadline, who gets involved in a multiple vehicle crash. Big rig drivers need to take the responsibility to be safe on the road and watch out for other drivers.

When the consequences of a truck accident results in severe injuries or death, a skilled truck accident lawyer helps victims fight for their rights to just compensation. Choose the proper legal counsel to help seek justice.

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Setting up the right type of business entity in Nevada is crucial for a lot of good reasons.

Just because someone had the bright idea to set up a business in Nevada doesn't mean all the details can be immediately put into action and the business open within a month. While that might be a nice dream, the practical reality is that there are a lot of hoops one needs to go through to set up.

The initial start up process isn't so difficult to handle as it usually involves, among other things, choosing a name, deciding what to sell and how to do that, and where the business should be located. This is all the fun stuff, but the other side of the coin is that there needs to be a decision about how to legally set up the operation. Should that entity be a corporation or a limited liability company?

These kinds of questions are not ones that an individual unfamiliar with business law should try and answer on their own. It's well worth the money to hire a highly skilled business lawyer to assist in the process of starting a company. Or to put this another way, it would be downright foolish to not hire a business lawyer to help navigate the maze of rules and regulations that apply to new companies in Nevada.

A great number of Nevada companies have incorporated for a variety of reasons, such as there is no corporate income tax, no taxes on corporate shares, and no personal income tax. Those are distinct advantages to starting up a company and incorporating it. However, there may well be another kind of business entity that would better suit the needs of a new company - be it sole proprietorship, limited liability or a corporation.

Forming a limited liability company (LLC) in Nevada has a whole lot of advantages going for it as compared to trying to form an LLC in another state. Nevada's costs for forming LLCs are very low and the lack of any corporate income tax is very appealing to entrepreneurs. Another reason for the popularity of an LLC in this state is that they offer shareholders and corporate directors almost unheard of protection against personal liability.

To get an LLC filed in Nevada there are several documents that need to be handled - an Articles of Organization or Incorporation with the Nevada Secretary of State and an employer Identification Number/Federal Tax ID.

The articles are used by the State Secretary to create the fledgling LLC. It is a wise idea to read the operating agreement and bylaws prior to actually forming the company in this manner. The agreement and bylaws offer detailed information on how to form an LLC. The employers Identification Number/Federal Tax Id are run of the mill regular documents that all companies need sooner or later.

Setting up an LLC in Nevada means also listing the officers and members of the company. This may be filed directly on the Nevada Secretary of State's website. Any filing fees for this form are paid to the Secretary. If by chance the applicant wants their corporation to be an S-Corp, they'll need to file the right form with the IRS promptly.

There are other advantages to setting up business in Nevada that a good attorney will be happy to explain to the prospective owners, not the least of which is guaranteed anonymity, as the shareholders and directors of Nevada corporations are not named in public records nor will the state government share any information with other states.

There isn't one business that exists today that does not have product liability insurance. Better to be safe than sorry if your product turns out to have problems and injures someone.

Generally speaking there are three types of product liability lawsuits that get filed in courtrooms. Those are information defects, design defects and manufacturing defects. Any one of these by themselves or in combination with another defect may form the basis of a product liability lawsuit.

Manufacturing defects are those that happen when a product, initially thought (and intended) to be safe, but something happened to it during the manufacturing process and it ended up being flawed and causing injuries to people who bought the product, e.g. one of the sprockets for a new mountain bike is missing. Design defects are a bit different in origin. This happens when a product is made the right way by the company, but it turns out it is unsafe. It may not be a case of the manufacturer realizing the goods are dangerous because of the way they were designed. Nonetheless, there would be liability on the part of the manufacturer and designer, e.g. a stuffed bear with buttons for eyes that are not secured properly to the toy and can be swallowed by young children.

An information defect refers to a situation where a product is unavoidably hazardous in some form or other, but there is nothing to indicate this on or in the product's package, e.g. a caulking compound for the bathtub that should not be used in enclosed spaces because it causes severe respiratory problems. Each product liability case is unique and thus treated on a case by case basis. While a great many consumers would just pitch the defective product out in the garbage, there are more informed customers that are beginning to realize that they have rights when it comes to being harmed by a product they bought in good faith.

Keep in mind that every business that handles, supplies, refurbishes or resells a product must have some kind of liability insurance. It doesn't matter if you sell on eBay or happen to be one of the most well-known retailing names in the US. The facts are that every business runs the risk of being sued if a product they handle ends up injuring or killing an innocent customer. If you don't believe that, just remember the famous case of the hot coffee that gave a McDonald's customer third degree burns when it was spilled on her thighs. She won her product liability lawsuit.

Bradley J. Hofland is with Las Vegas Divorce law firm, Hofland, Beasley & Galliher. The law firm focuses on Las Vegas family law, custody, and Las Vegas personal injury.

Those labels on the outside of various products are there for a reason; to warn people about a danger and to keep them safe. Failure to heed the warning may be dangerous.

It's pretty much a given than when we go to the store to buy something that we assume it will be safe and won't harm us. More often than not, this is a reasonable assumption. However, have you noticed the warning labels on the packages? They could say things such as, "Don't drive while taking this medication," or "Small parts could cause choking," or much to your amusement they may even say in the case of a hair dryer, "Don't use while you are asleep."

Although some of the warnings you happen to read on labels may seem ridiculous, they are there because something like that has already happened to someone. This is how warnings on products come into being in the first place; someone complained that the manufacturer should tell people about the product's hazards. Generally speaking, there are laws in place to protect consumers in the event of an injury sustained by a product malfunctioning or to a manufacturing defect that caused harm or death. If you have had a less than pleasant experience with a product and were harmed, you should speak to a products liability attorney to get some answers. If the package didn't provide an adequate warning about what happened to you, then you may have a viable legal case. Only your attorney will be able to assess this for you.

Speaking of liability, another huge area of the law that centers on the determination of a person's liability is premises liability. Premises liability is a legal responsibility that all landowners/occupiers have to make sure their premises are safe when others come to visit. So, if you happen to own a store and don't tell customers the floor is wet from mopping and they slip and fall, your premises liability insurance covers their injuries. Slip, trip and falls are fairly common liability claims and many lawyers handle these cases in addition to product liability issues, as the issues involved in both kinds of cases are similar - the question of liability. In the instance of product liability the supplier, manufacturer and even the designer may be held liable for injuries caused by a defective product sold on the market. The interesting thing about product liability law is that you'd be astounded to find out about the long list of product failures that you can actually file a lawsuit over; for instance, lighters that explode, faulty ladders that collapse, patio furniture that breaks, baby car seats crumple on impact, and roofs on cars cave in rather than protect.

Frighteningly, the longer a patient stays in a hospital, the higher the risk that they will be victims of a preventable medical error.

If someone is in the hospital for any length of time, chances are they may be the victim of a medication error; one that could have been prevented in the first place. This is the conclusion of a study done by the Institute of Medicine. Many have seen instances of medication errors and have assisted their clients to obtain a just settlement.

It appears that at least 1.5 million preventable injuries happen each and every year due to medication mishaps, with over 400,000 injuries involving those in a hospital setting. It should come as no surprise that to rectify these errors there is a significant cost of close to $3.5 billion. Despite what the Institute of Medicine found, there is a good chance that the numbers they used for their study are a great deal lower than reality, as many medication mistakes and their consequences aren't reported. attorneys have handled inquiries from people who weren't sure they were victims of a medication error and didn't know if they needed to report it or pursue it.

Medication errors may take place anywhere in a hospital, but typically the first place they may happen is when admitting non medical emergency patients. On admission, patients are asked about their full medication history but many don't provide it, either because they are confused and scared or they don't want to reveal the medications they take. They may also fail to mention allergies.

Unfortunately, if a full and correct drug history is not forthcoming, the potential for errors multiplies as the information provided, or not provided, makes its way through the hospital system for clarification, and to the pharmacy and the doctor who will order home meds. Add to this mixture other medications prescribed in the hospital taken in addition to home meds and at least four things may happen: someone is given the wrong medication, the wrong frequency of dose occurs, the wrong dose is given, or the drug is omitted and then given too close together when the mistake is realized.

Some of the errors don't have a serious effect on the patient, in other words won't cause discomfort or "clinical deterioration." However, depending on the drug given or not given and what it is mixed with it, there may be other consequences that do cause moderate to severe discomfort and medical deterioration. In a case where the medication negligence of another person causes injury or death, a should be consulted.

The figures tend to speak for themselves, and the Institute of Medicine found that just about 53 percent of hospital patients had at least one thing go wrong with their medications. Generally speaking, the most common error was forgetting to give a patient the medication they used regularly. Obviously there are serious and fatal errors made due to the negligence of health care professionals.

In cases like this where a patient has been the victim of a medication error, it is best to contact an experienced and discuss the case. Knowing what rights a patient has while in the care of hospital staff or other medical professionals is crucial.

Air bags have a tendency to be rather controversial because although they do save lives, they also may take them.

In conversations with a about air bags, it came to light that even though the bags have saved a great many lives, air bag failures have severely injured or killed people. Defective air bags are a concern in the auto industry as a whole, but more so to the legal community who have seen firsthand how lethal these devices may be to drivers.

Many people think that air bags only deploy in a high speed crash. The facts are that they also deploy as a result of low speed collisions. Unfortunately, in cases like that, the driver may be killed by the air bag when they may have survived the actual crash if it hadn't been for the bag. Conversely, there have been cases where the air bag didn't deploy.

In checking with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for accident statistics involving air bag fatalities, it was discovered that in a five year span from 2001 to 2006 that approximately 1,400 people died in head on collisions where the air bag didn't deploy. If deaths due to failed air bags from side impact crashes were included, along with left and right fender impacts and rollovers or ejections, the death toll would reach over 4,000. What concerns Las Vegas personal injury lawyers is that the death toll in collisions where air bags never came out has risen by about 50 percent and the numbers are still on the rise. The ramifications for auto manufacturers concerning product liability are enormous.

Never underestimate the power of an air bag that explodes into a vehicle at speeds of up to 200 mph. Some manufacturers offer a "one size fits all" kind of air bag that aggressively pummels small children and small stature adults. These bags may cause various traumas that include face burns and bruising, head, neck and spinal trauma, decapitation, traumatic brain injury, blindness and permanent disfigurement. Thankfully newer air bags that deploy in stages may reduce these types of injuries and deaths.

Manufacturers also need to do something about crash sensors that trigger the bag in collisions where a vehicle is only going up to 15 mph. Add to this list of defects the fact that crash sensors have been known to delay the trigger signal, which means the air bag inflates too late after the crash or for no reason at all. In a nutshell, air bags that don't work the way they're supposed to work are highly dangerous, causing needless injuries and deaths.

A highly skilled is able to assist Nevada clients on the road to justice if they have been a victim of a defective air bag.