With so much interstate commerce between Nevada and neighboring states, large trucks are common on Las Vegas streets and highways. Collisions with these massive vehicles can all too easily happen. And when a passenger vehicle crashes with a tractor-trailer weighing up to 80,000 pounds, the smaller vehicle's occupants are likely to get seriously hurt. This makes truck accidents among the most deadly and heartbreaking on the road.
If you or someone you love suffered catastrophic injuries in a Las Vegas accident that involved a commercial truck, you have the right to claim compensation for your medical bills, lost earnings, and other damages.
With over four decades of experience fighting for clients in Las Vegas, the compassionate Las Vegas truck accident attorneys at Edward Bernstein and Associates understand the overwhelming challenges that victims endure after a serious truck accident. Contact us for a free consultation to learn more about how we might help you pursue a claim for fair compensation.
Las Vegas Truck Accident Guide
- How Truck Accidents Happen in Las Vegas
- Types of Truck Accidents
- Common Injuries From Las Vegas Truck Accidents
- What Makes Las Vegas Truck Accident Cases Different
- Las Vegas Trucking Laws
- Who Can Be Held Liable for a Truck Accident in Las Vegas?
- How Our Las Vegas Truck Accident Team Can Help
- How Much Money Can You Expect to Receive in A Las Vegas Truck Accident Claim?
- Don’t Delay Seeking Legal Help
- Contact a Skilled Las Vegas Truck Accident Lawyer Today
Why Choose Edward Bernstein and Associates For Your Truck Accident Case
Truck accident victims and their families face many major challenges when navigating the legal system, especially while recovering from serious injuries. The skilled truck accident lawyers at Ed Bernstein and Associates offer compassionate support and experienced legal services every step of the way.
Our team knows the tactics trucking companies and insurers use to avoid compensating victims of Las Vegas truck accidents. We fight to secure money to help our injured clients pay their bills and get back on their feet, whether aggressively negotiating an insurance settlement or taking a truck crash case to court.
We aim to make a difference for our clients by investigating the circumstances of their accidents, establishing the at-fault party's liability, and preparing a strong case to maximize the value of their truck accident claim.
How Truck Accidents Happen in Las Vegas
Large trucks cannot maneuver as quickly or precisely as smaller vehicles. They also have large blind spots. That’s why drivers of cars need to be extra cautious when sharing the road with large trucks. But even if you’re doing everything right to stay safe, it’s still possible to find yourself in a dangerous Las Vegas truck crash.
Trucking accidents can happen because of diverse factors, but many of those have to do with negligence on the part of the truck driver or a trucking company. At Edward Bernstein and Associates, we work diligently to determine the causes of a truck crash and who should be held responsible. Over our more than 40 years of law practice, we’ve found that common causes of Las Vegas large truck accidents include:
Traffic Violations
Commercial trucks sometimes drive at excessive speeds to keep up with unrealistic delivery schedules imposed by employers, which presents a serious risk for everyone else out on the road. Accidents can also result from reckless driving behaviors like tailgating other vehicles or changing lanes erratically. And they can happen when drivers take to the road in dangerous weather conditions.
Distracted Driving
Any action that takes the trucker's focus away from the road can have tragic consequences. Smartphones cause dangerous distractions for truck drivers. So can eating and drinking, programming a GPS, or daydreaming. A distracted truck driver risks causing a deadly accident by merging into a lane already occupied by a smaller vehicle, failing to spot traffic slowdowns ahead, or veering into oncoming traffic.
Drowsy Driving
Driving while drowsy or fatigued is an all-too-common hazard for truck drivers who spend long, often-monotonous hours on the road. The effects of fatigue on driving ability are similar to those of consuming alcohol. They include slow reaction times, difficulty judging speed and distance, poor decision-making, and impaired motor control.
Federal regulations aim to prevent drowsy truck driving by requiring drivers to get adequate rest before climbing behind the wheel. But those rules don’t necessarily solve the problem of trucker fatigue.
Even when truckers comply with hours-of-service regulations (and some don't), they still tend to get tired for a host of reasons, including that driving a large truck is mentally and physically taxing, and truckers are older and in relatively poor health compared to other workers. Many drivers operate late at night and early in the morning when traffic is light.
Drug or Alcohol Impaired Driving
Substance use by truck drivers can cause extreme dangers on the road. Some drivers rely on legal or illegal drugs to stay alert behind the wheel. Others take medications that cause drowsiness or brain fog, or drink alcohol to help them relax.
Any substance that impairs driving ability, however, poses an extreme risk of causing a truck accident. A drug or alcohol-impaired trucker will struggle to make good decisions, stay focused on other vehicles and road hazards, and keep a truck under control.
Trucking Company’s Poor Training, Supervision, or Truck Maintenance
Ultimately, you can hold truck drivers responsible for their actions when they get behind the wheel. But trucking companies also have legal responsibilities when it comes to hiring, training, and supervising drivers—to ensure trucks do not pose a danger to the public.
Trucking companies sometimes fail to live up to that duty by, for example, forcing their truckers to work longer hours than the federally mandated limits, hiring drivers without the proper credentials, or failing to screen employees for drug or alcohol abuse. Las Vegas truck accidents can also happen if companies fail to keep their vehicles in good working condition through routine maintenance and replacement of aging or malfunctioning parts.
Overloaded or Improperly Loaded Cargo
Commercial trucks can crash while carrying cargo that isn't fastened securely or exceeds the maximum weight limits for that vehicle. For this reason, trucking and shipping companies must abide by safety standards when loading cargo and perform regular inspections throughout a journey to ensure cargo remains properly secure. Any failure to live up to these obligations can lead to a sudden cargo shift or spill and a catastrophic truck accident in Las Vegas.
Types of Truck Accidents
Big rigs are unique vehicles in terms of size, weight and design. For this reason, accidents involving commercial trucks tend to take different forms compared to standard passenger car crashes. Many unique types of accidents can involve a large truck in Las Vegas, including:
- Jackknife: a type of crash that occurs when the cab of a semi-truck swings out and away from the trailer at an angle, like the unfolding of a jackknife or pocket knife. In this position, a truck driver can no longer control the truck, often resulting in accidents with multiple vehicles.
- Override accident: the size of an 18-wheeler creates a risk of it driving up and over a smaller car in a collision. An override accident can crush the occupants of the smaller vehicle, potentially causing critical or fatal injuries.
- Underride accident: a rear-end collision with the back of a tractor-trailer could result in an underride crash, where a smaller vehicle gets wedged underneath the trailer. This crash can be catastrophic for the occupants of the smaller car, who may suffer life-threatening head and brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, or decapitation.
- Cargo-related accident: the cargo that a truck is carrying could cause an accident if it is not properly loaded, secured or balanced. The cargo could shift in transit, changing the weight of the truck and causing a rollover accident. It could also fall from the bed or trailer of a truck, spilling out into the road and causing one or more vehicles to crash.
- Blind spot accident: large trucks have major blind spots that put truck drivers at risk of failing to see or notice surrounding vehicles. This can lead to accidents such as sideswipe collisions, lane-change accidents, rear-end collisions and wide-turn accidents.
Truck drivers are often capable of preventing traffic accidents by properly handling and operating their commercial trucks. Acts of negligence, such as violating traffic laws or federal trucking regulations, increase the likelihood of a serious crash in Las Vegas.
Common Injuries From Las Vegas Truck Accidents
Truck accidents send thousands of people to hospitals every year with serious and life-changing injuries. The average passenger car is no match for an 18-wheeler. As a consequence, the damage caused to the smaller car can be immense. Injuries that victims of Las Vegas truck accidents may suffer include:
- Amputations
- Back and neck injuries
- Burn injuries
- Crush injuries
- Head and skull injuries
- Internal injuries
- Lacerations
- Paralysis
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Soft-tissue injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Whiplash
At Ed Bernstein and Associates, our Las Vegas team of personal injury lawyers represents individuals and families who have suffered all types of injuries due to trucking accidents. We take pride in making sure our clients have everything they need, from exceptional medical care to highly qualified truck accident experts who can testify during the claim.
What Makes Las Vegas Truck Accident Cases Different
Las Vegas truck accident cases are much more complicated than ordinary car accident injury claims. At Edward Bernstein and Associates, we possess the know-how and resources to tackle the numerous legal and financial challenges that Las Vegas truck accident claims will often present, such as the following.
Multiple Victims with Substantial Injuries and Damages
The size of the vehicles and the magnitude of the forces involved in a truck crash often contribute to numerous victims suffering severe or fatal injuries. Each of these victims likely has a legal right to claim compensation from the at-fault parties. In some cases, that can pit victims against each other in a race to secure their share of a limited pool of compensation available from at-fault parties and insurance companies.
Multiple Parties Facing Potentially Large Liabilities
It's common for multiple individuals or businesses to face potential liability for a Las Vegas truck crash that caused millions of dollars in damages. This gives them a strong incentive to fight with each other, with insurers, or even with victims, over who should bear the blame for what happened and how much victims should receive. They may also resort to measures like hiding or destroying evidence or seeking protection in bankruptcy court.
Complex Laws and Regulations
Unlike personal vehicles, commercial trucks operate subject to multiple sets of complicated laws set by legislatures and regulators. It's common for issues determining fault and legal liability in a Las Vegas truck accident case to depend on whether truckers, trucking companies, and other stakeholders violated these rules. Victims need legal counsel that knows the trucking industry and the complex web of rules under which it must operate.
Complicated Evidence
Because the trucking industry is so heavily regulated, investigating and proving a collision's circumstances presents many challenges.
The evidence in a truck crash case—which attorneys, official investigators, and insurance companies will all compete to examine—often includes:
- Logs with the truck operator’s driving history to track any violations that may have caused the crash
- The truck’s maintenance schedule and any other records that can point to a preventable truck malfunction
- Data from the truck's black box that records information about the moments before and during an accident, such as wheel speeds
- Witness statements
- Footage from any surveillance, dash cams, or traffic cameras that captured the moment of impact
- The truck’s loading or cargo manifest
- Photos or videos documenting the scene of the accident
- Preliminary findings from police accident reports
- Expert testimony of accident reconstruction experts that can interpret all the evidence
- Complex medical evidence documenting victims’ injuries
- Complex financial evidence analyzing victims’ current and future damages
At Edward Bernstein and Associates, our team is prepared to dive into the evidence in any Las Vegas truck accident case, no matter how expansive or detailed. Contact us today to learn about our capabilities and how we might help you get the money you need to pay for expenses after a truck crash.
Las Vegas Trucking Laws
Understanding the laws surrounding your truck accident case is important if you wish to fully protect your rights. Trucking companies and truck drivers in Las Vegas must obey federal, state and municipal laws in terms of operating their trucks. These laws include:
- Driver licensing: operating a big rig takes a commercial driver's license (CDL). Obtaining this license requires special training on how to safely and correctly operate large trucks. Driving a truck without a valid CDL is against the law in Nevada.
- Truck restrictions: the truck itself must comply with federal regulations regarding its height, total weight with cargo, maintenance, inspections and part repairs. Failing to comply with these laws can lead to a truck that is not fit for the road, with issues such as mechanical failures.
- Insurance requirements: commercial trucks in Las Vegas must be covered by greater amounts of liability insurance than automobiles since they can inflict greater damage. The State of Nevada requires commercial auto insurance policies to have a minimum of $750,000 in liability coverage.
Violating trucking laws is a common reason why truck accidents happen in Las Vegas. Evidence that a safety rule was broken could result in the trucking company being held liable for subsequent damages during an insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit in Clark County.
Who Can Be Held Liable for a Truck Accident in Las Vegas?
Unlike a standard motor vehicle accident that only involves two drivers and their insurance companies, a truck accident can involve a trucking company, cargo company, maintenance crew and other parties. A thorough investigation of your crash can identify all the entities involved. From there, your truck accident lawyer can identify the cause of the crash, determine fault and name the appropriate defendant(s) to list in your claim.
Since Nevada is a fault state, the person or party most at fault for causing the truck accident will be held liable. In many cases, this is the trucking company, as it can be liable for its own mistakes as well as vicariously liable for its employees and truck drivers. It is a trucking company's responsibility to ensure the reasonable safety of the drivers it hires and the fleet of vehicles it owns.
Any lapses in the required duty of care can make the truck company liable for a resultant accident in Las Vegas. Your attorney can help you with the burden of proof, which is establishing that the defendant is more likely to be at fault for your truck accident than not. A lawyer knows how to preserve and gather key evidence for a truck accident claim before it is too late.
How Our Las Vegas Truck Accident Team Can Help
Las Vegas truck accidents cause extensive physical, financial, and emotional harm. Victims often suffer severe injuries like brain trauma, spinal cord damage, and limb loss, resulting in costly, life-long disabilities or tragic wrongful deaths.
Nevada gives Las Vegas truck accident victims a path to hold at-fault parties and insurance companies liable for paying recover fair compensation. Still, the process is rarely simple. At Ed Bernstein and Associates, our truck accident team can make a critical difference in whether crash victims receive the money they need to pay for their medical care, replace their lost income, and heal from their trauma.
We know how to:
- Act quickly to protect our client’s rights in the crucial initial stages of truck accident investigations and legal maneuverings
- Investigate truck accidents with the help of forensic experts
- Advocate for our clients in official investigations
- Handle all communications with insurance companies for our clients so that they don't have to contend with phone calls from aggressive adjusters
- Analyze the full scope of our clients’ losses
- Answer our clients’ questions promptly and in plain English (or Español)
- File detailed and well-documented lawsuits and insurance claims for our clients
- Negotiate favorable truck accident settlements
- Win at trial in Las Vegas courtrooms
- Collect and distribute money owed to our clients from insurance settlements, bankruptcy plans, court judgments, and jury awards
At Edward Bernstein and Associates, we know that truck accident injuries can put you under financial strain. That's why we routinely take Las Vegas truck accident cases on contingency, which means we only earn a fee if we win for you.
How Much Money Can You Expect to Receive in A Las Vegas Truck Accident Claim?
A commercial truck accident can upend your life in multiple ways, including financially. You and your family may find it difficult to move forward without collecting financial compensation for your losses.
As a Las Vegas truck accident victim, you generally have the right to claim compensation for:
- Economic damages, including past and future medical expenses, vehicle repair costs, and lost past and future earnings; and
- Non-economic damages, including physical pain, emotional suffering, inconvenience, and diminished quality of life.
The amount of those damages you can hope to receive, however, will depend on various factors. The severity of your injuries plays an important role in determining the size of your claim. So does the strength of the evidence in your favor and the skill of the lawyer you hire to present it.
The financial resources of the at-fault parties—typically consisting of their assets and insurance coverage—also figures into the calculation. So, too, does the number of parties vying for a slice of that financial pie.
At Ed Bernstein and Associates, we work tirelessly to secure our clients the maximum compensation available in light of these factors. Every case we take differs, but we have a long and proud track record of getting results in even the toughest accident injury cases.
Don’t Delay Seeking Legal Help
State law places a strict time limit on the ability to take legal action following a truck or automobile accident. Nevada's statute of limitations gives you just two years to file a truck accident claim, sometimes less. Missing that deadline can result in the loss of your rights.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 11.190(4) states:
- NRS 11.190 Periods of limitation. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 40.4639, 125B.050 and 217.007, actions other than those for the recovery of real property, unless further limited by specific statute, may only be commenced as follows:
- 4. Within 2 years:
- (e) Except as otherwise provided in NRS 11.215 or 11.217, an action to recover damages for injuries to a person or for the death of a person caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.
- 4. Within 2 years:
Here at Edward Bernstein and Associates, we strongly urge you to contact a skilled truck accident lawyer as soon as possible after your crash. Our team offers free consultations. We’re available 24/7 to connect with you online, and we’ll meet with you for a consultation wherever and however is most convenient for you, even if it means coming to your home or hospital room.
Contact a Skilled Las Vegas Truck Accident Lawyer Today
You have valuable rights to claim compensation as a Las Vegas truck accident victim. Let the skilled personal injury team at Edward Bernstein and Associates help you understand your options for taking full advantage of them. Contact us at (702) 840-5103 today for your free case consultation.