No one expects a walk down the street to end in a hospital visit, yet for thousands of pedestrians, a moment of driver carelessness changes everything. The consequences of a pedestrian accident are overwhelming in terms of high medical expenses and loss of wages, as well as the less visible costs of pain and suffering.

You should not navigate complex insurance systems while recovering without help from a personal injury attorney. An experienced attorney knows how to establish liability and determine the actual impact the injury has had on your life. If you were hit in a crosswalk or struck by an inattentive driver, you have the right to hold the responsible parties accountable, and the information below will help you understand how to go about this.

At Dallas Horton & Associates, our Las Vegas attorneys work diligently to recover the maximum compensation for our clients. Contact us today for a free consultation and let us handle the legal battle so you can focus on your recovery.

Steps You Should Take After an Accident

The chaos of a Las Vegas intersection transforms into a high-stakes legal environment the moment a vehicle strikes you. To navigate the aftermath, you need to take the following steps carefully to preserve the evidence required for your case. This will also help maximize the chances of securing maximum compensation for your injuries.

  • Secure the official law enforcement report — The foundation of your claim rests on securing an official report. Ensure that LVMPD or the Nevada Highway Patrol documents the scene. An event number will be assigned to you by the officers, which serves as your primary key for retrieving the formal crash report. This document captures witness statements and the officer’s initial assessment of fault, which is a factor heavily relied upon by insurance adjusters. Without this report, your case will be reduced to a he-said, she-said argument.

  • Seek a medical evaluation at local trauma centers — The next priority is to seek a medical evaluation and assistance at specialized facilities. Internal trauma or soft-tissue injuries are often masked by adrenaline. Official medical documentation gives a definite chronology where your physical injuries are directly connected to the crash. Therefore, insurers are less likely to succeed in claiming that your injuries were a result of another accident.

  • Meet Nevada DMV reporting requirements — Under NRS 484E.070, in case an officer fails to investigate the accident scene, you are obliged to file an SR-1 report to the DMV within 10 days in case of any injury or property damage in excess of $750. Failing to do so on time may result in the suspension of your license, potential license suspension, and complications with your claim. Strictly following up on these windows shows commitment to the legal process. It strengthens your position during negotiations.

  • Finalize documentation — If you are visiting Las Vegas, take these steps before returning home. Get hardcopy discharge papers and police event numbers. Having a local personal injury attorney ensures that a specialist handles the court’s requirements and local insurance laws on your behalf. A local attorney will be essential to out-of-state victims so that no critical evidence or administrative windows are overlooked after they leave the state.

Understanding Nevada Pedestrian Right-of-Way and Liability Laws

The Nevada traffic safety legal environment revolves around joint accountability between you and the motorist and is primarily governed by specific Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS).

Driver Obligations Under NRS 484B.283

According to NRS 484B.283, drivers must yield the right-of-way whenever you cross the highway with a marked or unmarked crosswalk. This mandate forces the driver to reduce his/her speed or even stop when passing on his/her side of the road, or so close that you are in danger of being hit by a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction.

A driver's violation of this protection constitutes a traffic violation that supports a finding of negligence. This violation can be pivotal evidence of negligence in your personal injury claim.

The Implied Crosswalk Doctrine

Identifying a crosswalk requires an understanding of the "implied crosswalk" doctrine. Although most busy intersections have white or yellow bars, Nevada law stipulates that a legal crosswalk exists at every intersection where a sidewalk or road terminates, whether or not pavement markings are painted. These unmarked crosswalks will provide you with all the legal safeguards that the highly conspicuous ones do. As a result, a motorist who hits you at a typical intersection cannot get away with saying he/she did not see a painted crosswalk. The law assumes a crosswalk exists solely based on the intersection's structure.

NRS 484B.287 and Jaywalking Regulations

Your responsibilities as a pedestrian change when you decide to cross outside these crossing areas, which, in most cases, are popularly referred to as "jaywalking" under NRS 484B.287.

In crossing a roadway other than a marked or unmarked crosswalk, you are required by the statute to give the right-of-way to all oncoming traffic. Moreover, even when you are between two adjacent intersections where traffic-regulating signals are on, the law makes it absolutely illegal to cross anywhere but a marked crosswalk. Although violating these regulations is generally a civil infraction, it does not automatically bar you from recovering damages due to your injuries.

The fact that it is possible to claim an injury even after being cited for jaywalking is due to Nevada's adjustment of its comparative negligence system. This is a legal system in which you can settle a lawsuit, provided your portion of fault is no more than 50%.

For example, when a jury finds that you were 30% to blame for crossing a crosswalk and the driver was 70% to blame for speeding or distracted driving. You can still recover compensation for your medical bills and pain, reduced by your percentage of fault. This nuance makes it vital to work with a legal team that can prove the driver's negligence outweighs your own.

Determining Insurance Coverage in Nevada

Determining which policy covers mounting medical expenses requires understanding the Nevada insurance hierarchy.

Recovery typically begins with the at-fault driver’s bodily injury liability insurance. Nevada requires "25/50/20" coverage:

  • $25,000 bodily injury per person

  • $50,000 bodily injury per accident

  • $20,000 property damage

However, these minimums fail to cover the catastrophic pedestrian injuries, including traumatic brain injury or complex fractures.

When a driver’s limits are insufficient, your own auto policy is a safety net of great importance. These optional coverages, like Medical Payments (MedPay) and Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, follow you even as a pedestrian.

A highly valuable no-fault insurance that is highly valuable is MedPay, which covers immediate hospital bills. According to the Nevada Supreme Court, MedPay typically does not include subrogation. This means that you do not customarily have to refund your insurer your ultimate settlement.

When you have private health insurance, most plans contain subrogation clauses to reclaim the money you spent on your health treatment. However, Nevada’s made-whole doctrine provides an important shield: an insurer generally cannot claim a piece of your settlement until you have been fully compensated for all losses, including pain and suffering.

For those without insurance, treating on a "medical lien" is a common alternative. Specialists treat you with no upfront costs, but are to be paid when you settle in the future. Although it provides the opportunity to receive trauma care at the hospital, it is crucial to ensure that it is carefully overseen. In the absence of a legal representative to bargain on such liens, high medical bills significantly reduce your ultimate take-home recovery. It is imperative to have comprehensive coverage to protect your financial well-being.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Insurance

There is a significant financial threat due to the high number of uninsured drivers. According to statistics from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, a significant percentage of drivers on our roads are uninsured. This poses a fatal loophole for you as a pedestrian. When an uninsured driver hits you, they will have little or no personal assets to compensate for your medical bill or lost earnings. When you are in this situation, your personal Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage is the first line of recovery. It compensates you, the injured party, for what the at-fault driver cannot.

Beyond those who lack insurance entirely, many drivers carry only the bare state minimum of $25,000 per person. In cases where your harm requires complicated surgeries or rehab time, these base limits are used up nearly overnight, and you will be left with underinsured losses. The coverage of Underinsured Motorists (UIM) is a secondary limit, which bridges the gap between the small policy of your driver and the actual cost of recovery. This coverage will follow you rather than a specific vehicle. Therefore, it will protect you whether you are driving, riding a bicycle, or crossing the road.

To maximize this protection, you must understand the concept of policy stacking, as governed by NRS 687B.145. Combining UM/UIM limits across various vehicles may be done under a single policy or across multiple policies within your household. For example, when you purchase two cars and insure them for $50,000 UM each, stacking allows you to access a $100,000 limit to cover a pedestrian accident. This combination of benefits is often the only way to achieve complete financial recovery in cases of catastrophic injuries beyond the scope of a single policy.

Nevada insurers, however, often include anti-stacking provisions in their policy wording to restrict their overall payout. These restrictions are legal only when they are written in unmistakably unambiguous terms, and the insurer has not imposed an extra premium for the additional risk. In case you have paid an additional amount for the privilege to add your limits, the refusal by the insurance company to give the combined benefit is invalid in law. When you successfully challenge an anti-stacking clause, you are guaranteed to take full advantage of the premiums you paid, which is an excellent financial safeguard against the carelessness of others.

Comparative Negligence in Nevada

Even if it is evident that the driver clearly struck you, Nevada law does not see the liability as binary. The state adheres to a modified form of comparative negligence, also referred to as the modified comparative negligence (51% bar) rule under NRS 41.141. This law allows you to claim damages when your contribution to the wrongdoing does not exceed 50%. When a judge or a jury finds you to be 51% or more at fault, say, by jaywalking or wearing dark clothes in a dark neighborhood, the law will not allow you to recover even the slightest compensation, despite how badly you are injured.

If your fault is below 51%, your financial recovery is proportionally reduced. For example, when you cross against a signal, and a distracted driver hits you as he is driving at high speed, a jury could assign you 30% of the fault. If you have damages amounting to $100,000, the court cuts your award by that very percentage. This leaves you with a recovery of $70,000.

Insurance adjusters are well aware of the stakes involved in this shared-fault approach and often abuse it to deny claims. They could make statements in a way that induces you to say you were rushing or distracted. In doing so, they aim to push your assigned fault just over the 51% mark. Each percentage point will translate into thousands of dollars in savings for the insurer.

To overcome these strategies, it is necessary to consider comparative negligence as an affirmative defense, for which the insurer must prove. With the help of the accident reconstruction and the car’s Event Data Recorder (EDR), you will be able to establish that the behavior of the driver, whether it is texting or a lack of yielding, was the primary trigger of the crash. Protecting your claim means ensuring that your actions are viewed through the lens of the driver's heightened duty of care. This ensures the insurance company will not make an unwarranted attempt to shift its responsibilities onto you.

Calculating Damages You Suffered After an Accident

Valuing a pedestrian accident claim goes beyond hospital bills. It requires assessing how the injury disrupts your life.

Your claim begins with economic damages, starting with emergency transport. The cost of ambulance services in Clark County is often more than $2,000, whereas trauma care can cost tens of thousands. Other than direct bills, your claim should include the loss of wages, which is not easy to calculate if you work in the hospitality industry. This is because your income often relies on tips, overtime, and shift differentials.

Non-economic damages are also included. They reflect suffering and pain, which do not have a price tag. Since pedestrian strikes can be disastrous, these awards deal with scarring and mental trauma on a long-term basis. Most pedestrians who are victims of these accidents often have PTSD. This condition impacts their navigation skills in the city. This loss of enjoyment of life and the hard physical therapy required to restore mobility are compensable under Nevada law.

In cases of egregious behavior, punitive damages may apply. Although, in general, Nevada limits these awards under NRS 42.005, there is an explicit exception for injuries caused by drivers under the influence. Provided that a driver hits you when he/she is in a drunk state, these caps automatically disappear.

The compensation should also take into consideration future medical care and loss of earning power. In case injuries render you incapable of resuming physically stressful jobs on the casino floor, your claim should be based on the lifetime value of the earnings you have lost. The compensation aims to provide sufficient long-term financial security.

Pedestrian Accidents Involving Taxis, Rideshares, and Valets (Commercial Liability)

Navigating through the Las Vegas Strip puts you in continuous proximity to commercial car traffic. Every one of them has rather sophisticated insurance policies that differ significantly from standard personal policies.

Accidents Involving Rideshare Vehicles

When an Uber or Lyft driver hits you, the possible compensation is solely determined by the driver's app status at the point of impact. A good, solid commercial liability policy of $1 million applies when the driver is carrying a passenger or is heading to collect him/her and causes an accident that results in you being hurt.

However, if the driver is merely roaming with the application disabled, you might only have the driver's significantly lower personal policy limits. Hence, the digital time the accident occurred is a critical piece of evidence.

Accidents that Involve Taxis and Limos

The legal challenges arising from collisions between traditional taxicabs and luxury limousines are distinct issues stemming from corporate ownership. Taxi companies typically have a self-insured model or significant commercial umbrella policy, unlike individual rideshare drivers. These businesses often seek to avoid responsibility by asserting that their drivers are independent contractors rather than employees. The companies do so in an attempt to shield the parent corporation against your claim.

To beat this defense, it is necessary to show the extent of the company's control over the driver. This helps ensure that the wealthy commercial entity, rather than just the driver, remains financially responsible for your recovery.

Casino Valets

The fact that Las Vegas is heavily populated with resorts is also a contributing factor to the high likelihood of falling victim to a hotel employee, including a valet or shuttle driver. The cases can be classified under the legal doctrine known as respondeat superior, or vicarious liability. This liability provides that an employer is liable for the negligent acts of his/her employees that occur in the course of work.

When a valet driver hits you while transporting an automobile within the casino's assigned areas, the casino itself is the primary defendant. Due to substantial assets and high-capacity insurance policies, these hospitality giants tend to have a better chance of full recovery from catastrophic injuries.

Note: To determine which commercial entity is correct, it is necessary to immediately investigate the vehicle's registration and the driver's employment status. A car can be marked with the logo of a well-known resort. However, it really belongs to a third-party transportation contractor, which shifts the target of your litigation. Avoiding the aspect of hit and miss when it comes to isolating the deep pockets in a commercial accident will mean that your settlement will capture the exact cost of your trauma and not limit it to the driver’s insufficient personal savings. When you trace these corporate connections, you position yourself to hold the most capable party accountable for the damage they caused.

Wrongful Death Claims Arising from Pedestrian Accidents

Las Vegas ranks among the most unsafe cities to walk in, with the number of pedestrian deaths recording an all-time high in the past few years. In cases where a pedestrian accident results in the death of a loved one, the law ceases to be concerned with personal injury, and instead, the wrongful death claim applies. Wrongful death claims are governed by NRS 41.085.

In Nevada, the deceased’s heirs, including a surviving spouse, children, or parents, and any personal representative of the victim’s estate, are entitled to carry out this particular legal right. This law guarantees that the victims left behind can hold the negligent driver accountable for the immense void left by the tragedy.

However, compensation available in these situations is not limited to the direct financial costs of a funeral and burial. The Nevada law is special in that it allows recovery of non-economic damages by the heirs on their own account for grief or sorrow and for the loss of companionship and comfort. Moreover, the estate can claim the deceased's lost earning capacity, enabling the family to receive the financial contributions the victim would have made throughout his/her life.

Although money cannot substitute for a loved one, these legal measures are the right step towards financial stability and fairness to bereaved families in the Southern Nevada region.

Find a Personal Injury Lawyer Near Me

Rebuilding your life after a pedestrian accident requires more than physical healing. It demands aggressive legal protection. The stakes are so high that it cannot be handled single-handedly, given Las Vegas's high uninsured driver rate and insurance adjusters' shared responsibility tactics. Being either a resident or a visitor who is stranded, you deserve an advocate who understands the value of your claim.

At Dallas Horton & Associates, we work to get you the maximum compensation so you can focus on your recovery. Call us at 702-820-5917 for a free consultation today and let us work on your behalf.