Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyer

How an Experienced Accident Attorney Proves Your Case

An experienced personal injury attorney knows the ins and outs of every court in which he practices.  In Nevada, personal injury cases are, for the most part, litigated in state district courts.  An accident attorney must be familiar with courtroom procedure and rules, as well as the courtrooms and judges themselves. 

When you take on an insurance company in personal injury litigation, you need an experienced accident lawyer who is no stranger to the courtroom.  Your personal injury lawyer must take several steps to reach a fair resolution in your accident case.  An explanation of these steps follows below.

Investigating and Evaluating your Accident Claim

Your attorney must first investigate the facts of your accident in order to understand the basics of your personal injury claim.  Your attorney will have to contact the insurance companies, acquire medical records of any injured parties, obtain any and all statements and police reports, and collect any notes or photographs that any witnesses may have taken.

Your accident lawyer will evaluate your case based on any and all information collected.  This process may last several months, as your attorney obtains medical records and the injured parties continue to treat with doctors.

Demanding Compensation and Negotiating Early Settlement

Once your accident attorney assesses the value of your personal injury claim, and has a clearer picture of the full extent of your injuries and damages, the attorney will demand payment from the insurance company of the negligent party.  A demand package sent to the responsible party’s insurance company will often include a detailed breakdown of your damages and injuries.

Sometimes, the insurance company agrees to pay the full amount that your accident attorney demands.  Other times, the insurance company will attempt to negotiate the amount of payment with your personal injury lawyer.  Still other times, the insurance company will deny responsibility and refuse to pay anything at all.

At this stage of the process, an experienced personal injury attorney keeps an open mind about settlement, but nevertheless prepares for a fight.  An experienced accident attorney wants to settle your case quickly and fairly, because this provides you with fair compensation for your injuries without the hassle of litigation.  However, oftentimes insurance companies will only be willing to settle your case early for a fraction of the compensation to which you are entitled.  This is not acceptable at Oronoz Law Offices. 

As the client and injured party, it is always up to you when you settle.  If you decide to accept the insurance company’s early settlement offer, then the case is over.  If, however, you decide that the offer is less than full and compensation for your injuries and pain and suffering, we will press forward with the case and prepare to fight the insurance company in the courtroom.

Filing the Complaint and Going through the Discovery Process

If an early settlement cannot be reached, your accident attorney will file a “Complaint.”  The Complaint is a formal document outlining the causes of action against the party or parties who are responsible for causing your injuries and damages.  In the Complaint, your personal injury attorney will name you as the “Plaintiff,” and will name the party responsible for causing the accident as the “Defendant.” 

In the Complaint, your attorney will outline the basic facts of the case, explain why the Defendant is legally responsible for the Plaintiff’s injuries, and make a demand for relief.  Once the Complaint has been field and served upon the Defendant, the Defendant has 20 days to respond the allegations by filing an “Answer.”  At this point, an insurance defense law firm, hired by the Defendant’s insurance company, will file the Answer and respond to the Plaintiff’s allegations.  Each of the Plaintiff’s allegations must be admitted or denied.

Following the filing of the Answer, attorneys for both sides must meet to discuss possible settlement and to set a schedule for the upcoming process of “discovery.”  Discovery is the process by which your accident attorney gathers further proof of your personal injury case.  In Nevada, the discovery process is most usually governed by the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure. 

Remember, as the Plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit, it is your attorney’s job to prove every element of your case by a preponderance of the evidence.

Your accident attorney has several discovery tools that allow him to gather evidence and prove your injury claims during the process of “discovery.”  These discovery tools include the following:

Interrogatories: Questions that the Defendant must answer and verify under oath.  These may include a question asking for the Defendant’s account of the accident.

Requests for Admission: Requests that the Defendant admit certain facts relevant to the resolution of your case.  These may include asking the Defendant to admit that he ran a red light, or that he was cited by Las Vegas Metro Police for speeding or following too closely, thereby causing the accident.

Requests for Production of Documents:  Requests for written documents.  These requests are often issued in conjunction with the other written discovery requests above and ask the responding party to provide any and all written documents to substantiate the answers given.

Depositions: Interviews under oath of parties and other witnesses.  Depositions may last for several hours and are transcribed for later reference and use.  Your accident injury attorney will ask the witness, known as the “deponent,” several questions addressing all areas of concern to your injury case.  A reporter will type every word spoken by your attorney, the insurance company’s attorney, and the deponent, into a written transcript, which either party may later reference and use.

In addition to the above tools, your injury attorney will seek to further investigate your case by continuing to collect evidence and medical records, and by speaking with potential witnesses, including doctors who may testify as your treating physician.

Keep in mind that the Defendant’s insurance defense law firm has these same discovery tools at their disposal.  Accordingly, you will be asked to answer interrogatories and other written discovery requests, and will most likely be deposed.  An experienced injury attorney can help prepare you for this and will be with you every step of the way.

Narrowing the Issues: Motions for Summary Judgment

After the close of discovery, the parties may seek to end part or all of the litigation early by filing dispositive motions called “motions for summary judgment.”  These motions seek to take certain issues off the table for trial, when there is no genuine factual dispute, and therefore you are entitled to the judge’s legal ruling on those issues.  For example, if the Defendant admits to causing the accident during deposition and there is no evidence of your comparative negligence, then fault may be decided and you will simply go to trial on the issue of your injuries and damages. 

It is to your benefit to present a simple, clear case for the jury.  Accordingly, a skilled personal injury attorney knows how to use motions for summary judgment to benefit the accident victim by narrowing the issues for trial and preventing the insurance company lawyers from muddying the waters of your case. 

Other Pre-Trial Motions: Limiting and Expanding the Scope of Evidence

In addition to Motions for Summary Judgment, which narrow the legal issues to be tried before the jury, your accident attorney will file “Motions in Limine” to limit or expand the scope of evidence that may be admitted at trial. 

In Nevada, evidentiary issues are decided according to the rules outlined in Title 4 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, and according to precedent set by cases decided by the Nevada Supreme Court.  According to these rules, certain evidence is either admissible or inadmissible.  What evidence the jury is allowed to hear is of critical importance to the outcome of your personal injury case.

Insurance companies may attempt to sway the jury by presenting evidence that is irrelevant or prejudicial against the accident victim.  An experienced accident attorney knows how to use the rules of evidence to keep out evidence that is prejudicial to the accident victim.  Additionally, an experienced accident attorney knows how to use these same rules of evidence to admit all evidence that is helpful the accident victim.

Trial

After discovery closes and all dispositive motions are heard and decided, your case will proceed to trial.  Although your accident attorneys seek to win you just compensation as quickly as possible, trial may not come for months or even years after the filing of the lawsuit.

Trial is where your case is ultimately won or lost.  At trial, it is the burden of you and your personal injury attorney to prove your case through the presentation of witnesses and other evidence.  A brief breakdown of the trial process follows.

Pre-Trial

Before trial commences for your personal injury lawsuit, pretrial briefs are provided to the judge.  The parties meet and discuss potential instructions to the jury.  Settlement may be discussed at this time.  If, however, settlement of your personal injury lawsuit cannot be reached, the case will finally proceed to trial.

Jury Selection

On the first day of trial, the attorneys on both sides participate in a process called voir dire, whereby a jury is questioned and selected.  An experienced trial attorney knows how to select the jurors who will fairly evaluate your case and eliminate those who may be biased. 

Some potential jurors have a bias against accident victims and believe that many personal injury cases are “frivolous,” or that accident victims tend to fake or exaggerate their injuries.  These jurors cannot fairly evaluate your case, and an experienced personal injury attorney will eliminate these individuals as jurors.

The jury selection process is a critical part of the trial.  Therefore, it is important to select an attorney who has been before many juries and won.

Witnesses and Evidence

As trial proceeds, your accident lawyer will need to fight to put on evidence that proves your case, and fight to keep out any potential evidence that hurts your injury case.  Fro instance, if your injury attorney believes that a question is improper, he will object and prevent opposing counsel from asking that question.  An experienced personal injury attorney has a strong command of the rules of evidence, and will not sit idly by while the insurance company seeks to admit improper evidence or question witnesses improperly. 

In presenting your case to the jury, it is your accident attorney’s job to prove that the Defendant is at fault and that you have been injured.  Beyond that, your accident attorney must prove the extent of your injuries, through the use of lay and expert witnesses.  This will typically include the testimony of the accident victim as well as at least one treating physician.  If liability for the accident is still an issue at trial, your accident attorney may call an accident reconstuctionist.  If your injuries are lifelong and disabling, an economist might be called to establish lost earnings. 

Trial typically last several days, but may last weeks or even months, depending on the complexity of the issues involved.  An experienced accident attorney is prepared to go the distance with you to win your case.

Argument and the Verdict

Once all the witnesses are called and all evidence is admitted, the judge will the read jury instructions.  Jury instructions are legal rules for the jury to apply to their factual findings in deciding the case.  Any remaining disputes regarding jury instructions will be resolved by the judge. 

Following jury instructions, the parties will make their final arguments.  When your accident attorney makes his argument, he summarizes all of the evidence he presented on your behalf.  An experienced accident attorney provides the jury with a clear picture of the accident and your injuries.  A good argument can make the difference between a full and fair recovery or no recovery at all.

After the parties make their arguments, the jury will deliberate and reach a verdict.  The length of deliberations vary, and can last between minutes and days.  If your injury lawyer has convinced the jury, however, you will be awarded a verdict that fairly reflects your damages.  A jury verdict can be substantial.  Accordingly, your choice in accident attorney is critical when your case may need to be decided by a jury.